TEPCO says finds radioactive water leakage at plant

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The utility said in a statement it was checking whether a strong earthquake that jolted the area early Thursday morning had caused the leakage of contaminated water at the No. 2 unit of its Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant, which was closed for a scheduled inspection at the time of the quake.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said on Thursday it had discovered a small leakage of radioactive water within one of its nuclear units north of Tokyo.

The utility said in a statement it was checking whether a strong earthquake that jolted the area early Thursday morning had caused the leakage of contaminated water at the No. 2 unit of its Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant, which was closed for a scheduled inspection at the time of the quake.

The earthquake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.7, jolted a wide area of eastern Japan, including Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

TEPCO, the world's biggest private electric power company, added that the leak had no impact on the environment outside of the unit, and that it had found no other irregularities at any of the plant's other units.

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(Reporting by James Topham; Editing by Chris Gallagher)