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Snapshot - Japan's nuclear crisis


    TOKYO (Reuters) - Following are main developments after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated northeast Japan and crippled a nuclear power station, raising the risk of an uncontrolled radiation leak.

    * France and the United States will help Japan in its battle to contain radiation.

    * French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who chairs the G20 and G8 blocs of nations, plans to visit Tokyo on Thursday. He will be the first foreign leader in Japan since the disaster.

    * France also flew in two experts from state-owned nuclear reactor maker Areva and its nuclear research body to assist Japan's heavily criticised plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO).

    - On Tuesday, plutonium found in soil in five places at the Fukushima plant heightening alarm over a protracted battle to regain control of facility. TEPCO says traces of plutonium found were of level not harmful to human health.

    - Japan's Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency said the plutonium discovery could mean the reactor's containment mechanism had been breached.

    - Nuclear safety agency says amount of plutonium detected near the plant is similar to that which would result from a nuclear test, but is not harmful to humans.

    * Around 27,500 people dead or missing from a March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

    - Some opposition lawmakers have criticised Prime Minister Naoto Kan for not widening the exclusion zone around the plant.

    - PM Kan says the situation at the nuclear power station required utmost vigilance. Workers resigned to a struggle of weeks or even months to re-start cooling systems vital to control the reactors and avert disaster.

    - National Strategy Minister Koichiro Gemba says nationalisation of TEPCO, Asia's largest utility, is one option being considered.

    - Environmental group Greenpeace says it has detected high levels of radiation outside the 20-km (12-mile) exclusion zone, but Japanese officials say levels away from the plant are not dangerous for humans.

    - Experts say radiation in the Pacific will quickly dissipate and officials say levels away from the plant are not dangerous for humans.

    - Estimated cost of damage from the earthquake and tsunami to top $300 billion, making it the world's costliest natural disaster. The 1995 Kobe quake cost $100 billion while Hurricane Katrina caused $81 billion in damage.

    (Tokyo bureau; Compiled by World Desk Asia)