Published time: October 18, 2013 02:08                                                                            

Fukushima Governor Yuhei sato (orange helmet) inspects the contaminated water tanks at Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant at Okuma town in Fukushima prefecture on October 15, 2013. (AFP Photo/Jiji press)

Radioactivity levels in a well near a storage tank at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan have risen immensely on Thursday, the plant’s operator has reported.

Officials of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said on  Friday they detected 400,000 becquerels per liter of beta  ray-emitting radioactive substances – including strontium – at  the site, a level 6,500 times higher than readings taken on  Wednesday, NHK World reported.

The storage tank leaked over 300 tons of contaminated water in  August, some of which is believed to have found its way into the  sea through a ditch.
The well in question is about 10 meters from the tank and was dug  to gauge leakage.
TEPCO said the findings show that radioactive substances like  strontium have reached the groundwater. High levels of tritium,  which transfers much easier in water than strontium, had already  been detected.
Officials at TEPCO said they will remove any contaminated soil  around the storage tank in an effort to monitor radioactivity  levels of the water around the well.

The news comes after it has been reported a powerful typhoon  which swept through Japan led to highly radioactive water near  the crippled nuclear power plant being released into a nearby  drainage ditch, increasing the risk of it flowing into the sea.

On Wednesday TEPCO said it had detected high levels of radiation  in a ditch leading to the Pacific Ocean, and that it suspected  heavy rains had lifted contaminated soil.

http://rt.com/news/fukushima-high-radioactivity-well-335/