Radiation in seawater at new high - NHK

Latest readings show radiation levels continue to rise in the ocean outside embattled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant in Japan, NHK news agency reported Thursday.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said 180 becquerels per cubic centimeter of radioactive iodine-131 has been detected in seawater sampled on Wednesday at a location 330 meters south of the troubled nuclear plant.

The level is 4,385 times higher than the legal standard, and far above the 3,355-times level detected on Tuesday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the level in one spot tested in Iitate was twice its suggested threshold for evacuation.