China says Japanese N-plant leak contaminated its sea waters

BEIJING: China has claimed that its sea waters in the East China Sea have been found contaminated by the radioactive materials emanating from Japan's crippled Fukashima nuclear power plant.

China's State Oceanic Administration said the tests shown that the polluted area is far wider than the areas released by the Japanese government.

The possibility has not been ruled out that the nuclear pollution has flowed into Chinese waters, state-run CCTV reported adding that the announcement has attracted a wide array of concern.

Initial tests of samples collected from these areas show that radioactive cesium-137 and -134, as well as strontium-90 can be found in all water samples.

The latest monitoring results released by State Oceanic Administration on July 29 showed that the sea water samples collected from the area contained 300 times the amount of radioactive cesium against the normal levels and 100 times the amount of strontium.

But the quality of the water has not been affected so far by the radiation, the department said.

From June to July 4 the administration sent a supervision team to look for radioactive materials in the east of Fuushima, the state run China Daily reported.

It monitored an areas encompassing 2.52 lakh sq km collecting large amounts of waters.

In April the Fukoshima Daiichi plant had announced plans to discharge 11,500 tonnes of low level radioactive water.

Cesium-137 and strontium-90 both could last about 30 years making it more likely to enter the food chain and affect the health of consumers, the daily reported.