A record quantity of radioactive cesium – 7,400 times the country’s limit deemed safe for human consumption – has been detected in a greenling fish in the waters near the crippled Fukushima plant, two years after the nuclear disaster.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which runs the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, discovered a record 740,000 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium in the fish, Kyodo News reported.

The operator installed a net on the seafloor of the port exit near the plant to prevent the fish from escaping.

The bottom-dwelling greenling fish was found in a cage set up by TEPCO inside the port next to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, a utility official told AP on condition of anonymity.

The company also indicated that the previous record of cesium concentration in fish was 510,000 becquerels per kilogram detected in another greenling caught in the same area, TEPCO said.

In January, a fish containing over 2,500 times Japan's legal limit for radiation in seafood was caught in the vicinity of the nuclear plant, the facility's operator reported.

The March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami damaged the plant, causing meltdowns that spewed radiation into the surrounding soil and water. The disaster forced the evacuation of 170,000 local residents.

Some experts have speculated that radioactive water may be seeping from the plant into the ocean; this may have been confirmed after bluefin tuna caught off the coast of California tested positive for radiation poisoning at the end of February.

Most fish along the Fukushima coast are banned from market.

Most fish along the Fukushima coast are banned from market.

More radioactive leaks reported at Fukushima plant

TOKYO (AFP) - The operator of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Wednesday admitted it had found another leak of radioactive water, the latest episode in a growing catalogue of mishaps.

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), said one of its workers spotted drips coming from a tank used to store radioactive water at the site on Japan's tsunami-wrecked coast.

Water was leaking at the rate of one drop every three or four seconds, the company said, adding that absorbent material had been placed under the leak and workers were trying to stem the flow.

An increasing volume of water made radioactive after being used to cool the melted cores of broken reactors has become a growing headache for TEPCO, which has hundreds of tanks on the site.

Critics say improvised fixes put in place at Fukushima since the disaster leave it vulnerable to mishaps and at the mercy of nature.

Underwater storage pools have previously sprung leaks and a rat knocked out electricity supplies to cooling systems after it found its way onto a circuit board earlier this year.

On Monday TEPCO announced it had detected radioactive cesium in groundwater samples taken from the site, reversing an earlier announcement that the water was harmless.

The company had been intending to release the groundwater into the sea but suspended the plan in the face of strong protest from local fishermen.

Although the natural disaster that sparked the meltdowns claimed more than 18,000 lives, no one is officially recorded as having died as a direct result of the nuclear catastrophe.

However, tens of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes and businesses in the area around the site and many remain evacuated, with scientists warning some places may have to be abandoned forever.

TEPCO shares plunged 16.31 percent at 513 yen on Wednesday.

Radioactive water has leaked from a storage tank into the ground at Japan's Fukushima plant, its operator says.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said the leak of at least 300 tonnes of the highly radioactive water was discovered on Monday.

The plant, crippled by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, has seen a series of water leaks and power failures.

The tsunami knocked out cooling systems to the reactors, three of which melted down.

An employee discovered the leak on Monday morning, Tepco said in a statement.

The incident comes days after Tepco admitted that as much as 300 tonnes of contaminated water a day was leaking from the damaged reactor buildings to the sea.

Fracking is "safe" too

(ha ha)