By . Daily Mail Reporter . Last updated at 5:04 PM on 21st June 2011 . New details have emerged of how seriously the British government was bracing itself for a full scale nuclear crisis in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster. Documents show how advisers rushed to work out how bad the crisis might get, and the plans drawn up for 'the worst case scenario' to protect British citizens - including the British Embassy in Tokyo issuing iodine pills to expats and visitors in the capital and Sendai, 70 miles from Fukushima. The government's emergency committee Cobra were also on standby to screen passengers landing at Heathrow from Japan for radioactive contamination, it has been revealed. Smoke is seen coming from the area of the No. 3 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March . A hydrogen explosion at the Fukushima power plant. Britain was bracing itself for 'the worst case scenario' The tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant heavily damaged by the earthquake and tsunami . The experts were working on a 'reasonable worst case scenario' with the plant releasing more radiation than Chernobyl in 1986. The devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck the east coast of Japan on March 11 unleashing a tsunami and then a nuclear nightmare centred on the nuclear plant of Fukushima. An explosion knocked out cooling systems and backup diesel . generators on March 12, leading to explosions at three reactors and a fire at a fourth that . was undergoing regular maintenance and was empty of fuel. The radiation leak sparked fears of full-scale nuclear disaster after some 28,000 people were killed in the earthquake and tsunami and sixteen towns, 95,000 buildings and 23 railway stations were destroyed. The new details of Britain's contingency plans were revealed by the Guardian following a Freedom of Information request. Among the documents - prepared for Sir John Beddington, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) - was advice from . the National Nuclear Laboratory on damage to the plant, public safety . assessments from the Health Protection Agency, (HPA) models of the radioactive . plume. Many documents were not released for fear they may impact on international relations, the newspaper revealed. A man is being tested for possible radiation exposure at an evacuation centre in Fukushima. In Britain, experts were on standby to screen air passengers . Local residents of Kawauchi village who lived within 20km area from the stricken nuclear power plant were evacuated to Koriyama city . They do show, however, that advisers . worked frantically to establish how bad the leak was in the first few days of the . crisis, and feared that an explosion at one reactor or fuel pond could . result in multiple explosions. They said 'the reasonable worst case . scenario' was if there was leaking radiation from six spent fuel ponds . at the plant and all three reactors were damaged. They worked out that if this happened, . 9.92 million terabecquerels of radiation could be been propelled into the air - . almost double that released during the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in . 1986. However, the accident was not expected to be as bad as Chernobyl. In March, radiation was detected across . Britain, 5,500 miles away from the plant, in Oxfordshire and Glasgow - . although experts said the levels were 'minuscule' and posed no health . risks to Britons. On March 25, the HPA drew up plans to screen air passengers arriving in the UK from Japan in the event of a major leak in radiation. Britain's crisis plan was based on a scenario where almost double the amount of radiation was released into the air than the 1986 Chernobyl power plant disaster, pictured . Japanese officials declared a 12 mile evacuation zone around the plant and another 140,000 living within 18 miles were told not to leave their homes, turn off their air conditioning and stop drinking tap water. Britain advised citizens to give the area a 30 mile berth and to leave Tokyo, 150 miles away. In April, Japan admitted that the . spread of radiation was out of control and that . the government had raised the crisis level to the worst on the international . scale - level 7. Level 7 has only been applied to the Chernobyl . accident in the former Soviet Union in 1986.
Government braced itself for almost double the radiation released by Chernobyl .
By . Daily Mail Reporter . Last updated at 5:04 PM on 21st June 2011 . New details have emerged of how seriously the British government was bracing itself for a full scale nuclear crisis in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster. Documents show how advisers rushed to work out how bad the crisis might get, and the plans drawn up for 'the worst case scenario' to protect British citizens - including the British Embassy in Tokyo issuing iodine pills to expats and visitors in the capital and Sendai, 70 miles from Fukushima. The government's emergency committee Cobra were also on standby to screen passengers landing at Heathrow from Japan for radioactive contamination, it has been revealed. Smoke is seen coming from the area of the No. 3 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March . A hydrogen explosion at the Fukushima power plant. Britain was bracing itself for 'the worst case scenario' The tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant heavily damaged by the earthquake and tsunami . The experts were working on a 'reasonable worst case scenario' with the plant releasing more radiation than Chernobyl in 1986. The devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck the east coast of Japan on March 11 unleashing a tsunami and then a nuclear nightmare centred on the nuclear plant of Fukushima. An explosion knocked out cooling systems and backup diesel . generators on March 12, leading to explosions at three reactors and a fire at a fourth that . was undergoing regular maintenance and was empty of fuel. The radiation leak sparked fears of full-scale nuclear disaster after some 28,000 people were killed in the earthquake and tsunami and sixteen towns, 95,000 buildings and 23 railway stations were destroyed. The new details of Britain's contingency plans were revealed by the Guardian following a Freedom of Information request. Among the documents - prepared for Sir John Beddington, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) - was advice from . the National Nuclear Laboratory on damage to the plant, public safety . assessments from the Health Protection Agency, (HPA) models of the radioactive . plume. Many documents were not released for fear they may impact on international relations, the newspaper revealed. A man is being tested for possible radiation exposure at an evacuation centre in Fukushima. In Britain, experts were on standby to screen air passengers . Local residents of Kawauchi village who lived within 20km area from the stricken nuclear power plant were evacuated to Koriyama city . They do show, however, that advisers . worked frantically to establish how bad the leak was in the first few days of the . crisis, and feared that an explosion at one reactor or fuel pond could . result in multiple explosions. They said 'the reasonable worst case . scenario' was if there was leaking radiation from six spent fuel ponds . at the plant and all three reactors were damaged. They worked out that if this happened, . 9.92 million terabecquerels of radiation could be been propelled into the air - . almost double that released during the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in . 1986. However, the accident was not expected to be as bad as Chernobyl. In March, radiation was detected across . Britain, 5,500 miles away from the plant, in Oxfordshire and Glasgow - . although experts said the levels were 'minuscule' and posed no health . risks to Britons. On March 25, the HPA drew up plans to screen air passengers arriving in the UK from Japan in the event of a major leak in radiation. Britain's crisis plan was based on a scenario where almost double the amount of radiation was released into the air than the 1986 Chernobyl power plant disaster, pictured . Japanese officials declared a 12 mile evacuation zone around the plant and another 140,000 living within 18 miles were told not to leave their homes, turn off their air conditioning and stop drinking tap water. Britain advised citizens to give the area a 30 mile berth and to leave Tokyo, 150 miles away. In April, Japan admitted that the . spread of radiation was out of control and that . the government had raised the crisis level to the worst on the international . scale - level 7. Level 7 has only been applied to the Chernobyl . accident in the former Soviet Union in 1986.
power plant. Britain was bracing itself for 'the - . almost double that released during the