The risk of plutonium posing a danger to Hong Kong citizens is negligible, Departmentf Health Senior Physicist KM Cheng said based on updated information.

"Plutonium from the Fukushima accident is extremely unlikely to reach Hong Kong or risk public health," Cheng said, adding "No worries are justified".

Meanwhile, a local media quoted Cheng's remarks that the majority of plutonium element released from reactor would only subside in the circumjacent place instead of spreading through the air, water, etc. Therefore Hong Kong, 3,000 kilometers away from Fukushima, would be immune to the effects of the plutonium contamination there.

"Plutonium is considered to be a human carcinogen by the US Department of Health & Human Services," Cheng said. "Observations in the United Kingdom and the USA among a small number of workers with a lower body burden of plutonium found no convincing health risks linked to the exposure," he added.

Three days ago, Japanese officials released the information that highly toxic plutonium was seeping from the damaged nuclear power plant in Japan's tsunami disaster zone.

Plutonium is a naturally radioactive, silvery, metallic trans-uranic chemical element, with the Chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It occurs in uranium ores and is produced artificially by the neutron bombardment of uranium.

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