Japan pays 'suicide squads' fortunes to work in stricken nuclear plant as 'battle is lost for reactor two' - 30th Mar 2011

Four reactors at stricken plant to be decommissioned

Subcontractors offered £760 a day - 20 times going rate - to brave radiation levels but some refuse

One expert who designed reactor says race to save reactor two is 'lost'

Radiation levels in sea water 3,335 times higher than normal

Readings are almost three times worse than last week

Workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are being paid vast sums of money to brave high radiation levels - as experts warn that the race to save the facility has been lost.

Subcontractors are reportedly being offered up to 100,000 yen a day (£760) - 20 times the going rate - but some are still refusing the dangerous work.

Radiation levels are still extremely high at the plant, with water around the reactors emitting a highly dangerous 1,000 millisieverts per hour.

There are also fears that the plant is leaking more radiation as sea water around the plant was found to contain levels 3,335 higher than normal - almost three times higher than last week.

In a further development, an expert who helped design the plant said today that the race to prevent reactor number two melting down had been lost.

The plant's operators also said today that the four reactors that suffered explosions will be shut down for good once they are under control - and could be sealed in special material to keep radiation in. Read More