BY GEORGE JAHN

The Associated Press

VIENNA — Recent radia-tion readings outside the exclusion zone around Japan’s nuclear disaster show radia-tion substantially higher than levels at which the U.N. nucle-ar agency would recommend evacuations, agency offi cials said.

The comments Wednesday could add to the debate over how far people need to stay away from Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, which was crippled in the country’s March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Elena Buglova, an offi cial from the International Atomic Energy Agency, said of the reading: “As a ratio, it was about two times higher” than levels at which the agency recommends evacuations.

Iitate is about 25 miles from the Fukushima complex where emergency crews are battling to keep radioactivity from spreading.

Japanese offi cials have told residents to evacuate within

a 12-mile zone and to stay indoors within 18 miles of the damaged complex, but U.S. offi cials have recommended citizens stay at least 50 miles away.

The offi cials emphasized that the readings at the village of Iitate were sporadic and only at one measuring point.

Denis Flory, a senior IAEA offi cial, demurred when asked whether the agency was recommending that the village be cleared of residents but said it had advised Japanese authorities to “carefully assess the situation.”

“The highest values were found in a relatively small area in the northwest from the Fukushima power plant and the fi rst assessment indicates that one of the IAEA opera-tional criteria for evacuation is exceeded in Iitate village,” he told reporters.

About 10 days ago, radia-tion in the village’s tap water spiked, though they remained below levels that would pose an immediate health risk. The latest reading came between March 18 and March 26, when

samples were taken from a wide area, according to a report on the agency’s website. Both iodine-131 and cesium-137 were found in the samples.

Richard Morin, a medical physicist with the American College of Radiation, said the

agency’s evacuation limits are “intended to be extremely conservative,” and that none of the levels found would pose a risk to human health. They all fell well below the radiation contained in a heart scan.

The problems at the

nuclear plant have taken center stage, but hundreds of thousands of people who were forced from their homes are still staying at evacuation centers. The death toll, 11,362 late Wednesday, will likely surpass 18,000.

High radiation outside Japan’s exclusion zone

AP photo

A boy searches for his belongings in the earthquake and tsunami-destroyed town of Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, today.

BY JEFFREY TOMICH

McClatchy News Service

ST. LOUIS — The future of 30 proposed nuclear reactors in the United States has been thrown into limbo while the world anxiously watches eff orts to control the spread of radiation half a world away.

Even before the crisis in Japan, dubious economics jeopardized nuclear energy’s second act in the United States. Now, the potential for tougher safety requirements and regulatory scrutiny threat-ens to pile on more uncer-tainty and re-ignite a public backlash against a technology that lately has been viewed as a prime defense against global warming.

The shifting landscape of politics and public opinion over the past three weeks recalls the hysteria surround-ing nuclear power in decades past, after incidents at Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986.

Dozens of permitted reactors were canceled after Three Mile Island — includ-ing the original plans for a yet-unbuilt second reactor at Ameren Missouri’s Calla-way plant, fi rst drawn up more than three decades ago. Regulators have yet to sign off on a new plant since. Even the fi rst Callaway project had to be re-engineered on the fl y to meet new safety rules,

furthering construction delays and driving up already infl ated costs.

Now, the nuclear indus-try is struggling to prevent a new but familiar crisis of confi dence.

Even nuclear energy’s harshest critics concede that events in Japan won’t interrupt operation of current nuclear power plants. But fi nancial and energy policy analysts believe the fallout from Japan could dim the industry’s prospects for years to come.

“This is a substantially worse accident than Three Mile Island, so it seems incon-ceivable that there won’t be a reassessment in some

areas,” said Peter W. Bradford, a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during the 1979 crisis who now teaches environmental law at the University of Vermont. “I don’t see how there cannot

be a major reappraisal.”Public and political pressure

could make it tougher to permit and site new reactors. Heightened regulatory scrutiny could mean delays or extended licensing reviews.

Japan disaster dims future of nuclear powerA tower at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, in Plymouth, Mass., is seen near the coast of Cape Cod Bay, Wednesday. Offi cials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are reassuring state leaders that nuclear plants in and around Massachusetts are safe.

AP photo

BY TODD RICHMOND

The Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin judge ruled today the state’s divisive new collec-tive bargaining law was not in eff ect — a clear warning to Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s administration that it risks sanctions should it continue with its prepara-tions to begin deducting money from public employees’ paychecks.

Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi issued her declaration a day after Repub-lican Gov. Scott Walker’s aides said they believed the law was processed correctly and that they would continue eff orts to enact it, despite a warning from Sumi to halt such eff orts.

It was unclear what Walker would do next. His spokesman

had no immediate comment on the declaration.

The law requires most public sector workers to contribute more to their health care and pensions, changes that amount to an average 8 percent pay cut. The measure also strips them of their right to collectively bargain any work conditions except wages.

Walker signed the proposal into law earlier this month after weeks of large pro-union protests around the state Capitol, prompting Democrats to fi le several lawsuits challenging its legitimacy.

Early this morning Sumi added the non-eff ect declara-tion to her restraining order clarifying that the law has not been published and is therefore not in eff ect. She is expected to take more testi-mony at a hearing on Friday.

Judge declares Wisconsin union law not in effect

The Associated Press

LONDON — Britain refused today to off er Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa immunity from prose-cution after his apparent defec-tion, but said his departure would hearten rebels fi ghting to topple Moammar Gadhafi ’s regime.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the resignation of Koussa, one of the most senior members of Gadhafi ’s government, shows that the Libyan leader’s regime is “fragmented, under pressure and crumbling.”

But Hague said “Koussa is not being off ered any immuni-ty from British or international justice,” dampening specula-tion that the British govern-ment might seek to overlook allegations — leveled by Libya’s opposition — that he played a pivotal role in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, among other atrocities.

“Gadhafi must be thinking to himself, ‘Who will be the next to walk away?’ ” Hague said.

Hague said it wouldn’t be “helpful to advertise” whether or not other senior members of the regime planned to quit but that he believes many likely privately opposed Gadhafi ’s actions.

Authorities debriefed Koussa, a trusted Gadhafi adviser and longtime stalwart in the Libyan regime, after he fl ed to Britain on Wednesday on a private plane from Tunisia — apparently with little notice to the British government. Hague said Koussa was in a “secure place in the United Kingdom,” but did not disclose further details.

The Libyan opposition alleges that Koussa, regarded as one of Gadhafi ’s closest allies, had a role in master-minding the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people, most of them Americans. Koussa was expelled from Britain in 1980 after giving an interview advocating the use of violence to silence U.K. critics of Libya’s government.

His name also was associ-ated with the bombing of a French aircraft over Niger in 1989, but in recent years he helped with diplomatic progress that ended Libya’s international isolation.

Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw described Koussa as a key player who had a “funda-mentally important” role in negotiations to bring Libya back into the international fold in the 1990s after terror attacks tainted the North African country’s reputation. Koussa’s departure would shift the balance away from Gadhafi , if only psychologically.

“Moussa Koussa’s appar-ent defection — certainly his unscheduled visit here — will be a very important factor in just adding to the weight against the Gadhafi regime and tipping the balance against him,” Straw told BBC radio. “From a distance, what’s clear is that there is unlikely to be any military ‘victory’ for either side. So it does depend on which side psychologically collapses.”

Koussa’s move would be the fi rst high-profi le resignation since the U.S.-led air strikes on Libyan forces began. Libya’s justice and interior ministers resigned early in the confl ict and joined the rebels.

Guma El-Gamaty, an organ-izer in Britain for a leading Libyan opposition group, said Koussa’s action would be “a big hit” that would weaken Gadhafi .

“He says he is resigning,” El-Gamaty said. “That means he is defecting. He has been Gadhafi ’s right-hand man for years, running intelligence, running the Lockerbie bomber negotiations, running many things.”

El-Gamaty said Koussa would not be welcomed into the opposition movement be-cause of his prior actions on behalf of Gadhafi ’s government.

UK says no immunity for Libyan minister

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Please clip and return to: The Wenatchee World, Attn: Teresa Ockinga,

Young Writer’s Contest, P.O. Box 1511, Wenatchee, WA 98807or register at youngwriter.wenatcheeworld.com

Open to students in grades 7-12: • Chelan and Douglas Counties• Category 1: Grades 7-9• Category 2: Grades 10-12

Students in each category write on the following topic:Suppose Congress wants to make a new national holiday honoring an important person or event. Choose a person or event you would like to honor. Write a 250-word essay to convince members of Congress to accept your choice.

Submission Guidelines:• 250 words, double-spaced• Must be hand written, in legible penmanship• Enter online at youngwriter.wenatcheeworld.com or• Enter by returning the completed slip below • Deadline: Thursday, April 14, 2011

Judging:Judging will be based on content organization, grammar and word choice. Win-ners will be contacted and prizes awaded in May at the Chelan-Douglas Commu-nity Network. Essays will not be returned. (Please make a copy for record keep-ing.)

Chelan-Douglas Community Network and The Wenatchee World’s Newspaper In Education literacy program

are proud to announce the

Newspaper In Education

Fourth Annual

Recognizing young writers in our communities

Young Writer’s Contest

Name:

Grade: School:

Address:

City: State: Zip:

Telephone: Email:

Name of Parent or Guardian:

Cash prizes will be awarded for each category:• 1st Place $125• 2nd Place $75• 3rd Place $ 50• Two honorable mentions $ 25 each