Japan's crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has been leaking a high quantity of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean creating an ''emergency'' like situation.
Shinji Kinjo, head of a Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) task force, has told Stuff.co.nz that the contaminated groundwater has breached an underground barrier built as a countermeasure to seepage.
He reportedly said that the radioactive substances have been rising towards the surface of the ocean and have exceeded the legal limits of radioactive discharge from the reactor.
Earlier, the Japanese government had allowed Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) to dump tonnes of contaminated water into the Pacific in an emergency move after the massive 2011 tsunami and earthquake disaster that led to the reactor meltdowns.
Tepco has continuously claimed of trying to construct a barrier for preventing the contaminated water from leaking into the bay by injecting chemicals into the soil to harden it from the surface.
Still, the radioactive substances are rising towards the surface of the ocean by seeping through the shallow areas of the earth.
Reports have claimed that the contaminated water with 15 times higher levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 could rise to the ground's surface within three weeks.
