Three locations around an arsenic-contaminated well in Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, have the highest levels of the poison ever found in the area, the Environment Ministry said Wednesday.
It said the discovery, made in its latest drilling study of the area, is the first indication that officials are getting closer to the source of the contamination. The ministry completed the study this month.
The well is believed to have been contaminated by poison gas abandoned by the Japanese military at the end of World War II.