Fukushima
© AFPFukushima nuclear site

Recent radiation readings at Japan's crippled Fukushima plant depict that the level of radioactive water leak from the site has reached its highest level ever, officials say.

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) announced the radiation level of the water leak at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) was as high as 2,200 millisieverts (mSv) (20 percent) on Wednesday, while it was recorded to be at about 1,800 mSv (18 percent) earlier this week.

The radiation level is high enough to kill an exposed person within hours, authorities stated.

Fukushima NPP was damaged in a mega-earthquake followed by a tsunami on March 11, 2011.

The incident led to the meltdown of three reactors at the plant, radioactive contamination of the air, and sea water. About 160,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the area, north of Tokyo, governmental sources announced.

On August 28, the NRA upgraded the radiation level at the nuclear plant from a level one "anomaly" to a level three "serious incident," according to the UN's International Nuclear Event Scale (INES).

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), as well as the government, has been strongly criticized for being devoid of "a sense of responsibility to protect people's lives and society."

This is while the government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has allocated USD 470-million for an underground "ice wall" around the Fukushima nuclear plant to halt the radioactive water leaks.

The development came as one of the only two active reactors at the Oi plant, in the Fukui Prefecture in western Japan, went offline on September 3, with the other one being halted later this month.

According to Kansai Electric officials, the recent stoppage was underway for further inspections by nuclear regulators.

TEPCO officials have also assured the nation that the recent readings at the plant are not due to the recent temblor, which shook the Tokyo area and eastern Japan early Wednesday.

According to Japan's Meteorological Agency the quake registered a magnitude of 6.9 but was centered offshore near Torishima, part of the Izu Islands about 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of Tokyo.

The officials restated that the earthquake bore neither any casualties nor a tsunami and caused no further damage to the Fukushima NPP.