Fukushima radioactive leak ‘patched up with tape’

The operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, which confirmed radiation readings are 18 times higher than previously measured, said yesterday that it found highly radioactive water dripping from a pipe connecting two coolant tanks, and patched it up with tape.

The discovery came hours after its operator Tepco said on it had found new radiation hotspots at four sites around coolant tanks, with one reading at 1,800 millisieverts per hour — a dose that would kill a human left exposed to it in four hours.

But the radiation was largely beta ray with weak penetration force, which workers can easily block by wearing protection jackets, a Tepco spokesman said.