Japan's atomic regulator as well as operator announced on Monday, according to a report, that clay like matter characterized by extremely high radiation levels have been explored near water storage tanks at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

Kyodo news agency explained in detail, confirming the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) that the radiation level, measured around 50cm above the toxic water, was about 100 millisieverts per hour. Around 120 litres is assumed to have leaked out from a water storage tank. Tepco refused to agree that toxic water had flowed into the adjacent Pacific ocean, yet the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) ordered the utility to study the possibility that it had escaped into the sea through nearby drains.

(AW:Samrat Biswas)