Japan to dump 11,500 tons low-radioactive water

VIENNA (Reuters) - Japan will need to discharge a total of 11,500 tons of low-contaminated water into the ocean from the site of a stricken nuclear reactor, a senior Japanese nuclear official said in Vienna on Monday.

"The total amount of water is 11,500 tons," Koichiro Nakamura, a deputy director general of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), told a news conference when asked how much water Japan needed to dump into the ocean.

He said this was a required measure to avoid a more serious risk. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said earlier on Monday the release would be more than 10,000 tons.

(Reporting Sylvia Westall and Fredrik Dahl)