Fresh radioactive water leak found at Fukushima

Tokyo (Agencies): A fresh suspected leak of radioactive water has been detected at Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, its operator says. The contaminated water may have leaked into the ground from one of the plant's storage tanks, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said.

The nuclear plant has suffered two power failures in the past month. Separately, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it would visit the plant to conduct a review.A If confirmed, the leak at the underground storage pool would be the third leak discovered at the plant since Saturday. The underground tanks store radioactive water that have been used in the plant's cooling systems.

The suspected leak was detected at the plant's number one pool, the destination for contaminated water from the number two pool, which was also leaking. The transfer has now been stopped. "We understand that we have caused tremendous worry to the people of Fukushima and the wider public and we apologise for that," Tepco spokesman Masayuki Ono told reporters.

Tepco said that while water may have leaked into the ground, it did not believe the water had reached the sea. It was "currently investigating the cause and countermeasures", said the company.

Strong quake strikes near Iran N-plant Tehran (AFP): A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck today near the Gulf port city of Bushehr, home to Iran's only nuclear power plant, killing at least three people. The epicentre was in the Kaki area, nearly 90 km southeast of Bushehr, seismologists said.

There was no immediate word on any damage to the nuclear plant from the quake, which struck at 4:22 pm (1152 GMT) at a depth of 12 km, the Iran Seismological Centre said.

The US Geological Survey, which monitors quakes worldwide, ranked the quake at a more powerful 6.3 magnitude.