The Pentagon is sending a Boeing Co. plane, equipped to detect radioactive “clouds” from nuclear tests, to sample air for radiation from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.

The WC-135W Constant Phoenix, a modified Boeing C-135, has equipment designed to collect particulates and whole-air samples, according to the U.S. Air Force. The craft, similar in size to a Boeing 707 airliner, usually is used for monitoring required by the 1963 Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits above-ground nuclear weapons testing.

“I can confirm the WC-135 has deployed to the Pacific region,” said Major Chad Steffey, a spokesman for the Air Force, in an e-mail yesterday.

The deployment steps up the U.S. military’s humanitarian and technical assistance to Japan after the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. The Defense Department has deployed more than a dozen ships and their aircraft for humanitarian relief as well as equipment and personnel to help with the nuclear crisis.

A Northrop Grumman Corp. Global Hawk drone also flew over the 40-year-old power station at Fukushima, about 135 miles (220 kilometers) north of Tokyo, to collect data. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said after a congressional hearing in Washington yesterday that it won’t be the last mission.

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