Japan: Radiation safety levels set for fish

The Government set its first radiation safety standards for fish yesterday after the country's tsunami-ravaged nuclear plant reported radioactive contamination in nearby seawater measuring at several million times the legal limit.

The plant operator insisted that the radiation will rapidly disperse and that it poses no immediate danger.

But an expert said exposure to the highly concentrated levels near the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant could cause immediate injury and that the leaks could result in residual contamination of the sea in the area. The new levels, coupled with reports that radiation was building up in fish, led the government to create an acceptable radiation standard, which officials said could change. Some fish caught last Friday would have exceeded the new limit.