Fukushima Disaster ~ Watchdog Issues Fresh Radioactivity Alert

Radioactive contaminated groundwater from the Fukushima plant has likely breached an underground barrier and could rise to the surface, Japan's nuclear watchdog says.

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The troubled Fukushima nuclear plant's operators are facing yet more criticism.

On Friday the Tokyo Electric Power Co. released this footage of a probe from one of the reactors.

But Japan's nuclear watchdog said on Monday that radioactive water is seeping into the ocean creating an "emergency" Tepco is struggling to contain.

The contaminated groundwater has breached an underground barrier and is rising towards the surface, says the nuclear regulator.

Tepco has been buffeted by criticised since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that wrecked the Fukushima plant.

Masashi Goto, a retired nuclear engineer who worked on several Tepco plants, says the company has not been proactive in resolving the contamination crisis.

He says the current situation is more than Tepco can handle.

The regulatory task force overseeing Fukushima said "new measures are needed to stop the water from flowing into the sea''.

Each day Tepco pumps out 400 tons of groundwater that flows in from surrounding hills to try to stop it mixing with the highly irradiated water used to cool the reactors.

Tepco now admits that tainted water is reaching the sea, saying on Friday the radioactive discharge is out of control.