Illinois sends radiation detectors to Japan

URBANA — Illinois law enforcement agencies are sending 2,000 radiation detectors to Japan to help with recovery efforts around a nuclear power plant crippled by the recent earthquake.

Kent Jepsen is inventory coordinator for the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System. He told The (Champaign) News-Gazette on Tuesday that the detectors were among 6,200 bought by the state for use by local agencies.

Jepsen says those agencies agreed they could spare some of the detectors to help with the recovery in Japan.

Radiation has leaked from the damaged nuclear plant on Japan’s east coast since the March 11 earthquake.