Officials in Tokyo, 240 km South of Fukushima nuclear complex, said radiation in the capital was 10 times the norm at one point, but was not a threat to human health in the city of 13 million people. Radiation levels at the plant peaked at a dangerous 400 millisieverts last Tuesday, which is four times the level that can trigger cancer, but by the end of the day these levels had fallen. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people within 30km of the facility - a population of 140 000 - to remain indoors, and Japan ordered a 30 mile no fly zone over the exclusion zone in order to stop the spread of radiation.

There have been a total of four explosions at Fukushima nuclear power plant since it was damaged in the 8.9 Richter earthquake and tsunami that occurred on Friday, the 11th of March 2011.

Health Risks
Japan has provided 230 000 units of stable iodine to evacuation centres as a precautionary measure as the country faces a nuclear emergency. Potassium iodide is a salt used to block the uptake of radioactive iodine in the thyroid gland, a highly carcinogenic substance that can leak from nuclear reactors in an accident.

Fears of a trans-Pacific nuclear fallout sent consumers stampeding for radiation antidotes in the US Pacific coastline area and Canada.

Japan's nuclear crisis has sparked panic and the sales of iodine pills, with one packet of 14 pills attracting bids of up to $540 on eBay online. British Columbia's Health Officer Dr Perry Kendall issued a notice on Monday, the 14th, stating that it would take 5-6 days for winds to carry nuclear particles across the Pacific, and by that time any radiation would have dispersed into the atmosphere.

Health experts and authorities warned that people would expose themselves to other medical problems by unnecessarily taking potassium iodide.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on its Twitter page."Consult your doctor before taking iodine pills. Do not self-medicate!"  Iodine pills are "not radiation antidotes" and offer no protection against radioactive elements such as caesium, according to the UN's health agency which stressed that they also carried health risks for pregnant women and some people with allergies. Side effects and overdose can range from nausea and stomach aches to decreased thyroid function and numbness.

It has been over a week since the nuclear crisis began in Japan and the problem looks less and less likely that it is going to result in a full nuclear meltdown. However, the experience has given the world a wake-up call of the dangers of nuclear power. Cape Town has the only nuclear power plant – Koeberg – on the entire African continent. With a weaker economy and less technological innovation, one has to ask whether South Africa is as equipped as Japan to handle a similar nuclear crisis.

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