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A Japanese nuclear power plant was ordered to stay closed until safety was assured after an earthquake caused radiation leaks, while the UN nuclear watchdog said the operator had misjudged the risks.

Just hours after the order yesterday, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) revised up the level of radiation it said had leaked into the ocean, one of about 50 problems it reported at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant after Monday's tremor.

"It's clear that this earthquake, as TEPCO, the operating company, indicated, was stronger than what the reactor was designed for," International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

ElBaradei urged a thorough probe to find out what went wrong at the world's biggest nuclear power plant.

The leaks into the ocean and atmosphere from the plant in the northwestern city of Kashiwazaki, near the epicenter of the 6.8 magnitude quake, have renewed fears about the safety of Japan's nuclear industry.

A man's body was found under a collapsed temple building late yesterday, media said, bringing the death toll from the earthquake to 10.

Roads at the nuclear plant complex were buckled and deeply cracked, while white steam emerged from one facility on site.

The nuclear power sector, which supplies almost one-third of Japan's electricity, has been tarnished by years of cover-ups of accidents and fudged safety records.

TEPCO said it had miscalculated and underreported the amount of radiation in 1,200 liters of water that had leaked from the power plant, but that the leak was still within government safety regulations and posed no threat to the environment.

"I apologize for causing you worry and trouble," TEPCO President, Tsunehisa Katsumata, dressed in blue overalls, told Kashiwazaki Mayor Hiroshi Aida as he bowed in apology.

Another TEPCO official bowed as he accepted a written order from Aida not to re-start the plant until safety could be ensured.

TEPCO asked six utilities for supplies of electricity to help fill an anticipated shortage from the shutdown, a company official said. Shares in the company fell 4 percent yesterday, their biggest drop in five months.

The tremor flattened hundreds of homes, injured more than 1,100 people and thousands more are in evacuation centers.
 
Senior officials, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have criticized TEPCO, saying it had been slow to issue information and risked undermining public trust in the nuclear industry.

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki also said it was important not to cause unnecessary concern.

"There were media reports this morning that 50 problems had been found," he told reporters yesterday. "But I asked about the content and while there were various problems, most were not directly linked to radiation emissions," he said.

Akira Fukushima, deputy director-general of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said he could not rule out the possibility that an active fault line extended under the plant.

(China Daily via agencies July 19, 2007)