Russia: Radiation levels safe near Japan

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, March 17 (UPI) -- Radiation levels in the Russian city of Vladivostok, 500 miles northwest of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, are within normal ranges, officials said.

But authorities stepped up radiation monitoring to every two hours across the region as Japan sought to prevent perilous overheating and to control radiation at the plant's No. 3 reactor, which contains dangerous reclaimed plutonium.

When exposed to moist air, plutonium forms oxides and hydrogen compounds that expand up to 70 percent in volume and can spontaneously ignite. The radioactive poison can also accumulate in bone marrow.

The background radiation in Vladivostok and other parts of Russia's southeasternmost region on the Sea of Japan was 14 microrentgens an hour, below the maximum safe level of 30, Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations said.

Winds will likely not come from Japan in the foreseeable future, ITAR-Tass quoted the Primorsky Krai hydrometeorology center as saying. Winds were expected to come from the northwest through the weekend and then from the south early next week but not from the southeast, where the Japanese plant is located, the center said.

Turkey sent 17 tons of humanitarian aid to the area, "including bed blankets and personal-hygiene items," local Red Cross head Nadezhda Ilyina told Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti.

Russian authorities advised people in the region against taking anti-radiation medication. Pharmacies reported being sold out of radiation dosimeters and iodine pills, which can be used to mitigate the effects of radiation exposure, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Some travel agencies said air tickets to Moscow and other cities farther west were selling at double the normal rates.