Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says radiation levels rose sharply Wednesday morning at the Fukushima Number One nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.

At 10:40 am ten milisievert per hour of radiation was detected around the entrance to the nuclear complex. This amounts to ten-thousand times the yearly exposure limit for humans.

Edano told reporters that the container of the third reactor may have been damaged and that it is highly likely that steam coming out of the damaged containment facility contained radioactive materials.

Workers in the facility were withdrawn from the area after the radiation levels began to rise.

However, the radiation levels began to decline at 10:54 a.m.