No more radiation threat to Australians

There are no more safety threats to Australian emergency crew in Japan after low-level radiation was detected on three workers, Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) Commissioner Greg Mullins says.
Mr Mullins said the 76-member task force to help with earthquake recovery was about 140 kilometres to the north of the nuclear power plants in Fukushima Prefecture, well outside the area of concern.
"Three task force members and a New Zealand fire officer were on reconnaissance helicopter flights forced to land in Fukushima Province, but outside the exclusion zone, due to bad weather," Mr Mullins said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Routine checks found very low levels of radiation on their clothing when they returned to base.
Mr Mullins's comments came as two Australian search-and-rescue workers were reportedly exposed to low levels of radiation from the Japanese nuclear power plant damaged in Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Wednesday that radiation was detected on the boots of the two workers who briefly stopped at Fukushima airport, about 40km from the plant.
There are still about 144 Australians unaccounted for in the affected region and the prime minister moved to reassure the nation about the risk of nuclear contamination.
The International Atomic Energy Agency had advised Ms Gillard that health risks from exposure to the radiation were low to negligible.
Mr Mullins said the workers were decontaminated, radiation readings returned to zero and they had returned to rescue duties.
"We are in constant contact with Australian and Japanese nuclear experts and we have been advised there is negligible risk to our Task Force members at this time, nor is any significant radiation risk anticipated," he said.
"However, there is an emergency air evacuation plan in place in the very unlikely event that it becomes necessary to pull our rescuers out of the region."