Report: Radioactivity leaked from Japan nuke plant

TOKYO, Japan (AP) — A strong earthquake struck northwestern Japan on Monday, causing a radioactive water leak and fire at one of the world’s most powerful nuclear power plants and turning buildings into piles of lumber. At least seven people were killed and hundreds injured.

National broadcaster NHK reported that water containing radioactive material leaked from the plant into the Sea of Japan, but that the radioactivity level was low and posed no environmental danger.


The reactor automatically shut down at the time of the leak, the report said. The quake triggered a fire at an electrical transformer at the plant, but plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said earlier in the day that the reactor was not damaged.

The quake, which left fissures 3 feet wide in the ground along the coast, hit shortly after 10 a.m. local time and was centered off Niigata state. Buildings swayed 160 miles away in Tokyo. Sirens wailed in Kashiwazaki, a city of about 90,000, which appeared to be hardest hit.

AP