"The Department of State has authorized the voluntary departure, including relocation to safe areas within Japan, for family members and dependents of US government officials," State Department official Patrick Kennedy said.

"We have not ordered them to leave. We have made this opportunity available to them should they choose to exercise it," he added, in a conference call to reporters.

The authorization applies to around 600 family members of diplomats in the US embassy in Tokyo, the consulate in Nagoya and a language school in Yokohama, Kennedy said.

US officials had earlier ordered all Americans within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to evacuate the area, going far beyond the 12-mile (20-kilometer) no-go zone set by Japan.

Referring to an earlier travel warning, Kennedy said: "The State Department strongly urges US citizens to defer travel and consider departing."

But he cautioned that "this is not an ordered departure. We have not ordered individuals to leave and we are not closing down operations" in the embassy or consulate.

Kennedy said the State Department had chartered flights to assist Americans who choose to depart, taking the burden off commercial airlines. It was also dispatching officials to airports to help those wanting to leave.

Japanese helicopters were dumping water on the overheated power plant in a scramble to prevent a meltdown after the facility was damaged in last week's massive earthquake, which has left more than 5,000 people dead.

US President Barack Obama earlier offered to give Japan any support that it needs, in a telephone call with Prime Minister Naoto Kan, according to the Japanese leader's spokesman.

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