Vienna:
Four nuclear power plants closest to the epicentre of the massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan have been safely shut down, the UN atomic watchdog said today.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's Incident and Emergency Centre "received information from the International Seismic Safety Centre (ISSC) at around 0815 CET (0715 GMT) this morning about the earthquake of magnitude 8.9 near the east coast of Honshu, Japan," the watchdog said in a statement.
"The agency is liaising with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to confirm further details of the situation. The four Japanese nuclear power plants closest to the quake site have been safely shut down," it said.