The Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology said on Mar. 31 that a radioactive cloud from the quake-damaged Fukushima reactor explosions in Japan is forecast to disperse over Southeast Asian region.

The ministry said that the main part of the cloud is forecast to be divided into small parts, dispersed and fly sparsely over the Philippines , Malaysia , Laos , Cambodia and Vietnam .

In the next few days, small clouds are forecast to arrive in Laos , Vietnam and Cambodia . However, as the radioactive trace level is small it is difficult to discover their impacts on the radioactive background in Vietnam .

The ministry, citing discoveries from observation stations of the Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology and the Da Lat Nuclear Institute, affirmed that radioactive iodine-131 trace level found in Vietnam ’s air is low and does not pose a threat to the environment and human health./.