Radiation In Water Samples Test 600 Times The National Limit In Japan

The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant says it has detected higher levels of radioactive materials in seawater samples taken near the water intake at one of the reactors.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it detected 24 becquerels of radioactive iodine-131 per cubic centimeter in samples collected near the water intake for the Number 2 reactor on Saturday.

The figure is 600 times higher than the national limit, though levels at the spot had been falling. A day earlier, a level 130 times the limit was detected.

TEPCO says the level of radioactive cesium is also rising at that spot, though the level of that substance had been falling, too.

The samples were taken at the same site where iodine-131 at a level 7.5 million times the limit was detected on April 2nd.

TEPCO says the reason for the upward trend is not yet clear, and that it will monitor the situation closely.

Radioactivity levels have been falling at other spots, such as offshore areas and the water intake at the Number 3 reactor.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/30_01.html

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