Radioactive leak at Fukushima

TEPCO said that because the tank is about 100 meters 330 feet from the coastline,the leak does not pose an immediate threat to the sea. But Hideka Morimoto,a spokesman for Japans nuclear watchdog,the Nuclear Regulation Authority,said water could reach the sea via a drain gutter.

Four other tanks of the same design have had similar leaks since last year. The incidents have shaken confidence in the reliability of hundreds of tanks that are crucial for storing what has been a never-ending flow of contaminated water. We are extremely concerned, Morimoto said. He urged TEPCO to quickly determine the cause of the leak.

TEPCO spokesman Masayuki Ono said the leaked water seeped into the ground after largely escaping piles of sandbags added to a concrete barrier around the tank.

The waters radiation level,measured about 2 feet above is about 100 millisieverts per hour five times the annual exposure limit for plant workers,Ono said.