Beijing on Wednesday admitted for the first time that nuclear rods at a power plant in Guangdong province were damaged and could have caused the increased radioactivity detected in the vicinity.

Five out of 60,000 fuel rods at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant were estimated to be affected, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said on social media, citing a question and answer session between the National Nuclear Safety Administration and reporters.

The damage was normal and did not pose a risk of radiation leakage to the environment as the “physical barriers are safe,” the post said. The higher levels of radioactivity were still within the range of stable operation, it added.

In the same post, the nuclear safety agency refuted a CNN report earlier this week that claimed it had raised the acceptable limits of radiation outside the Taishan plant to avoid a shutdown of the facility.

It had “reviewed and approved the relevant limits of specific radioactivity of inert gases in the reactor coolant at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant.”

“These limits are used for operational management and have nothing to do with radiation levels outside the nuclear power plant,” the post read.

News reports of a suspected leak at the Taishan plant have caused worries in Hong Kong, just 130 kilometers away.

The city’s security chief, John Lee, said the state nuclear safety agency told him that the plant was safe and confirmed there was no leakage to the environment. Management of the facility abided by Chinese and international standards in ensuring safety, he said.

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