UPDATE 12.39pm: RADIATION levels have soared as smoke and steam again rose from damaged reactors today at Japan's quake-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant. Radiation levels as far as 20km away from the nuclear plant were recorded at levels 1600 times higher than normal, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
White steam-like vapour was seen rising from the No. 2 reactor and what looked like white hazy smoke from the No. 3 reactor.
Kyodo news aganecy said efforts to spray water and restore electricity had temporarily stalled.
As workers battled to avert a large-scale disaster, France's Nuclear Safety Authority warned that radiation from the plant could be a problem that would last "for decades and decades''.
Releases of radioactivity from the plant “are now significant and continuing'', the head of the agency, Andre-Claude Lacoste, told a press conference.
“We have to assume that Japan will have a long-term issue of managing the impacts,'' he said.
“It's a problem that Japan will have to deal with for decades and decades to come.''
The releases stemmmed in part from deliberate venting of steam and gas, which also contained radioactive particles, to ease pressure in overheating reactor vessels, he said.
Another source was “leaks'' of as-yet unknown origin, he said.
“Ground deposits of radioactive particles (around the plant) are significant,'' Jean-Luc Godet, in charge of ionising radiation management at the ASN, said.
“The Japanese authorities have not drawn up, or communicated, a map of these deposits, and it is not vain thinking to believe that this (contaminated) zone extends beyond 20 kilometres,'' he said, referring to the zone within which local inhabitants have been evacuated.
“Given the weather, it is likely that contaminations have occurred beyond that, up to 100 kilometres or so.''
On Sunday, the Japanese government said it had detected “abnormal levels'' of radiation in milk and spinach taken from areas near Fukushima, but this did not pose any threat to health.
Jiji Press later quoted local officials as saying tainted spinach and other green vegetables had been found in Tochigi prefecture, located between Fukushima and Ibaraki, and farmers had been asked to stop shipping any products until further notice.
The comments came as moke billowed out of the No. 2 reactor at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant just hours after a similar incident at the No. 3 reactor lead to the evacuation of nearby workers.
The wider threat from radiation leaks continued to spread fear across Japan, prompting the US to make available potassium iodide as a precautionary measure for government personnel and dependents.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported that grey smoke coming from reactor No. 3 stopped after several hours, allowing the workers near the reactor to return.
Engineers have been working to restore power supply to the troubled plant, after cooling systems were knocked out by the tsunami and earthquake on March 11.
Other workers at the plant continued efforts to fix cooling systems and restore power, and fire trucks sprayed water to cool storage pools, TEPCO said.
"Due to this problem, the operator temporarily pulled out the workers, while checking on the condition of the site," a spokesman said.
There was no change in radiation levels after the smoke, which seemed to come from the area of the reactor where the spent fuel storage pool was located, Kyodo News reported.
Japan's national police agency said 8450 people had been confirmed dead and 12,931 were officially listed as missing - a total of 21,381.
Miyagi prefecture was worst hit, with a confirmed death toll of 5053.
But Miyagi police chief Naoto Takeuchi told a task force meeting yesterday that the prefecture alone "will need to secure facilities to keep the bodies of more than 15,000 people", Jiji Press reported.
The municipal government of Ishinomaki city in Miyagi said on its website: "A final number of missing citizens in the city is expected to reach 10,000."
The second-worst hit prefecture was Iwate with 2650 confirmed deaths, and then Fukushima with 691 lives lost.
White steam-like vapour was seen rising from the No. 2 reactor and what looked like white hazy smoke from the No. 3 reactor.
Kyodo news aganecy said efforts to spray water and restore electricity had temporarily stalled.
As workers battled to avert a large-scale disaster, France's Nuclear Safety Authority warned that radiation from the plant could be a problem that would last "for decades and decades''.
Releases of radioactivity from the plant “are now significant and continuing'', the head of the agency, Andre-Claude Lacoste, told a press conference.
“We have to assume that Japan will have a long-term issue of managing the impacts,'' he said.
“It's a problem that Japan will have to deal with for decades and decades to come.''
The releases stemmmed in part from deliberate venting of steam and gas, which also contained radioactive particles, to ease pressure in overheating reactor vessels, he said.
Another source was “leaks'' of as-yet unknown origin, he said.
“Ground deposits of radioactive particles (around the plant) are significant,'' Jean-Luc Godet, in charge of ionising radiation management at the ASN, said.
“The Japanese authorities have not drawn up, or communicated, a map of these deposits, and it is not vain thinking to believe that this (contaminated) zone extends beyond 20 kilometres,'' he said, referring to the zone within which local inhabitants have been evacuated.
“Given the weather, it is likely that contaminations have occurred beyond that, up to 100 kilometres or so.''
On Sunday, the Japanese government said it had detected “abnormal levels'' of radiation in milk and spinach taken from areas near Fukushima, but this did not pose any threat to health.
Jiji Press later quoted local officials as saying tainted spinach and other green vegetables had been found in Tochigi prefecture, located between Fukushima and Ibaraki, and farmers had been asked to stop shipping any products until further notice.
The comments came as moke billowed out of the No. 2 reactor at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant just hours after a similar incident at the No. 3 reactor lead to the evacuation of nearby workers.
The wider threat from radiation leaks continued to spread fear across Japan, prompting the US to make available potassium iodide as a precautionary measure for government personnel and dependents.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported that grey smoke coming from reactor No. 3 stopped after several hours, allowing the workers near the reactor to return.
Engineers have been working to restore power supply to the troubled plant, after cooling systems were knocked out by the tsunami and earthquake on March 11.
Other workers at the plant continued efforts to fix cooling systems and restore power, and fire trucks sprayed water to cool storage pools, TEPCO said.
"Due to this problem, the operator temporarily pulled out the workers, while checking on the condition of the site," a spokesman said.
There was no change in radiation levels after the smoke, which seemed to come from the area of the reactor where the spent fuel storage pool was located, Kyodo News reported.
Japan's national police agency said 8450 people had been confirmed dead and 12,931 were officially listed as missing - a total of 21,381.
Miyagi prefecture was worst hit, with a confirmed death toll of 5053.
But Miyagi police chief Naoto Takeuchi told a task force meeting yesterday that the prefecture alone "will need to secure facilities to keep the bodies of more than 15,000 people", Jiji Press reported.
The municipal government of Ishinomaki city in Miyagi said on its website: "A final number of missing citizens in the city is expected to reach 10,000."
The second-worst hit prefecture was Iwate with 2650 confirmed deaths, and then Fukushima with 691 lives lost.
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