Japan will strive to avoid a complete shutdown of its 54 nuclear reactors and avert crippling power shortages in the near term while charting plans to reduce the nation's dependence on nuclear powe

Tons of radioactive water were discovered on Tuesday to have leaked into the ground from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, the latest in a series of leaks at the plant damaged in a March earthquake and tsunami, the country's nuclear watchdog said.

More than three months after the disaster, authorities are struggling to bring under control damaged reactors at the power plant, 240 km (150 miles) n