KASHIWAZAKI, Japan - A powerful earthquake tipped over barrels of nuclear waste at a power plant in northern Japan, a plant spokesman said Tuesday, a day after officials said the quake had caused the reactor to spill radioactive water into the sea.

Rescue workers search for survivors following Monday's quake, in Kashiwazaki city, Niigata Prefecture (State), Japan, Tuesday, July 17, 2007. [AP]

The death toll stood at nine a day after the 6.6-magnitude quake. One person was missing and another 13,000 were homeless, as rescue workers rushed to locate any survivors in the rubble amid fears of landslides.

The quake had caused a leak of water with radioactive material Monday at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world's largest in terms of electricity output, although officials said that leak caused no harm to the environment.

On Tuesday, Kyodo News agency reported that about 100 stacked drums containing low-level nuclear waste fell at the plant during the quake and were found a day later with some of the lids open.

Kensuke Takeuchi, a spokesman at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, confirmed that barrels of low-level nuclear waste had tipped over. But he could not give further details, such as whether there had been a leak.

"We're currently investigating the situation and plan to deal with it as smoothly as possible," Takeuchi said, while refusing to offer further comment.

Another leak at the Kashiwazaki power plant would feed fresh concerns about the safety of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors, which supply 30 percent of the quake-prone country's electricity and have suffered a long string of accidents and cover-ups.

Monday's quake initially triggered a small fire at an electrical transformer in the sprawling plant. But it was announced 12 hours later that the temblor also caused a leak of water containing radioactive material.

Officials said there was no "significant change" in the seawater near the plant, which is about 160 miles northwest of Tokyo. "The radioactivity is one-billionth of the legal limit," Jun Oshima, an executive at Tokyo Electric Power Co., said of the leaked water.

But the delay in notifying the public spurred concern among anti-nuclear activists.

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