IAEA MAINTAINS LEVEL 7 SEVERITY WARNING - MOSTI

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14(Bernama) -- The Level 7 severity of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, announced by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this morning has been maintained for Wednesday night.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Dr Maximus Ongkili said the level was based on Iodin-131 released has reached around 10 percent of the radioactive released during the nuclear disaster in the 1986 Chernobyl accident in Ukraine.

Level 7 is the highest under the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) for large scale radioactive leaks.

"Radioactive released can have an impact on health and the environment that needs to be handled through a long term systematic approach.

"The level of radioactive for disasters at Level 7 is more than 50,000 Terra Becquerel," he said in a statement Wednesday.

Ongkili said on April 11, the Japanese government had announced that additional measures were needed to ensure the safety of the people in accordance with the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and IAEA.

"The additional measures will be to set up a planned Evacuation Process by setting up an Evacuation Area outside the 20km radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant," he said.

The action would involve a number of new areas like Katurao, Namie, Litate and part of Kawamata and Minami Souma, he said.

"The implementation will start in May after the Japanese government had discussed the initiative with the people," he said.

"People in the area are advised to voluntarily evacuate their residences or stay indoors and be prepared for evacuation if there was an emergency."

Ongkili said based on the Global Meteorological Organization’s report released on April 12, the movement of Iodin-131 released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant was heading South and East.

He said the monitoring process of the disaster in Japan and its impact to Malaysia would continue to be carried out through the Atomic Energy Licensing Board, Nuclear Agency of Malaysia and the Malaysian Meteorological Department.
-- BERNAMA