Hopes of power rise at stricken Japan nuclear plant

Engineers connected a cable through which they hope to supply electricity to part of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has raised fears of radiation leaks in the past days after the earthquake and tsunami brought the plant’s cooling systems to its knees.

According to CNN reports, even as workers began to see some success in their battle to cool down reactors, Japanese officials said Sunday that they would have to release some radioactive gas into the air.

The country's nuclear safety agency said releasing the gas was a necessary step to reduce mounting pressure in reactor No. 3's containment vessel.

"In order to be safe, we need to take measures to lower the pressure of the containment vessel. Now that means that air containing radioactive substances will be emitted into the atmosphere," said Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

Workers have let out radioactive steam to release pressure inside affected reactors in previous operations.

More than 8,000 people are now known to have died in the 11 March disaster, while more than 12,000 are still missing.

Today police said they believed 15,000 people had been killed in Miyagi prefecture - one of the hardest hit regions - alone.

Radioactive contamination has been found in some food products from the Fukushima prefecture, Japanese officials say. The iodine was found in milk and spinach products, tested between 16 and 18 March, which could be harmful to human health if ingested, the officials said.

International nuclear experts at the IAEA say that, although radioactive iodine has a short half-life of about eight days, there is a short-term risk to human health if it is ingested, and it can cause damage to the thyroid.

The IAEA had earlier reported on its website that food products from Fukushima prefecture had been banned from sale by the Japanese authorities, but later said a ban was only being considered.

Traces of radioactive iodine have also been found in tapwater in Tokyo and five other prefectures, officials said on Saturday. Although the traces are within government safety limits, usual tests show no iodine.

Meanwhile, radiation has been detected for the first time in Japanese imports, with Taiwanese officials finding contamination in a batch of fava beans, although they say the amount is too small to be dangerous to humans.

Japan has been shaken by scores of tremors since 11 March - one of magnitude 6.1 hit the Ibaraki area south of Fukushima on Saturday. There were no immediate reports of any damage.

The authorities have begun building temporary homes for some of the hundreds of thousands of people still sheltering at emergency evacuation centres, as many survivors endure freezing temperatures with no water, electricity, fuel or enough food.

The disaster dwarfs anything Japan has seen since World War II and people are reportedly beginning to talk of the disaster in similar terms.

At the stricken plant, firefighters have continued to spray water at the dangerously overheated fuel rods, in a desperate attempt to avert a meltdown.