"Levels of radioactive substances have jumped in the Pacific seabed off Japan near the nuclear power plant crippled by a massive tsunami in March, according to the plant operator.

Seabed samples collected some 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant contained 1,400 becquerels of radioactive caesium-137 per kilogramme, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said.

The level is more than 600 times higher than a maximum 2.3 becquerels per kilogramme detected in the past off the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima.

The samples, taken on Friday, also contained 1,300 becquerels of caesium-134 and 190 becquerels of iodine-131, according to a TEPCO statement issued late Tuesday after the first analysis of seabed soil since the March 11 disaster."

AFP had the story May 4, 2011.
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