The Fukushima nuclear plant is likely leaking radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean and has been doing so ever since the disaster began in March 2011, the head of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority revealed on Wednesday.

Officials with the agency said they "strongly suspected" the contamination was reaching the ocean.

Nuclear Regulation Authority head Shunichi Tanaka told reporters:

I think contamination of the sea is continuing to a greater or lesser extent. It was contaminated at the time of the accident, but I think it has been continuing for the last two years. Coming up with countermeasures against all possible scenarios is a top priority.

The New York Times adds that in his "unusually candid comments" Tanaka "also said that neither his staff nor the plant’s operator knew exactly where the leaks were coming from, or how to stop them."

Tanaka's comments come a day after levels of radioactive cesium-134 and cesium-137 were detected as high as 90 times greater than they were just three days prior.

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