Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority to Upgrade Fukushima Danger Level

A large sum of radioactive water leaked into the ground at the Fukushima nuclear power plant on Monday.

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) first gave the leak a level one “anomaly” rating on the International scale for radiological releases.

The initial rating of the leak’s severity would prove to be a underestimation, as a spokesman for the NRA on Wednesday said that the situation would move to a level three “serious incident” on the scale.

The plant’s operators have claimed that 300 tonnes of radioactive water has seeped out of a storage tank.

This situation marks the first return of the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) since the meltdown of reactors at Fukushima after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

That initial meltdown rated a 7 on the INES.

Wednesday, a Tokyo Electric Power Company spokesman said that it is believed that the storage tank is still leaking.

“So we found a radiation level strong enough to give someone a five-year dose of radiation within one hour,” TEPCO told the press.

In July TEPCO admitted that leaks of radioactive water had made its way into the Pacific despite numerous preventative measures.

China’s Foreign Ministry said in a faxed statement to Reuters that it “hopes that the Japanese side can earnestly take effective steps to put an end to the negative impact of the after-effects of the Fukushima nuclear accident.”

Measures will be taken Wednesday to remove the contaminated soil around the leaking storage tank and the water within it.

Paul Lawrance writes for Eyes Open Report, where this first appeared.