Chinese authorities are working urgently to remove 99 radioactive sources downstream from a "quake lake" that could burst and send torrents of water into populated areas, state press reported yesterday.
"Moving those radioactive sources has become a top, urgent priority," the Beijing Times quoted Ma Ning, a top regional official with the nation's environmental protection bureau, as saying.
The bureau had decided to use cranes and sealed-up vehicles to start moving the radioactive sources, the newspaper reported, and it expected to have completed the move by 7:00 pm (1100 GMT) on Friday.
They would be transported 300 kilometres (186 miles) away from Mianyang city, which is downstream from where the lake has formed, the paper said.