High levels of radiation found at Fukushima monitor well

TOKYO, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Very high levels of radiation have been found in water at a monitoring well at the destroyed nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, officials say.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials said the level was 125 times the maximum previously recorded in the well, The Mainichi reported Friday.

The level, 400,000 becquerels per liter of water, far exceeds emission standards of 30 becquerels or less per liter set by the government. The level was measured Thursday in a 23-foot-deep well 50 feet from an aboveground storage tank from which some 330 tons of contaminated water have leaked.

A measurement from the same well a month ago recorded 3,200 becquerels per liter.

"We don't know the reason (for the increased concentration)," TEPCO said. The utility speculated, "the effect of highly contaminated water leaked (from the nearby tank) is one possibility."

Also Thursday, some 34,000 becquerels per liter were recorded in a nearby ditch, officials. That was 15 times more than measured the day before. Company officials said it was likely contaminated soil had flowed into the ditch from rainfall left by a typhoon.