Japan raises alert for Fukushima nuke plant leak

FILE - In this undated file photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co., the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant reactors stand in line intact in Okuma town in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Radiation has covered the area around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant and blanketed parts of the complex, making the job of rendering the plant safe so that it doesn't threaten public health and the environment, or "decommissioning", a bigger task than usual. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.,File)

Japanese nuclear regulators raised the severity of the latest leak of radiation-contaminated water at a damaged plant to the level of “serious incident” on Wednesday.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said last week about 300 tons of highly contaminated water had leaked from a storage tank at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority raised the severity of the leak on the International Nuclear Event Scale from level 1 — an “anomaly” — to level 3.

The leak was the worst since the start of the nuclear disaster in 2011, the operator said.

Level 7 — “major accident” — was applied when three of the reactors suffered meltdowns.