Radioactive substances that leaked into the sea from a damaged Japanese nuclear power plant totalled an estimated 5,000 terabecquerels, 20,000 times more than the annual limit allowed for the plant, its operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), said Thursday.
TEPCO said the radioactive substances were in an estimated 520 tons of high-level radioactive water that leaked into the sea from reactor number 2 of the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which was damaged by a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, DPA reported.
The leaks were noticed April 2 and stopped April 6.
The estimated 5,000 terabecquerels is far lower than the 370,000 to 630,000 terabecquerels of radioactive material estimated to have been released into the atmosphere from the plant since the crisis there began when the March 11 earthquake and tsunami struck, the Kyodo News agency reported.
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