Workers trying to cool the reactor at the Japanese quake-damaged Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant have been evacuated over very high levels of radiation.

Radioactivity in water at reactor 2 has reached 10 million times the usual level, company officials, cited by BBC, inform.

Earlier, Japan's Nuclear Agency said that levels of radioactive iodine in the sea near the plant had risen to 1 850 times the usual level.

It is believed the radiation at Fukushima is coming from one of the reactors, but a specific leak has not been identified.

The plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) has been criticized for lack of transparency, failing to provide information more promptly, and making a number of mistakes, including worker clothing.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said the workers, who are listed in the hospital over radiation exposure, were wearing boots that only came up to their ankles and provided little protection.

He pointed out TEPCO also knew of high air radiation at one reactor several days before the incident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant 240km north of Tokyo.

Emergency workers are continuing to cool the reactors in an effort to prevent a meltdown. They have now switched to using fresh water, rather than sea water, because it is believed the latter could further corrode machinery. The team of more than 700 engineers has found radioactive water in three of the six reactors.

The US is sending barges loaded with 500 000 gallons of fresh water.

Four of the reactors are still considered volatile. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has dispatched extra teams to the Japanese nuclear plant.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government said that airbone radiation around the plant was decreasing.

The plant was damaged in the deadly March 11 9 point on the Richter scale earthquake and the 10-meter tsunami which followed it.

China, Singapore, Hong Kong and other Asian importers, Australia, the European Union, the United States and Russia have banned some imports of vegetables, seafood and milk products from Japan.

Meanwhile in Japan's tsunami disaster zone, the military has helped supply food and water and has continued clearing areas to try to recover more bodies.

The death toll has now passed 10 000, and more than 17 440 people are missing and there has been a need for mass burials in some areas along the coast.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are still housed in temporary shelters. The Japanese government estiamtes the damage cost at USD 309 B.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!