Originally published on September 2, 2013
Radiation levels near some of the storage tanks holding contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan have increased by a factor of 18, a spokesman for plant's operator said on Sunday.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) had originally said that radiation emitted by contaminated water leaking from storage tanks was around 100 millisieverts an hour.
The new measurements, using better equipment, showed radiation levels of 1,800 millisieverts an hour - a level that could kill an exposed person in four hours.
Tepco added that no new leak had been detected at the tank, but another leak reading 230 millisieverts an hour was found.
Following reports of the latest leak, Japan's nuclear-energy watchdog upped the incident level on an international scale measuring the severity of atomic accidents from one to three. The maximum level is seven.
Meanwhile, radiation that leaked into the ocean following the tsunami and subsequent explosions is expected to reach the west coast of the US by next year, a new study has shown.
The research, from Spain and Australia, showed that radiation from Fukushima would likely begin flowing into US coastal waters in early 2014, peaking two years later in 2016.
Ocean currents off the coast of Japan, however, have diluted to radiation to levels of between 10-30 Becquerels, well below the WHO's safety levels.
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