The operator of a crippled nuclear plant in Japan has retracted an announcement that radiation in water near one of the reactors was 10 million times higher than normal, Jiji Press reported.

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said the mistake was due to confusion between readings of iodine and cobalt in the water.

Earlier TEPCO said radiation of more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour was detected in puddles of water thought to have leaked from the the number two reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. It did not retract that figure.

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