Reuters: Crisis deepening at Fukushima nuclear plant; Upgraded to ‘Level 3 Serious Incident’ — Represents a 100-fold increase in “severity of a radiological release” — Tepco says highly radioactive leakage continues, but unknown where from.


Aug 21, 2013: Japan to issue gravest Fukushima nuclear warning in two years-agency [...] Japan will dramatically raise its warning about the severity of a toxic water leak at the Fukushima nuclear plant, its nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday, its most serious action since the plant was destroyed [...] The deepening crisis at the Fukushima plant will be upgraded from a level 1 “anomaly” to a level three “serious incident”‘ [...] That will mark the first time Japan has issued a warning on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) since three reactor meltdowns [...] The leak [...] has not been plugged [...] Each one-step INES increase represents a tenfold increase in severity [...]

The Guardian, Aug 21, 2013: Japan is to issue its gravest warning about the state of the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant since the facility suffered a triple meltdown [...] The Nuclear Regulation Authority has now said it will dramatically raise the incident’s severity level from one to three on the eight-point scale used by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for radiation releases. Each single-digit increase in the scale actually represents a tenfold increase in the severity of a radiological release, according to the IAEA. [...] Tepco has admitted it has yet to identify the cause of the leak [...] The leak from the tank, which can hold up to 1,000 tonnes of water, has yet to be stemmed, according to Japanese media reports.

AP, Aug 21, 2013: Tokyo Electric Power Co. hasn’t figured out how or where the water leaked, but suspects it did so through a seam on the tank or a valve connected to a gutter around the tank.

AFP, Aug 21, 2013: TEPCO said the leak was believed to be continuing on Wednesday and it had not yet pinpointed the source of it [...]

From Monday: Officials: 'Nuclear Fuel Material' or the like leaked during today's Level 1 event near Unit 4 at Fukushima plant -- "We will explain this incident in the press conference"