Tokyo has announced plans to dump nearly 12,000 tonnes of radioactive water from the Fukushima plant into the ocean. A spokesman for the crippled facility said it's necessary to free up storage space for more highly contaminated water, but insisted the waste wouldn't cause serious harm. Japanese officials predict months of leaks from the Fukushima power plant as workers struggle to plug a damaged reactor. Radiation levels in seawater and groundwater surrounding the site have reached many thousand times the legal limit. Last month's massive earthquake and tsunami has now claimed the lives of 12 thousand people, with some 15,000 still missing.