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Radioactivity 10,000 times standard at Japan plant

The Columbian
Published: March 31, 2011, 12:00am

TOKYO (AP) — Officials with the company that operates Japan’s tsunami-stricken nuclear plant say radioactive contamination in groundwater underneath a reactor has been measured at 10,000 times the government health standard.

A spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. says the company doesn’t believe any drinking water supply is affected.

Contaminated water has been pooling at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power complex since it was damaged by the devastating earthquake and tsunami. It has already leaked into the ocean.

Spokesman Naoyuki Matsumo says the elevated levels of iodine-131 were measured in groundwater 15 meters underneath one of six reactors at the plant. Iodine is a radioactive substance that decays quickly, with half disappearing in eight days.

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