A former US nuclear regulatory chief says contaminated water leaks at the crippled Fukushima plant had been known since early in the crisis and have worsened because Japan acted too slowly.
Gregory Jaczko today said at a Tokyo news conference that US and Japanese officials knew leaks would occur when massive amounts of water were used to cool molten reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant after a major tsunami hit in March 2011.
Jaczko says he was surprised how long it took Japan to start tackling the problem.
Japanese officials confirmed for first time in July that contaminated ground water has been leaking into the Pacific.
Jaczko, who resigned as chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission last year, was in Japan at the invitation of a Japanese civil group.