Radiation over recommended level had been detected at a village outside the 20-km exclusion zone around the crippled nuclear plant in Japan, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Wednesday.

Denis Flory, a senior IAEA official, said that the first assessment of readings at the village of Litate, some 40 km from the Fukushima No.1 Plant that was damaged in the 9. 0-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on March 11, shows radiation exceeding recommended evacuation levels by the agency.

IAEA officials told the press that the readings were sporadic and registered only at one measuring point.

The UN nuclear watchdog has told Japan to carefully assess the situation.

(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2011)