The Fukushima nuclear power plant may have been leaking radioactive water since April, its owner has admitted.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said on Thursday that a problem with monitoring equipment means it can’t be sure if radiation-contaminated water leaked from the reactor buildings damaged in the 2011 nuclear disaster which was sparked by an earthquake and tsunami, the Japan Times reports .
The company said there were errors on the settings of six indicators monitoring groundwater levels of wells around reactor buildings 1-4 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power station.
The indicators weren’t showing accurate water levels, and the actual levels were about 70 centimeters lower than that which the equipment showed.
In May, groundwater at one of the wells sank below the contaminated water inside, NHK reports, which possibly caused the radioactive water to leak into the soil.
The company said it is investigating, and that no abnormal increase of radioactivity has shown up in samples.
The problem with the six wells in question was discovered this week when the company was preparing another well nearby.
The 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred when three of the plant’s reactors experienced fuel meltdowns and three units were damaged by hydrogen explosions as a result of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
