RADIOACTIVE particles leaking from the nuclear power plant could contaminate farms, animals and waterways and turn Fukushima into a ghost town.





Low-level radiation is being carried on the wind and could reach cities including Tokyo, 250km to the south.

Japan last night extended the exclusion zone around the nuclear plant, triggering memories of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

In 2006, the World Health Organisation and the International Atomic Energy Agency released a 20-year report on the disaster.

It said wind was an important factor in the spread of radiation at Chernobyl.

Within three months of the explosion, 31 people had died from acute radiation sickness - most of them emergency services workers.

A total of 216 emergency workers suffered non-cancer deaths linked to the disaster between 1991-98. It took 10 years for some Chernobyl locals affected by the radiation to be diagnosed with cancer.

The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation reported more than 6000 cases of thyroid cancer in children and adolescents exposed to radiation.

The report detailed the spread of isotopes through contaminated milk and leafy vegetables.

A person exposed to high radiation shows symptoms immediately, and could suffer organ damage.

A chest X-ray typically involves a dose of 20 micro-sieverts of radiation.

A single dose of 1000 micro-sieverts - or one sievert - causes temporary radiation sickness, such as nausea and vomiting. A dose of 5000 micro-sieverts would kill about half of those receiving it within a month. Radiation levels at the Fukushima plant yesterday were up to 400 micro-sieverts.

A Tokyo official said 0.8 of a micro-sievert was measured between 10-11am in the city yesterday. The level fell to an average 0.075 four hours later.

The comparison between radiation therapy for cancer and radiation sickness is that cancer treatment is carefully managed and aimed at small areas of the body.

Japanese officials are treating people exposed to high radiation with iodine tablets to help stop the body absorbing radiation.

Radioactive traces left behind by Chernobyl, which was officially shutdown by the Ukraine Government in 2000, was found in the farms, waterways and animals nearest to the plant.

Geoff Chambers From: Herald Sun