The operator of Japan's stricken nuclear power plant has reported new problems, including another spill of contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean and a water leak from a reactor vessel.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant was crippled after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that devastated much of northeast Japan on 11 March.
Workers are struggling to stabilise the plant after the quake knocked out cooling systems at the plant, causing fuel rods to overheat. There were subsequently explosions at four reactors operating at the time of the quake.
Engineers are pumping water into the reactors to cool them as they work to restore the damaged cooling systems.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) says water has leaked into the sea from a concrete pit near reactor No 3, one of the plant's six units, AFP reports.
Tepco says samples of seawater taken near the plant contain caesium-134 at a concentration 18,000 times the permitted level. The spill has been stopped by filling the pit with concrete.
The company says new measurements indicate that water pumped into the pressure vessel quickly leaked, although the fuel rods appear to have dropped to the bottom and are still under water.
Emergency crews are battling to bring the plant into a stable cold shutdown some time between October and January next year.
The area within 20km of the Fukushima plant, once home to about 80,000 people is uninhabitable, at least until next year.
Tea recalled over radiation fears
Japan has detected radiation above the legal limit in tea grown southwest of Tokyo and blamed it on the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant northeast of the capital.
Kanagawa prefecture has started a recall of the tea after measuring about 570 becquerel of caesium per kilogram in leaves grown in the city of Minamiashigara, officials said. The legal limit is 500 becquerel of caesium per kilogram.
The prefecture has asked the city and its agricultural cooperative to recall the tea and stop its sale for now, although the caesium was at a level unlikely to affect human health, the prefecture said on Thursday.
The Fukushima plant is located 220km northeast of Tokyo and 280km from Minamiashigara.
The government has banned a range of vegetables and dairy produce from parts of Fukushima prefecture and several neighbouring regions and banned fishing in the vicinity of the plant.
The government on Thursday said it will start culling thousands of cattle and other livestock in the evacuation zone.
