Vienna:
U.N. nuclear agency officials say that readings outside the exclusion zone of the Japan nuclear disaster shows radiation exceeding recommended evacuation levels by the agency.
The officials emphasize that the readings, at Iitate village, were sporadic and were registered only at one measuring point.
Elena Buglova, one of the officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says the reading was 2 mega becquerels per square metre.
She said Wednesday that "as a ratio it was about two times higher" than levels at which the agency recommends evacuations.
Iitate village is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex where emergency crews are battling to keep radioactivity from spreading after the complex was crippled nearly three weeks ago.
Residents have been evacuated within a 20-kilometre zone and told to stay indoors within 30 kilometres.