Lessons for Japan from Chernobyl

By April Yee6 May 2012 In her purse, Ikuko Hebiishi carries a Geiger counter, one of two she owns. Wrapped in a protective plastic bag, it makes her feel safe by telling her exactly where radioactivity is dangerously high. Mrs Hebiishi is a city councillor for Koriyama, a town in the Fukushima prefecture 34 kilometres […]

Japan to take control of Fukushima operator TEPCO

By Hiroshi Hiyama9 May 2012 (AFP) – Japan’s government will take a controlling stake in the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant under a plan ministers approved Wednesday, effectively nationalising one of the world’s largest utilities. Tokyo will inject one trillion yen ($12 billion) as part of a 10-year restructuring aimed at preventing the vast […]

Japan leaders fret over today’s nuclear shutdown – No nukes for first time in 42 years – Thousands march against nuclear power

By MARTIN FACKLER3 May 2012 OSAKA, Japan – Barring an unexpected turnaround, Japan on Saturday will become a nuclear-free nation for the first time in more than four decades, at least temporarily. Japan’s leaders have made increasingly desperate attempts in recent months to avoid just such a scenario, trying to restart plants shut for routine […]

International Energy Agency: World progress too slow on controlling carbon emissions

London, 25 April 2012 (IEA) – While progress is being made on renewable energy, most clean energy technologies are not being deployed quickly enough, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today in an annual progress report presented to ministers and representatives of nations that together account for four-fifths of global energy demand. The report, Tracking […]

Ashes at twice the legal limit for radioactivity dumped in Kiryu City, Gunma Prefecture

By arevamirpal::laprimavera 22 April 2012 Kiryu City’s assemblyman Hidenori Nishimaki and Assemblywoman Yuki Niwayama visited the final disposal site for sewer sludge and took some pictures. The site is maintained by the city’s water department. First, this is how the ashes from burning the sewer sludge from May and June last year is stored safely. […]

Fukushima Daiichi: Inside the debacle – ‘Failure at almost every level’

By Bill Powell and Hideko Takayama20 April 2012 FORTUNE – More than a year has passed since a massive earthquake and a series of tsunamis triggered the worst accident at a nuclear power plant since Chernobyl in 1986, but the epic debacle at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station remains front and center in Japan, […]

Fukushima radiation found in California kelp

By Marla Cone30 March 2012 LONG BEACH, California – Kelp off Southern California was contaminated with short-lived radioisotopes a month after Japan’s Fukushima accident, a sign that the spilled radiation reached the state’s coastline, according to a new scientific study. Scientists from California State University, Long Beach tested giant kelp from the ocean off Orange […]

Fukushima radiation tracked across Pacific Ocean

By Jesse Emspak, LiveScience Contributor2 April 2012 Radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster has been found in tiny sea creatures and ocean water some 186 miles (300 kilometers) off the coast of Japan, revealing the extent of the release and the direction pollutants might take in a future environmental disaster. In some places, the […]

Japan nuclear plant may be worse off than thought

By HIROKO TABUCHI29 March 2012 TOKYO – The damage to one of three stricken reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant could be worse than previously thought, a recent internal investigation has shown, raising new concerns over the plant’s stability and complicating the post-disaster cleanup. The government has said that the plant’s three badly damaged reactors […]

Very high radiation, little cooling water in Japan reactor

By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press28 March 2012 TOKYO (AP) – One of Japan’s crippled nuclear reactors still has fatally high radiation levels and much less water to cool it than officials had estimated, according to an internal examination that renews doubts about the plant’s stability. A tool equipped with a tiny video camera, a thermometer, […]

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