Radiation level rises slightly in Russia's Far East (but WNL) 3/15

[Hannah Bell]

(Reuters) - Radiation levels rose slightly in Russia's Far East on Tuesday but stayed within normal levels, officials said, as Japan struggled to cope with the worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Radiation levels in Vladivostok, a city of 600,000 people some 800 km (500 miles) northwest of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, were 1 microroentgen per hour higher at 0400 GMT (12 a.m. ET) than six hours previously, the regional emergencies ministry said.

Russia's military said it was on alert to evacuate people if required from Russia's Sakhalin island...But the Emergency Ministry for Russia's Far East, a large swathe of Russia home to 6.5 million people which faces Japan to its east, said it expected the winds to change in their favor. "Eastern winds will blow for the next several days, and the air flows (from the pollution area) will move over the Pacific Ocean, away from the Russian Far Eastern coast," said ministry spokeswoman Yekaterina Potvorova.

She said radiation was being monitored across 71 sites in the Far East. Russian flagship airline Aeroflot would continue direct flights as normal to Tokyo, a spokeswoman said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/us-japan-quake-russia-idUSTRE72E2B720110315

[Paradoxical]

1. I did not know that many people lived in far east Russia.