Wind near quake-hit Japan nuke plant to blow inland on Tuesday

TOKYO (Reuters) - The wind over a radiation-leaking nuclear plant in northern Japan will blow inland from the northeast and later from the east on Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

A massive earthquake and tsunami on Friday crippled the cooling functions at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, forcing the operator to pump sea water into reactors and release radioactive air into the atmosphere to bring down heat and pressure inside.

The direction of the wind is a key factor in judging possible damage to the environment from the radiation.

Radiation levels at the plant, located 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, peaked at 3,130 microsievert per hour on Monday evening, equivalent to exposure to five stomach X-rays.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said some damage has been detected at the plant's No.2 reactor, but no sharp increase in radiation levels has been seen.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Joseph Radford)