Japanese authorities are monitoring radiation levels at Fukushima, where smoke could be seen billowing out of the nuclear plant complex. Japanese media say radiation levels are more than eight times higher than normal outside the plant.
Japanese government plea for calm following explosion at Fukushima.
Journalists have been excluded from a zone about 60km away from the plant. Thousands have been evacuated. Experts say the concern is that radiation could have risen after the explosion and been carried long distances by winds, thus affecting a much greater area. The Chernobyl disaster, for example, saw radiation travel as far as England from Russia, carried by winds.
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