SOURCE http://chinese.wsj.com/big5/20110408/bas145440_ENversion.shtml
Japan's government said it is considering extending the evacuation zone around its hobbled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, as the government recalculates the risk of radioactivity that continues to issue from the plant four weeks after the huge earthquake and tsunami.
Later on Thursday, Japan suffered its strongest temblor since the March 11 quake, highlighting the ongoing uncertainty over whether further aftershocks could damage the reactors further and release more radiation, or put other nuclear plants at risk. Some other plants were running on emergency generators but no operating problems were reported in the hours after the 7.1-magnitude quake.
The government's top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, said Thursday the current 20-kilometer (12-mile) evacuation zone around the Fukushima Daiichi plant may need to be enlarged, because the original parameters were established to protect against too much exposure in the short term and radiation continues to emanate from the complex.
Officials intended the evacuation zone to prevent anyone getting more cumulative exposure to radiation than a nuclear plant worker is limited to in a year -- 50 millisieverts.
The government hasn't said when it would make a decision on expanding the zone, what measures it would use or how it might house those it relocates. It said it hasn't set a timetable.
The discussion is likely to renew international scrutiny of the government's 20-kilometer zone, which is smaller than 80-kilometer zone recommended by U.S. officials.
Several municipal officials in the area expressed anger at the government's handling of the situation. The mayor of one town just outside the 30-kilometer radius said the government should have thought ahead earlier in the crisis.
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