TEPCO asking for outside help

Image via Wikipedia

Reuters reports that TEPCO, which has conceded it faces a protracted and uncertain operation to contain the crisis, sought outside help, asking help from French firms including Electricite de France SA and Areva SA. The news comes after TEPCO announced highly radioactive water has leaked from a reactor at Japan's crippled nuclear complex, as environmental group Greenpeace said it had detected high levels of radiation outside an exclusion zone.

Greenpeace said its experts had confirmed radiation levels of up to 10 microsieverts per hour in a village 40 km (25 miles) northwest of the plant. It called for the extension of a 20-km (12-mile) evacuation zone.




"It is clearly not safe for people to remain in Iitate, especially children and pregnant women, when it could mean receiving the maximum allowed annual dose of radiation in only a few days," Greenpeace said in a statement, referring to the village where the radiation reading was taken.

Reuters reported that the Japan Nuclear Agency says Greenpeace's radiation measurements outside evacuation zone can't be considered reliable.