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Japan finds high radiation levels in fish: TEPCO

Japanese fishermen unload their catch at the Hirakata fish market in Kitaibaraki, Ibaraki prefecture, close to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on April 6, 2011. A fish contaminated with radiation levels more than 2,500 times the legal limit has been caught near the crippled nuclear plant, according to the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)

A fish contaminated with radiation levels more than 2,500 times the legal limit has been caught near Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, its operator said Friday. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said caesium equivalent to 254,000 becquerels per kilogramme -- or 2,540 times more than the government seafood limit -- was detected in a "murasoi" fish. The fish, similar to rockfish, was caught at a port inside the Fukushima plant, a TEPCO spokesman said. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was battered by a towering tsunami following a huge earthquake on March 11, 2011, causing reactor meltdowns which spewed radioactive contamination into the atmosphere. Fishing around Fukushima was halted and the government banned beef, milk, mushrooms and vegetables from being produced in surrounding areas.