Tepco: Radiation in Water Far Over Limits

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power complex in Japan, said it detected water containing 5 million times the legal limit of radioactivity inside a reactor on Tuesday as workers struggled to contain the nuclear crisis.

Radiation-contaminated water leaks into the sea near the No. 2 reactor of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.

The company said in a statement that even those large amounts would have "no immediate impact" on the environment but added that it was working to stop the leak as soon as possible.

Tepco announced that samples taken from a concrete pit at the No. 2 reactor contained 5 million times the legal limit for radioactive iodine on Tuesday. It also said that the radioactive water was leaking out of a 20-centimeter crack in the side of the pit.

The Japanese government set its first radiation safety standards for fish on Tuesday, after contaminated fish were found in seas about 50 miles south of the stricken nuclear plant, The Associated Press reported.

"Even if the government says the fish is safe, people won't want to buy seafood from Fukushima," said Ichiro Yamagata, a fisherman who used to live near the nuclear plant and has since fled to Tokyo, the AP reported. "We probably can't fish there for several years."

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said officials are now applying the maximum radiation limit allowed for vegetables to fish.

"We will conduct strict monitoring and move forward after we understand the complete situation," Edano said, according to the AP.

Tepco is also offering "condolence" money to the local governments in the Fukushima region affected by the ongoing crisis at the plant, but a number of local mayors said they expect more help.

"We have borne the risks, co-existed and flourished with Tepco for more than 40 years, and all these years, we have fully trusted the myth that nuclear plants are absolutely safe," Tomioka mayor Katsuya Endo said in a meeting with Prime Minister Naoto Kan in Tokyo.

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