Radioactive waste piles up at Fukushima nuclear plant as disposal method remains in limbo

October 3 (Mainichi Japan) – Three months after the start of full-scale water circulation system operations at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, high-level radioactive waste has kept piling up amid no clear indications of its final disposal destination. As of Sept. 27, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) had accumulated about […]

Japan Ministry of Education ready to formally loosen the annual radiation exposure limit

By arevamirpal::laprimavera 5 October 2011 A mere formality probably at this point, but it is upsetting some people in Japan right now. From Yomiuri Shinbun (10/6/2011): 国内の被曝(ひばく)線量の基準などを検討する文部科学省の放射線審議会の基本部会は6日、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所事故で放射性物質が拡散した状況下の一般住民の被曝線量について、「年間1~20ミリ・シーベルトの範囲で可能な限り低い値を段階的に設定する」とする見解案をまとめた。 The Radiation Council at the Ministry of Education and Science submitted its opinion on the domestic standard on radiation exposure on October 6. Considering the current situation of […]

Fukushima desolation worst since Nagasaki as residents flee

By Yuriy Humber, Yuji Okada, and Stuart Biggs27 September 2011 Beyond the police roadblocks that mark the no-go zone around Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, six-foot tall weeds invade rice paddies and vines gone wild strangle road signs along empty streets. Takako Harada, 80, returned to an evacuated area of Iitate village to retrieve her […]

Steep increase in global CO2 emissions despite reductions by industrialized countries

Paris, France (SPX) Sep 28, 2011 – Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) – the main cause of global warming – increased by 45% between 1990 and 2010, and reached an all-time high of 33 billion tonnes in 2010. Increased energy efficiency, nuclear energy and the growing contribution of renewable energy are not compensating for […]

Japan government to open radiation exclusion zone this week – Decontamination left to individual neighborhoods

By arevamirpal::laprimavera 26 September 2011 The Japanese government says it will abolish the “evacuation-ready” zone in 5 municipalities that lie between 20 to 30-kilometer radius from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant on September 30, all at once. It may be construed as a declaration by the national government that it is now “safe” to return […]

Video: Steam venting from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor, 24 August 2011

A camera mounted on a crane captured this view into the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 Reactor Building during a dust-sampling survey on 24 August 2011. Steam is visible in the upper-left corner at 1:14. This location is approximately over the reactor. TEPCO Steam venting from Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 Reactor Building, 24 Aug 2011 Technorati […]

Graph of the Day: Output Growth of Six Developed Nations, 2003-2011

After a rapid post-crisis recovery, the world economy is slowing down from around 4 per cent GDP growth in 2010 to about 3 per cent in 2011 (see table). Developing economies will continue to record higher growth, at above 6 per cent, compared with developed economies, which registered a mere 1.5 per cent to 2 […]

Radioactive ocean contamination three times higher than TEPCO estimate

By arevamirpal::laprimavera9 September 2011 So says the government corporation Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 5 months after the leak of highly contaminated water was first discovered (in April) at the water intake for Reactor 2 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. So, instead of 4,700 terabecquerels of radioactive iodine and cesium as TEPCO announced back in […]

Video: Tropical storm Talas batters Japan

  September 3 (ITN) – Tropical storm Talas has hit the island of Shikoku, causing flooding which has killed two and left five missing. Technorati Tags: Japan,Asia,flood,global warming,climate change

Video: Airborne transport of cesium-137 from Fukushima to North America

Movie of the Fukushima-Daichii activity in the air (cesium-137, ground level). The simulation was performed with a specific version of the numerical atmospheric chemistry and transport model Polyphemus/Polair3D. The parametrisations used for the transport and physical removal of the radionuclides are described in [1,2,3,4]. The magnitude of activity concentration field is uncertain and could be […]

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