Today’s report from the International Atomic Energy Agency shows that Fukushima’s damaged reactors remain largely stable, though little is known about their actual condition. With little to report inside the reactors (for now), attention has turned to the copious amounts of radioactive water flowing out of them.

The water largely appears to be seawater used to cool the reactors that has flowed through a series of pipes and trenches to the sea. Earlier today, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported extremely high levels of iodine-131 flowing out of the plant, and specifically the unit two reactor, which is believed to have a breach in its concrete containment vessel. When I say, high, I mean high, at one point, the iodine levels in an electrical cable pit from which water is believed to be escaping reached 7.5 million times the legal limit. Caesium-137 has also topped a million times the legal limit, and the concentrations of both isotopes seem to be fluctuating quite a bit depending on the time of day.

NHK reported earlier today that at least some of that radioactivity is getting into the environment. Around 4000 becquerels per kilogramme were found in sand lances fished in the region. That’s double the newly established limit for fish, which was also set out by the government earlier today. At last report, at least ten fisheries have partially or completely suspended operations in the region.

TEPCO has been attempting to stop the leakage by any means necessary. Early efforts to pour concrete and absorbent material failed, and now the company is using a “liquid glass” hardening agent, according to NHK. The latest reports show that those efforts may be working.

But even if the water can be stopped, radioactivity may still find its way into the ocean. TEPCO is continuing to move ahead with plans to dump thousands of tons of low-level waste water from the plant in order to free up space for the more radioactive water from the damaged reactors.

For full coverage of the Fukushima disaster, go to Nature’s news special.