Human errors strand robot inside Unit 2 reactor building

via Enformable.com /  March 27, 2014 / Tokyo Electric announced today that the “Warrior” robot, designed and engineered in the United States, tipped over during an inspection of the Unit 2 reactor building two weeks ago and could not be retrieved due a dead battery. On March 13th, the “Warrior” robot was one of several robots collecting samples of the concrete floor on the fifth floor of the reactor building … Continue reading

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Residents Given All Clear To Return To Fukushima Disaster “Hot Zone”

via Zero Hedge / March 31, 2014 / As reported last night, Japan’s economy may once again be relapsing into a slowing phase, perversely well in advance of the dreaded sales-tax hike which many expect will catalyze Japan’s collapse into another recession as happened the last time Japan had a tax hike, but that doesn’t mean its population should be prevented from enjoying the heavily energized local atmosphere buzzing with … Continue reading

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Fuel removal resumes at Fukushima reactor 4

via NHK World / March 30, 2014 / The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says it has resumed the process of removing spent fuel from one of the crippled reactors. On Wednesday, an alarm suddenly activated and stopped a large crane, as workers were preparing to hoist a cask containing fuel assemblies from the pool at the No. 4 reactor building. Tokyo Electric Power Company found that a … Continue reading

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J-gov Withholds Radiation Readings From 3 Fukushima Sites

via Mainichi.jp / March 25, 2014 / A Cabinet Office team has delayed the release of radiation measurements from three Fukushima Prefecture municipalities, and plans to release them later with lower, recalculated results, the Mainichi learned on March 24. The three municipalities are currently covered by evacuation orders imposed after the March 2011 Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant meltdowns — evacuation orders the government plans to lift in the near … Continue reading

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First Official On-site Fukushima Fatality: A Mudslide Victim

via Reuters / March 28, 2014 / A worker at Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant died on Friday after being buried under gravel while digging a ditch, prompting the operator to suspend cleanup work for safety checks. Tokyo Electric Power Co said it was the first time a laborer had died as a direct result of an accident inside the plant since the nuclear disaster in March 2011, the world’s … Continue reading

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?TEPCO under-calculated radiation exposure for 142 Fukushima workers

via RT.com / March 27, 2014 / Tokyo Electric Power Co. underestimated internal radiation exposure of 142 workers involved in immediate emergency operations at the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011, according to Japan’s Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. After reexamining exposure records provided by TEPCO, the Ministry said Tuesday it had increased the 142 workers’ radiation data by an average of 5.86 millisieverts, The Asahi … Continue reading

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Crane trouble stops fuel removal at Reactor 4

via NHK World / March 26, 2014 / Work has been suspended to remove spent nuclear fuel from a storage pool at a reactor building in the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Tokyo Electric Power Company said an accident occurred at around 9:30 AM on Wednesday when workers started removing fuel units at the No. 4 reactor building. The utility explained a large crane used to hoist a cask containing … Continue reading

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TEPCO to establish “Decontamination & Decommissioning Engineering Company” for Fukushima

via TEPCO / March 25, 2014 / We have been preparing for establishing a new company on April 1, 2014, which will be a new internal entity of the function dealing with decommissioning and contaminated water within TEPCO, for the purpose of clarifying the responsibilities allocation and focusing solely on handling of decommissioning and contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Now the company outline is decided, and … Continue reading

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Fukushima worker reveals life inside wrecked nuclear power plant in manga comic book

via couriermail.com.au /  March 25, 2014 / First off, no one who works at Japan’s wrecked nuclear power plant calls it Fukushima Dai-ichi, comic-book artist Kazuto Tatsuta says in his book about his time on the job. It’s ichi efu, or 1F. It’s not “hell on earth,’’ but a life filled with a careful routine to protect against radiation. A good part of the day is spent putting on and … Continue reading

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On Again, Off Again: TEPCO shuts down decontamination system amid leaks

via Press TV / March 25, 2014 / Officials at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant say they have switched off a key decontamination system used to clean radiation-tainted water after workers discovered leaks. This comes as the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) spotted the defect just hours after the system came back online. The firm has repeatedly switched off the system over a series of glitches since trial … Continue reading

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Fisheries Organization OKs Water Dump at Fukushima

via The Asahi Shimbun / March 25, 2014 / Fishermen here have given the go-ahead for Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s bypass plan to release uncontaminated groundwater into the sea by diverting it before it reaches the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations confirmed its approval when the heads of its member associations met in the city of Iwaki on March 25. … Continue reading

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TEPCO partially restarts water decontamination system

via Times of Oman / The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said Monday it has switched on a key decontamination system that cleans radiation-tainted water used to cool the site’s damaged reactors. Last week, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said it had discovered a defect in its Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) and switched it off for repairs. The embattled firm said two of three lines that clean the … Continue reading

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Details of groundwater bypass plan

via NHK World / March 24, 2014 / The government and Tokyo Electric Power Company — the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, are considering releasing groundwater into the sea, bypassing the facility, as a main measure to reduce the volume of contaminated wastewater. About 400 tons of groundwater flow into the reactor buildings every day. The groundwater becomes contaminated when it mixes with water used to cool … Continue reading

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Fukushima Monitoring Project off to Good Start!

via sewardcitynews.com / March 23, 2014 / Thank you everyone in Seward who has taken an interest and generously helped out with the Fukushima Project. The project has received a lot of attention and interest about the well being of Resurrection Bay. So far, over half of the funding necessary has been raised for the proposed water sampling analysis. In addition, several new Alaska communities have decided to also register … Continue reading

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Fukushima water decontamination might be suspended indefinitely

via RT.com / March 20, 2014 / Treatment of radioactive water at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant might be indefinitely suspended after malfunctions crippled the water purification process and recontaminated thousands of tons of partially purified water, Japanese media reported. The failure in the system, known as the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), is the latest setback in Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s (TEPCO) uphill battle to stockpile radioactive water, which … Continue reading

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Hitachi develops robots to probe Fukushima No. 1 plant

via Japan Times / March 20, 2014 / Hitachi Ltd. and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd. say they have developed robots to detect cooling water leakage points and the condition of nuclear fuel at the disaster-struck Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. One robot can move through narrow pipes by changing shape and another can move through radioactive water to perform research related to the task of removing melted nuclear fuel. The … Continue reading

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TEPCO halts ALPS water cleanup system at Fukushima

via Japan Times / March 18, 2014 /  Tokyo Electric Power Co. halted the operations of all three advanced radioactive water cleanup systems, collectively called Advanced Liquid Processing System, or ALPS, at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant on Tuesday. Tepco made the decision after it found that one of the systems, called B, was not functioning properly. Water samples from System B on Monday showed that levels of beta … Continue reading

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Nearly 70% of decontamination firms still violating labor laws in Fukushima

via Enformable / March 18, 2014 / According to labor officials in Fukushima Prefecture, nearly 70% of the companies hired to conduct decontamination work after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster have been found to be in violation of multiple labor laws. In July 2013, the Fukushima Labor Bureau found that between January and June 2013, 68% of companies and firms engaged in decontamination work were violation labor laws.  The labor … Continue reading

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Squelching Efforts to Measure Fukushima Meltdown

By David McNeil / NY Times / In the chaotic, fearful weeks after the Fukushima nuclear crisis began, in March 2011, researchers struggled to measure the radioactive fallout unleashed on the public. Michio Aoyama’s initial findings were more startling than most. As a senior scientist at the Japanese government’s Meteorological Research Institute, he said levels of radioactive cesium 137 in the surface water of the Pacific Ocean could be 10,000 … Continue reading

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New and improved radiation detectors headed for Fukushima

via Japan Times / March 16, 2014 / Starting in April, Fukushima Prefecture will introduce easy to use radiation detectors for food produce at municipalities so that residents will no longer have to cut up items into small pieces to check cesium levels. Currently, residents can test for cesium in home-grown vegetables and edible wild plants at community centers. But those detectors require cutting up 500 grams of food into … Continue reading

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Tokyo rally against reactor restarts draws over 5,000

via The Japan Times / March 15, 2014 / More than 5,000 anti-nuclear campaigners rallied in Tokyo on Saturday as the government and utilities move toward restarting reactors in Kyushu. The protesters gathered at Hibiya Park in central Tokyo to urge the government not to approve the reactivation of any nuclear plant. Regulators are currently reviewing whether to allow Kyushu Electric Power Co. to fire up two reactors at its … Continue reading

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Scientists expect traces of radiation from Fukushima on U.S. coast soon

By Jeff Barnard / via adn.com / March 14, 2014 / Scientists have crowd-sourced a network of volunteers taking water samples at beaches along the West Coast in hopes of capturing a detailed look at low levels of radiation drifting across the ocean since the 2011 tsunami that devastated a nuclear power plant in Japan. With the risk to public health extremely low, the effort is more about perfecting computer … Continue reading

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Fukushima No. 1 workers rally against TEPCO

via Japan Times / March 14, 2014 / Workers from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant rallied Friday outside the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power Co., complaining they are being forced to work for meager pay in dangerous conditions. The group of about 100 demonstrators shouted and pumped their fists in the air as they railed against being cheated by contractors hired to find recruits to clean up the shattered … Continue reading

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3/11 Three Years On: James Corbett and Ryan Dawson on #Fukushima

James Corbett of Fukushimaupdate.com and Ryan Dawson of ancreport.com have a wide ranging conversation about Fukushima, Global Warming, Thorium, TEPCO, Media, Alarmists, and the TPP. This video is only a preview. The FULL interview can be found HERE.

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Contaminated water still troubles Fukushima

via Press TV / March 11, 2014 / The radioactive water at Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant remains the biggest problem, hampering the cleanup process three years after the disaster, officials say. On Monday, officials at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant said the contaminated water accumulated at the facility was hampering the cleanup process. “The most pressing issue for us is the contaminated water, rather than decommissioning,” media outlets … Continue reading

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3 Years On: Events, Questions Mark Fukushima Anniversary

By Graham Land / Asian Correspondent / March 11, 2014 / Three years on and the extent of the environmental, human and economic repercussions of the Fukushima incident continue to reveal themselves. Fukushima “fallout” is both literal in terms of radioactive materials, and figurative on a global scale. The politics and opinions around the nuclear issue are far from settled. In Japan anti-nuclear sentiment runs high, with protesters recently marking … Continue reading

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Nuclear regulators misled the media after Fukushima, emails show

via RT.com / March 10, 2014 / Emails obtained by journalists at NBC News reveal that officials at the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission — the government agency that oversees reactor safety and security — purposely misled the media after the Fukushima, Japan disaster in 2011. On Monday this week — one day shy of the third anniversary of the Fukushima meltdown — NBC published emails obtained through a Freedom … Continue reading

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Plan to send residents home three years after nuclear accident labelled irresponsible

By Matthew Carney / ABC.net.au / March 11, 2014 / A nuclear industry insider has told the ABC that the situation at the stricken Fukushima reactor is still not under control, three years after the disaster there. Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe has announced he wants 30,000 residents to return to their homes and the reactors to be switched back on within two years. But a Fukushima insider and two … Continue reading

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The children of Japan’s Fukushima battle an invisible enemy

By Elaine Lies / via Reuters / March 10, 2014 / Some of the smallest children in Koriyama, a short drive from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, barely know what it’s like to play outside — fear of radiation has kept them in doors for much of their short lives. Though the strict safety limits for outdoor activity set after multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in 2011 … Continue reading

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3 Years On Risks of Radiation Exposure Remain High for Fukushima Workers

via Asahi Shimbun / March 9, 2014 / About half of the workers at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in the three years since the triple meltdown have been exposed to more than 5 millisieverts of radiation, a level used as a radiation exposure reference for humans. The levels of radiation exposure among workers at the crippled Fukushima plant have decreased since the 2011 nuclear accident, but there … Continue reading

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Tens of thousands stage anti-nuclear rally in Tokyo

via Channel News Asia / March 9, 2014 / Tens of thousands of citizens turned out for an anti-nuclear rally in Tokyo on Sunday, as the nation prepares to mark the third anniversary of the Fukushima disaster. Demonstrators congregated at Hibiya Park, close to central government buildings, before marching around the national parliament. They gathered to voice their anger at the nuclear industry and the government of Prime Minister Shinzo … Continue reading

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Japanese Scientists Develop World’s First Radiation Baby Scanner

By Mary-Ann Russon / via IBTimes.co.uk / March 4, 2014 / University of Tokyo scientists have built the world’s first whole body scanner capable of accurately measuring internal radiation exposure in babies and children living in the Fukushima Prefecture. The aim is to ease the worries of concerned parents. BABYSCAN (pictured) is a whole body scanner specially designed so that children can lie down and play or read a book … Continue reading

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More progress made overhauling site than decommissioning reactors at Fukushima Daiichi

by Lucas W Hixson / via Enformable.com / March 4, 2014 / In the three years since the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster there has been a plethora of drastic changes made to the landscape of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant including; new processing facilities for radioactive water, a farm of storage tanks for contaminated water, new cooling systems, a new carpet of thick steel sheets for … Continue reading

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J-gov unveils nuclear centered draft energy policy

by Mari Yamaguchi / via JapanToday / February 26, 2014 / Japan unveiled its first draft energy policy since the Fukushima meltdowns three years ago, saying nuclear power remains an important source of electricity for the country. The draft presented Tuesday to the cabinet for approval expected in March, said Japan’s nuclear energy dependency will be reduced as much as possible, but that reactors meeting new safety standards set after … Continue reading

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Charges dropped over man-made Fukushima disaster, sparks outcry in Tokyo

Japan Times / March 1, 2014 / Hundreds rallied Saturday in Tokyo to protest a decision by prosecutors to drop charges over the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns, meaning no one has been indicted, let alone punished, nearly three years after a calamity ruled “man-made.” Official records do not list anyone as having died as a direct result of radioactive fallout after tsunami unleashed by the 9.0-magnitude quake of March 11, 2011, … Continue reading

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Ocean radiation on B.C. coast measured by crowdsourcing

via CBC.ca / February 26, 2014 / People along the British Columbia coast are being asked to step in where governments in Canada and the U.S. have not — to measure radiation from Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in B.C.’s ocean waters. Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass., are calling on the public to collect data from B.C.’s oceans for a crowd-funded research project. The website … Continue reading

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Japan finally acquiesces to U.S. request to return weapons-grade plutonium

via Enformable.com / February 27, 2014 / After nearly four years of requests from the United States and recent protests from China, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga confirmed on Wednesday that Japan will return its stockpile of highly concentrated plutonium that was purchased during the 1960s and 1970s from the United States and the United Kingdom. Japan has told the United States that it will return the weapons-grade plutonium if … Continue reading

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Nuclear waste disposal facility locations difficult to locate in Japan

via Enformable.com / February 25, 2014 / This week NUMO submitted a proposal to a government-commissioned panel of experts which proposed new methods for choosing locations for burying radioactive nuclear waste. The government panel of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is comprised of experts in seismology, volcanoes, and groundwater who have been discussing the methods of selecting sites which will host an underground nuclear waste repository. The panel … Continue reading

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High levels of cesium found in reservoirs far from Fukushima

via Daily Kos / February 26, 2014 / The Asahi Shimbun reported Tuesday that the mud in 468 reservoirs outside of the Fukushima evacuation zone contain levels of cesium high enough to be designated waste that must be removed. The mud in the Myotoishi reservoir, 55 kilometers west of the stricken Fukushima plant, had a cesium level of 370,000 becquerels per kilogram, a level the newspaper described as “mind boggling”. … Continue reading

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Fukushima clean-up system hit by new problem

via RT.com / February 28, 2014 / The radioactive water clean-up system at the stricken Fukushima plant was hit by another issue as its alarm went off. The warning alerted that one of the two clean-up pumps had stopped functioning. After the alarm, a pump for sending tainted water into equipment where radioactive materials are absorbed stopped working, the facility’s operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said. The damaged line … Continue reading

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Fukushima control room shown to media

via NHK World / February 26, 2014 / The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has opened the central control room for the facility’s No.1 and 2 reactors to media for the first time since the 2011 accident. Tokyo Electric Power Company organized the visit on Wednesday ahead of the 3rd anniversary of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami that cut off power and crippled the plant. The room … Continue reading

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Three Fukushima Radiation Studies Reflect Extensive Monitoring Efforts

via natureworldnews.com / February 25, 2014 / Three news items released Tuesday regarding the public health effects of radiation in the atmosphere as a result of the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear incident do little to lessen confusion surrounding the issue, but all point to intense radiation monitoring efforts happening on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. A meeting of the American Geophysical Union’s Ocean Science section revealed Tuesday that low … Continue reading

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Study finds low radiation risk outside Fukushima evacuation zone

via CNN / February 24, 2014 / The safety measures imposed after the 2011 meltdowns at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant appear to have averted widespread health risks to the surrounding population, Japanese scientists say. People who live on the outskirts of the evacuation zone surrounding the plant received only slightly more radiation than normal background doses in the year following the world’s second-worst nuclear accident, researchers at Kyoto … Continue reading

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Human error cause of contaminated water leak at Fukushima

via Enformable.com / February 24, 2014 / Last week officials from the Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that extremely radioactive water had leaked from a storage tank at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. According to the utility over 100 tons of water containing 240,000,000 becquerels per liter of beta-ray emitting substances leaked out of the storage tanks over a period of nine hours before the leak was discovered.  The … Continue reading

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Activists point to Fukushima crisis, urge Japan to stop nuclear exports

via Japan Times / February 21, 2014 / Foreign activists urged Tokyo on Friday to give up its policy of exporting nuclear technology as the impact of the meltdown crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant continues to ripple through Japan and other countries even after three years. “My humble request to the Japanese and the Japanese government is please don’t dump this destructive technology on people who love … Continue reading

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The International Workshop on Radiation and Thyroid Cancer

The International Workshop on Radiation and Thyroid Cancer in Tokyo, February 21-23, 2014 The workshop is ongoing, co-hosted by the Ministry of the Environment, Fukushima Medical University, and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. Presenters include expert researchers from around the world, including Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, in radiological research and thyroid cancer research. The link to the English program: http://www.nsra.or.jp/safe/crpph2014/program-e.pdf The link to the Japanese program: http://www.nsra.or.jp/safe/crpph2014/program-j.pdf Live webcast in … Continue reading

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NRA to accelerate and prioritize reactor restart process

via Enformable.com / February 19, 2014 / The controversy in Japan swirling around the topic of restarting idled nuclear reactors is showing no signs of simmering down; instead uncertainty and frustration appear to be increasing. In July, 2013, the Nuclear Regulation Authority began processing restart applications for ten reactors from eight utilities under tougher post-Fukushima guidelines.  At that time the process was only expected to take six months, but has … Continue reading

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Thermometer out of order at No. 2 reactor

via NHK World / The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says there is just one working thermometer monitoring the temperature of melted nuclear fuel in the plant’s No.2 reactor. Officials of Tokyo Electric Power Company say they have discovered a fault in one of the 2 thermometers used to monitor the lower part of the reactor’s container vessel. They say the problem was found this week after … Continue reading

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Highly radioactive water leaks from storage tank

via NHK World / The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says water containing extremely high levels of radioactive substances has leaked from a storage tank. Tokyo Electric Power Company officials said the leak was found on Wednesday night in one of the many tanks being stored on the mountain side of the reactor buildings. They say the leaked water contained 230-million becquerels per liter of beta-ray emitting … Continue reading

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Fukushima contaminated water cleanup goal ‘difficult’

via Yomiuri Shimbun / It will be difficult for Tokyo Electric Power Co. to reach the target for completing the purification of water contaminated with radioactive substances in storage tanks at its crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in fiscal 2014, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. According to TEPCO’s estimates, 1,960 tons of contaminated water per day must be processed from October to purify about 350,000 tons of polluted … Continue reading

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