Radiation eases in Japan village near no-go zone: IAEA

Radiation measured at a village 40 km from Japan's crippled nuclear plant has fallen below a criterion for evacuation, the UN atomic agency said on Friday, two days after saying it exceeded the recomended level.

Radiation measured at a village 40 km from Japan's crippled nuclear plant has fallen below a criterion for evacuation, the UN atomic agency said on Friday, two days after saying it exceeded the recomended level.

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Wednesday's statement by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had added to pressure on Japan's government to extend the exclusion zone beyond 20 km around the Fukushima power plant.

But IAEA official Elena Buglova said on Friday further samples from Iitate village showed the value falling to 7 from 20 megabecquerels per square metre.

"The latest assessment as of this morning shows it is actually within the range of ... one of the (IAEA) criteria for evacuation," she told a media conference.