Aussie rescuers exposed to Japan radiation

16 Mar 2011, 4:11 pm   -   Source: AAP
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The Fukushima nuclear power plant. (AP)

The Fukushima nuclear power plant. (AP)

Two members of an Australian search and rescue team in Japan have been exposed to low level radiation during an unexpected landing at Fukushima airport.

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Two Australian search-and-rescue workers have been exposed to low levels of radiation from the Japanese nuclear power plant damaged in Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said radiation was detected on the boots of the two workers who briefly stopped at Fukushima airport, about 40 kilometres from the plant.

The two workers were part of a multi-nation group, which included another two Australians along with New Zealanders, flying aboard an American helicopter.

"The helicopter needed to land ... because of issues about ice on the rotary blade," Ms Gillard told reporters in Canberra. Cold weather, including snow, moved across Japan on Wednesday.

All members of the team had returned to their base, more than 100km from Fukushima, Ms Gillard said.

Authorities are considering spraying water and boric acid over the plant in a bid to contain leaking radiation.

A spokesman for Japan's nuclear safety agency, Masami Nishimura, said the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, proposed the measures after a string of explosions and fires at the plant.

The latest fire broke out at a reactor on Wednesday, a day after the power plant emitted a burst of radiation that panicked an already edgy Japan.

There are still about 144 Australians unaccounted for in the affected region and the prime minister on Wednesday moved to reassure the nation about the risk of nuclear contamination.

The International Atomic Energy Agency had advised Ms Gillard that health risks from exposure to the radiation were low to negligible.

"Our nuclear experts advise that there is a small chance of contamination at very low levels for Australians who were in the Fukushima area," she said.

But concerned Australians returning from Japan are advised to visit their doctor.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said about 250 Australian government officials are on the ground in Japan, and those in the worst-affected areas "are burning the midnight oil" in an effort to contact missing Australians.

A team is based at Narita international airport, near Tokyo, to help Australians leave the stricken country.

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency has warned Australians to continue to stay away from the power plant and the wider Miyagi Prefecture on the east coast.

However, the agency says there is "a very low to negligible chance of (nuclear) contamination" to Australians in Japan.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is advising Australians to stay outside the exclusion zone established around the damaged facility.

Updated travel advice from the department confirms that Australians outside the affected areas in Japan "are extremely unlikely to be contaminated and the health risks are negligible".

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