nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Fukushima radiation levels – danger to children

Global resources needed to combat radiation  levels,  Statesman.journal.com  by Warren Binford, Sep. 25, 2011  This month marked the half-year anniversary of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, and TEPCO and the Japanese government remain unable to control the nuclear emergency that continues to unfold.

Radiation levels exceed the Chernobyl disaster and now reach a level that is unknown to humans or machines. Radiation leakage from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was so high in August it exceeded the monitoring equipment’s maximum measuring capacity. Continue reading →

September 26, 2011 Posted by | health, Japan | Leave a comment

Fukushima: five local governments anxious about radiation to residents

Fukushima municipality heads concerned over lifting of evacuation advisory, Mainichi Daily News, 26 Sept, FUKUSHIMA (Kyodo) — Heads of five municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture affected by the ongoing nuclear crisis have aired concerns over the government’s plan to lift its evacuation advisory in the event of an emergency, saying not enough has been done to ensure the safety of residents. Continue reading →

September 26, 2011 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Fukushima area: ionising radiation in rice

High Radiation Found in Japanese Rice, WSJ, By YOSHIO TAKAHASHI, 26 Sept, TOKYO—Japan has detected high levels of radiation in rice growing near the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, a government official said Saturday.

A preparatory test ahead of the official examination of the safety of rice in Nihonmatsu, a city about 30 miles west of the stricken power plant, found that a sample of unharvested rice contained 500 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, the maximum permissible level, the Fukushima Prefecture official said. Rice with up to 500 becquerels of cesium per kilogram is considered safe for consumption, but shipments of rice exceeding that level are banned in Japan.

The cesium level found in the rice sample in Nihonmatsu is the highest discovered since the regulations were set in April, and no rice shipments have been banned, an official at Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said. Rice with 500 becquerels of cesium per kilogram still can be shipped.

Fukushima Prefecture will conduct the official tests of rice for radiation in Nihonmatsu as soon as possible at 300 spots—many more than the initially planned 38 spots—as a a result of the latest discovery. Preparatory tests are aimed at determining how many spots rice should be tested in each area……http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903791504576590724000963708.html

September 26, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Kaminoseki village election a pointer to nuclear power’s future in Japan

With the national government feeble and divided, the future of nuclear power now is being shaped more in communities where reactors are located or planned. 

Nuclear Power Drives Japan Village Election, Mayor Who Has Backed Reactor Plan Faces Anti-Nuke Challenger, WSJ, By JAMES SIMMS, 22 Sept 11 KAMINOSEKI, Japan—This small fishing village has become the next front in Japan’s battle over nuclear power, with an anti-nuke protester threatening to oust the pro-nuke mayor in an election Sunday.

At stake: the fate of a long-planned reactor for which ground-breaking is supposed to take place next year.

More broadly, the defeat of a mayor whose economic development strategy has centered around a controversial power plant could fuel the country’s increasingly influential anti-nuclear movement. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Typhoon and Fukushima’s leaking radioactive water

Typhoon Roke Hits Japan on Track for Leaking Nuclear Power Plant, SF Gate, Tsuyoshi Inajima and Yuriy Humber,   September 20, 2011 (Bloomberg) — Typhoon Roke brought evacuation orders, downpours and fears of floods to southern Japan today as it began to traverse the country on a course towards the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant……….. Continue reading →

September 22, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Nuclear power plant company a victim of cyber attacks

Japanese defence contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which builds submarines, missiles and nuclear power plants, is the first publicly named victim….

Nuclear plant and missile maker Mitsubishi breached in latest cyber attacks, Security Watchdog, 21 Sept 11, Security experts at Trend Micro have uncovered another large-scale, co-ordinated campaign of targeted attacks, this time focused on compromising data at a series of defence industry companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan. Continue reading →

September 21, 2011 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Renewable energy prospects:Japan’s nuclear heirarchy failing to convince.

The nuclear village and its hired guns in the academic and administrative and political sectors have worked together to craft a mechanism through which compensation will almost inevitably be torn out of the public budget as well as the pockets of utility ratepayers.

Creating a Solar Belt in East Japan: The Energy Future, Japan Focus , Son Masayoshi with an introduction by Andrew DeWit, 19 Sept 11   Introduction  “……..In fact, the fight over Japan’s energy options is not at all ended. The nuclear village’s effort to portray Fukushima as merely a setback has failed in the face of the facts, of course. Continue reading →

September 19, 2011 Posted by | Japan, renewable | Leave a comment

TEPCO hides information from Japan’s govt nuclear agancy

Head of nuclear watchdog criticizes TEPCO over blacked-out documents, Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog, 19 Sept 11 The head of a government nuclear watchdog has criticized Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) for not being transparent enough, after it submitted documents earlier this month that were mostly blacked out. Continue reading →

September 19, 2011 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

… Are nuclear power plants actually cheap while natural energy is expensive?

Creating a Solar Belt in East Japan: The Energy Future, Japan Focus , Son Masayoshi with an introduction by Andrew DeWit, 19 Sept 11  ”……… Are nuclear power plants actually cheap while natural energy is expensive?   From the standpoint of practical, economical logic, solar power and natural energy are expensive. I had always believed that nuclear power was the most inexpensive way of producing power, at 5-6 yen per kilowatt-hour; therefore we have to use nuclear power and construct new plants. I am sure that many people thought the same.

But is this really true? According to figures listed on an application for approval of the nuclear power plant installation, its unit cost is 15-20 yen. This is the actual data; the pre-accident cost. Continue reading →

September 19, 2011 Posted by | Japan, renewable | Leave a comment

People’s continued fight to shut down Japan’s nuclear industry

“The government and TEPCO need to admit to the crime they’ve committed. Then they need to work on making amends. This accident was not a natural disaster. It was caused by humans,”  mayor, Tamotsu Baba, said……

even though Congressman Takano isn’t getting much support in the Japanese government for his campaign to shut down the country’s nuclear power plants, he is getting more attention from the public, and for now, that’s good enough, as he wants to mostly spread the word on a grassroots level, beyond his community and beyond the Tohoku region…..

Fighting for a radiation- free Japan, Aj Jazeera, D. Parvaz   16 Sep 2011 Communities in the Tohoku region are struggling for information, decontamination and a say in future policies…. The radiation contamination has created a pristine post-apocalyptic postcard, a place where no one is allowed to live and farmers are forbidden from growing anything. It will be years before the full extent of damage to area residents and ecosystem alike will be known…..” Continue reading →

September 17, 2011 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Radiation danger in mushrooms in Japan

Radiation fears, shipment bans, weigh heavily on mushroom pickers, growers, Mainichi Daily News, 17 Sept 11, The ban on wild mushroom shipments from 43 Fukushima Prefecture municipalities announced on Sept. 15, paired with widespread radiation fears, is discouraging pickers from their usual mushroom-hunting trips into the woods.

The ban came after wild mushrooms containing cesium beyond the legal limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram were found in the prefecture. Tawny milkcap mushrooms containing cesium over the legal limit, meanwhile, have also been found in Takahagi, Ibaraki Prefecture, endangering  mushroom-picking in that region as well.

In the town of Tanagura in Fukushima, tawny milkcap mushrooms picked this month were found to contain 28,000 becquerels of cesium, or 56 times the legal limit. The town is famous for matsutake mushroom hunting between the end of September and late October each year….. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110916p2a00m0na012000c.html

September 17, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Japan’s nuclear crisis making young Japanese more thoughtful

 young people in Japan have significantly shifted their focus from material gain to altruism….

Previously, the key purpose for finding a career had been to earn money …..respondents said that their views had also changed about nuclear power 

Nuclear incidents cause shift in values among young Japanese, Inside Japan Tours, 15th September 2011  A new survey reveals that the earthquake and nuclear disaster that beset Japan earlier this year has led to a shift in attitudes among the country’s young citizens.  Continue reading →

September 16, 2011 Posted by | Japan, psychology - mental health | Leave a comment

Roundup of news on severity of Fukushima radiation fallout

VIDEO    http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=26546:  New Radiation Releases: Governments Underreported Severity of Fukushima Massive New Radiation Releases Possible from Fukushima … Especially If Melted Core 
 Global Research, 15 Sept 11, As I’ve noted for 6 months, the Japanese and U.S. governments have continually under-reported the severity of the nuclear crisis at Fukushima. Continue reading →

September 15, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Getting rid of Fukushima’s nuclear reactors a tortuous and dangerous task

Tepco also needs to find ways to prevent any new nuclear reaction, which could happen if the fuel is not adequately cooled during the entire process…

Japan Atomic Energy Body Sees Technical Hurdles Ahead, WSJ, By MITSURU OBE, 14 Sept 11, TOKYO—Japan’s efforts to safely dismantle the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex is expected to be fraught with technical challenges and take more than a decade to complete, the government’s Atomic Energy Commission said Wednesday.

Removing the fuel from the spent-fuel pools and the reactors is vital to ensuring there will be no radiation leakage from the quake-ravaged facility. Experts fear that their structures might have been weakened by the heat and radiation from the damaged fuel and the large amount of seawater that was poured into them as an emergency measure to cool down the fuel. Continue reading →

September 15, 2011 Posted by | decommission reactor, Japan | Leave a comment

Tomioka a nuclear ghost town

Inside Japan’s nuclear ghost zone, By David ShukmanEnvironment & science correspondent, BBC News 13 sept 11, As David Shukman enters the exclusion zone, he finds cattle that have starved to death. Nothing stirs in the empty heart of Tomioka, a community of 16,000 now reduced to the eerie status of a ghost town after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. Continue reading →

September 14, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »