Tonnes of radioactive water have leaked into the ground from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, the latest in a series of leaks at the plant damaged in a March earthquake and tsunami, the country's nuclear watchdog said today.
More than three months after the disaster, authorities continue to struggle to bring under control damaged reactors at the power plant north of Tokyo.
About 15 tonnes of water with a low level of radiation leaked from a storage tank at the plant on the Pacific coast, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said it was investigating the cause of the leak which was later repaired.
Vast amounts of water contaminated with varying levels of radiation have accumulated in storage tanks at the plant after being used to cool reactors damaged when their original cooling systems were knocked out by the March 11th disaster.
Dealing with that radioactive water has been a major problem for Tepco, which is trying to use a decontamination system that cleans water so it can be recycled to cool the reactors. But the system has encountered technical problems and officials have said the water could spill into the Pacific Ocean unless the system was operating properly.
The system was halted an hour and a half after it started on Monday because of a water leakage.
Tepco fixed the problem and restarted the system this afternoon, said Junichi Matsumoto, an official at the utility.
Reuters