Fukushima City secretly dumping tons of radioactive dirt – Situation expected to worsen

By Noriyoshi Otsuki and Satoru Murata5 August 2011 FUKUSHIMA–Deep in the mountains, a 4-ton dump truck unloads burlap bags that land with a thud in a hole shaped like a swimming pool 25 meters long and more than 2 meters deep. Another dump truck soon arrives, also filled with burlap bags. The two male workers […]

Japan sacks top officials over nuclear disaster

By Rie Ishiguro, Yoko Kubota; Editing by Edwina Gibbs3 August 2011 9:48pm EDT TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan sacked three senior bureaucrats in charge of nuclear power policy on Thursday, holding them to account for a series of scandals which have broken out in recent weeks over the government’s cozy relationship with the power industry. Japanese […]

Fukushima: Deadly radiation zone may have been caused by hydrogen explosion – Nearby pipes also show signs of ultra-high radiation

August 3 (Yomiuri Shimbun) – Record-high radiation levels of more than 10 sieverts (10,000 millisieverts) per hour have been detected on a pipe at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co. TEPCO said Monday no workers trying to bring the plant under control have been working near the […]

Munich Re: Accumulation of very severe natural catastrophes makes 2011 a year of unprecedented losses

US contact: Terese Rosenthal, Tel.: +1 609 243 4339 12 July 2011 An exceptional accumulation of very severe natural catastrophes makes 2011 the highest-ever loss year on record, even after the first half-year. Already, the approx. US$ 265bn in economic losses up to the end of June easily exceeds the total figure for 2005, previously […]

Image of the Day: Extremely High Radiation Levels at Main Exhaust Stack of Fukushima Unit 1/2

By Kyung Lah (CNN)2 Aug 2011 TOKYO (CNN) – The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has detected the highest radiation levels at the facility since initial earthquake and tsunami five months ago, a company spokesman said Tuesday. The ultra-high levels of radiation were measured Monday afternoon on the grounds of the facility, […]

TEPCO finds highest radiation levels yet at Fukushima nuclear plant

August 1 (Bloomberg) – Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, said it detected the highest radiation to date at the site. Geiger counters, used to detect radioactivity, registered more than 10 sieverts an hour, the highest reading the devices are able to record, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at […]

Doubting official assurances, Japan citizens find radioactive contamination on their own

By KEN BELSON31 July 2011 IWAKI, Japan — Kiyoko Okoshi had a simple goal when she spent about $625 for a dosimeter: she missed her daughter and grandsons and wanted them to come home. Local officials kept telling her that their remote village was safe, even though it was less than 20 miles from the […]

Fukushima: 50,000 tons of radioactive sludge with no disposal plan – 1,500 tons too toxic to be buried

July 29 (NHK) – Nearly 50,000 tons of sludge at water treatment facilities has been found to contain radioactive cesium as the result of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Over 1,500 tons is so contaminated that it cannot be buried for disposal. Water treatment facilities in eastern and northeastern Japan have […]

Miyagi beef cattle shipments barred – Iwate may face similar ban amid radiation spread

By MASAMI ITO, Staff writer28 July 2011 The government ordered a complete ban Thursday on all shipments of beef cattle from Miyagi Prefecture after detecting radioactive cesium above the government limit in some local cattle. The government is also considering placing a similar ban on beef cattle from Iwate Prefecture, where five cattle from Ichinoseki […]

Fukushima teacher muzzled on radiation risks for school children

By Takahiko Hyuga28 July 2011 As temperatures soared to 100 degrees Fahrenheit on a recent July morning, school children in Fukushima prefecture were taking off their masks and running around playgrounds in T-shirts, exposing them to a similar amount of annual radiation as a worker in a nuclear power plant. Toshinori Shishido, a Japanese literature […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial