Fukushima nuclear plant detects fresh leak of radioactive water

Members of a Fukushima prefecture panel that monitors the decommissioning of the nuclear plant. Photo: Reuters

Sensors at the Fukushima nuclear plant have detected a fresh leak of highly radioactive water to the sea, the plant's operator announced on Sunday, highlighting difficulties in decommissioning the crippled plant.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the sensors, which were rigged to a gutter that pours rain and ground water at the Fukushima Daiichi plant to a nearby bay, detected contamination levels up to 70 times greater than the already high radioactive status seen at the plant campus.

TEPCO said its emergency inspections of tanks storing nuclear waste water did not find any additional abnormalities, but the firm said it shut the gutter to prevent radioactive water from going into the Pacific Ocean.

An official of Tokyo Electric Power Co measuring radiation at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Photo: AFP

The higher than normal levels of contamination were detected at about 10am, with sensors showing radiation levels 50 to 70 times greater than usual, TEPCO said.

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Though contamination levels have steadily fallen throughout the day, the same sensors were still showing contamination levels about 10 to 20 times more than usual, a company spokesman said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the original spike of the contamination and its gradual fall, he added.

"With emergency surveys of the plant and monitoring of other sensors, we have no reason to believe tanks storing radioactive waste water have leaked," he said.

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Fukushima nuclear plant detects fresh leak of radioactive water