Helicopters picked up small amounts of radiation 60 miles away

Pentagon officials reported Sunday that helicopters flying 60 miles from the plant picked up small amounts of radioactive particulates — still being analyzed, but presumed to include Cesium-137 and Iodine-121 — suggesting widening environmental contamination.
Japanese reactor operators now have little choice but to periodically release radioactive steam until the radioactive elements in the fuel of the stricken reactors stop generating intense heat, a process that can continue for a year or more even after the fission process has stopped.
Re-establishing normal cooling of the reactors would require restoring electric power — which was cut in the earthquake and tsunami — and now may require plant technicians working in areas that have become highly contaminated with radioactivity. end quote.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/12/2723888/japans-nuclear-plants-problems.html#ixzz1GY9zhMa1

So, it appears that it could be weeks or months being forced to vent radioactivity into the air and sea in order to try to prevent a permanent contamination of the earth and fresh water tables on and under the land that area near Fukushima Nuclear power plant and further out into the ocean. This appears to be the case at present.

next quote from same article:

After a series of intense interchanges between Tokyo and Washington and the arrival of the first American nuclear experts in Japan, officials said they were beginning to get a clearer picture of what went wrong over the past three days, and as one senior official put it: “Under the best scenarios, this isn’t going to end anytime soon.”

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/12/2723888/japans-nuclear-plants-problems.html#ixzz1GYBH1dlb

To be more informed about what has happened, what is happening and what might happen please read:

Wikipedia: Fukushima I nuclear accidents