The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has said it will scrap four reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant No.1 that was devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

''We have no choice but to scrap reactors 1, 2, 3 and 4 if we look at their conditions objectively,” TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata told reporters on March 30.

The four reactors at the nuclear power plant northeast of Tokyo have lost their cooling functions and are leaking radioactive materials into the air and sea following the twin disasters.

Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano suggested that all of the six reactors at the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant should be scrapped.

The government and nuclear experts are considering the feasibility of new steps such as covering reactors with special cloth to reduce the amount of radioactive particles flying away from the facility and using a large tanker to collect the contaminated water.

Also the same day, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) instructed power companies to take urgent safety measures at all nuclear power plants to cope with possible incidents in case of tsunami.

The Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency (NISA) of Japan detected radioactive iodine-131 at a concentration of 3,355 times the maximum level permitted under law in a seawater sample near the Fukushima plant.

However, NISA spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama affirmed that the contaminated water will not have any direct harmful affects on human health as the government has banned all fishing activities within a 20km radius from the plant.

By March 30, the casualties from the 9.0 magnitude earthquake causing a 10m-high tsunami had climbed to over 11,230, more than 16,360 others are still missing, according to Japan ’s national police agency.

On the same day, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit offshore Honshu Island, east of Japan. No information on casualties or injuries has been reported./.