Tokyo Electric Power Co. came under increasing pressure from the government Monday to address recent water leaks and power outages at the meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant as nine experts who investigated the crisis said the new watchdog's oversight was still too lax.

"If these kinds of incidents continue to occur, the very process of decommissioning the reactors could be affected," industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi told Tepco President Naomi Hirose at a meeting.

Motegi said the public is "greatly" concerned about the situation and ordered Tepco to take steps to ensure the radioactive water leaking from two of its seven giant storage pits won't end up in the Pacific Ocean, which Tepco has been polluting on and off for the past two years since the March 2011 quake and tsunami.