By Phillip Inman and Terry Macalister 15 September 2013 (The Guardian) – Japan will switch off its last nuclear reactor on Monday, amid fears that a growing dependence on gas imports there could push up electricity bills in the UK. Kansai Electric Power’s only functioning reactor was scheduled to be disconnected from the power grid […]
By Mari Yamaguchi16 September 2013 TOKYO (AP) – A powerful typhoon lashed Japan with torrential rain Monday, leaving two dead as it damaged homes and flooded parts of the country’s popular tourist destination of Kyoto, where 260,000 people were ordered to evacuate to shelters. Typhoon Man-yi, packing wind speeds of 100 mph Monday night, was […]
3 September 2013 (BBC News) – Japan is to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into building a frozen wall around the Fukushima nuclear plant to stop leaks of radioactive water. Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said an estimated 47bn yen ($473m, £304m) would be allocated. The leaks were getting worse and the government “felt it […]
By Jeremy Hsu31 August 2013 (LiveScience) – A radioactive plume of water in the Pacific Ocean from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, which was crippled in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, will likely reach U.S. coastal waters starting in 2014, according to a new study published in Science. The long journey of the radioactive particles could […]
By Candace Calloway Whiting28 August 2013 (Seattle PI) – From NOAA: This image was created by NOAA’s Center for Tsunami Research and graphically shows maximum wave heights (in centimeters or cm) of the tsunami generated by the Japan earthquake on March 11, 2011. It does NOT represent levels of radiation from the damaged Fukushima nuclear […]
By Julian Ryall, Tokyo26 August 2013 TOKYO (Telegraph) – Toshimitsu Motegi, the minister of trade and industry visited the plant on Monday to determine progress to date on decommissioning the three damaged reactors at the plant. Speaking after being shown around the site, Mr Motegi said, “The urgency of the situation is very high. From […]
By MARI YAMAGUCHI23 August 2013 TOKYO (AP) – Deep beneath Fukushima’s crippled nuclear power station, a massive underground reservoir of contaminated water that began spilling from the plant’s reactors after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami has been creeping slowly toward the Pacific. Now, 2 1/2 years later, experts fear it is about to reach the […]
By Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent22 August 2013 (BBC News) – A nuclear expert has told the BBC that he believes the current water leaks at Fukushima are much worse than the authorities have stated. Mycle Schneider is an independent consultant who has previously advised the French and German governments. He says water is leaking out […]
By Shigeru Sato and Yuji Okada15 August 2013 (Bloomberg) – Hanford Engineer Works produced the 20 pounds of plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. It’s among the most toxic nuclear waste sites and the place Japan is turning to for help dealing with melted reactors in Fukushima. Tokyo Electric Power Co. has sent engineers […]
By Mark Willacy, North Asia correspondent 12 August 2013 (ABC) – Workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have told the ABC that contaminated water has most likely been seeping into the sea since the disaster two-and-a-half years ago. Japan’s nuclear watchdog has described the leaks as a “state of emergency”. Workers have told ABC’s […]
