via EX-SKF / It must be from the explosion! Or from something TEPCO has done since the accident, whatever it is! No. If TEPCO is to be believed, TEPCO has been hiding the damages for at least 10 years; the oldest damage was from 25 years ago. According to the Yomiuri Shinbun, that’s not clear, and you would be excused if you thought the damages were recent (after March 11, … Continue reading →
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via NHK World / November 14, 2013 / A robot at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has for the first time identified exactly where highly radioactive water is leaking from a reactor. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, on Wednesday succeeded in sending a remote-controlled robot close to the lower part of the No.1 reactor’s containment vessel. The lower section is filled with contaminated water injected to … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Asahi Shimbun / A record high level of 710,000 becquerels of beta-ray sources, such as radioactive strontium, was detected per liter of water in an observation well at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Nov. 12 the water was taken Nov. 10 at the well 10 meters north of a tank that leaked 300 tons of highly contaminated water before the problem was … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Reuters / November 13, 2013 / The operator of Japan‘s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant will as early as this week begin removing 400 tonnes of highly irradiated spent fuel in a hugely delicate and unprecedented operation fraught with risk. Carefully plucking more than 1,500 brittle and potentially damaged fuel assemblies from the plant’s unstable Reactor No. 4 is expected to take about a year, and will be seen as … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Guardian / November 8, 2013 / Gazing down at the glassy surface of the spent fuel pool inside the No 4 reactor building at Fukushima Daiichi, it is easy to underestimate the danger posed by the highly toxic contents of its murky depths. But this lofty, isolated corner of the wrecked nuclear power plant is now the focus of global attention as Japan enters the most critical stage … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia CommonDreams.org / November 5, 2013 / Preparations to begin the potentially catastrophic decommissioning of the crippled Reactor 4 at the Fukushima nuclear power plant will begin this week with a test run. The test, which could push back the beginning stages of fuel rod removal by two weeks, includes moving a “protective fuel cask” into and out of the No. 4 storage pool with a crane—before attempts are made … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Times / November 5, 2013 / With Tepco due to begin removing more than 1,300 spent-fuel rod assemblies and nearly 200 fresh ones from the reactor 4 pool at the Fukushima No. 1 plant this month, global pressure is mounting to allow an international task force to monitor and assist the highly hazardous operation. A former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland, anti-nuclear groups in Japan and abroad, nuclear engineers, … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia NHK World / November 6, 2013 / The International Atomic Energy Agency is sending marine monitoring experts to Japan. They will advise on handling radioactive wastewater leaking into the sea from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi power plant. The world nuclear watchdog says two members from its Marine Environment Laboratory in Monaco will stay in Japan from Wednesday through next week. The experts will visit Fukushima on Thursday and Friday. … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia JapanFocus.org / November 4, 2013 / With the third anniversary of Fukushima’s triple meltdown approaching, stories of incompetence and corruption in the nuclear cleanup are rife. A team of Reuters’ reporters working in Japan has researched working conditions at Fukushima Daiichi and decontamination jobs outside the plant. Their findings are shocking. Their report focuses on the testimony of three workers with different backgrounds: Hayashi Tetsuya, 41, whose case was … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia GreenAction.org / September 13, 2013 / https://fs220.xbit.jp/n362/form2/ To: Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan Toshimitsu Motegi, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Shunichi Tanaka, Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) Urgent international petition calling for immediate action on the uncontrolled radioactive discharges at Tepco’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant This is clearly not an appropriate time for Japan to restart nuclear plants or export nuclear technology The ocean, the source of … Continue reading →
Continue readingBy Yoshifumi Takemoto and Kentaro Hamada / via Reuters / November 4, 2013 The operator of Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant is working on a reorganization plan to fend off more drastic proposals, including possibly dragging the company through bankruptcy in return for a publicly funded clean-up and shutdown of the reactors. Two people close to Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T), or Tepco, and the government department that oversees it … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia ENE News / Nov. 5, 2013 / The utility had intended to start removing the fuel rods from the unit’s packed cooling pool as early as Friday. The test was requested by the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization. The government-affiliated agency called for an initial test that would include transporting a protective fuel cask from the No. 4 storage pool to another pool in a different building about 100 … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia RT / October 20, 2013 / Water has overflowed at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) is attempting to discern the quality of the water and possible radioactive substances which could have been spilled. TEPCO announced on Monday that the water overflowed in 12 areas of the plant. Heavy rains caused water to flow over the barriers of an artificial embankment which surrounds a dozen … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia NHK World / Sep 25, 2013 / The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says it will soon test a filtration system that could remove most radioactive substances from accumulated wastewater at the site. The Advanced Liquid Processing System (pictured) is the key to Tokyo Electric Power Company’s plans to purify radioactive-contaminated water that keeps accumulating at the plant. The company hopes to completely decontaminate the stored waste … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Asahi Shimbun / Sep 21, 2013 / TEPCO, resigned to never restarting its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as concerns grow over radioactive leaks, will turn the facility into a training base for decommissioning reactors. The plant operator has begun considering turning the 42-year-old plant into what would be called a “decommissioning center,” sources said Sept. 20. The new role for the plant will be included in … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Asahi Shimbun / Sep 21, 2013 / TEPCO, resigned to never restarting its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as concerns grow over radioactive leaks, will turn the facility into a training base for decommissioning reactors. The plant operator has begun considering turning the 42-year-old plant into what would be called a “decommissioning center,” sources said Sept. 20. The new role for the plant will be included in … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Asahi Shimbun / Sep 21, 2013 / In the wee hours of Sept. 20, a strong earthquake measuring a 5-plus on the Japanese seismic scale struck Fukushima Prefecture. Its epicenter was in the Hamadori area in the eastern part of the prefecture, where the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located. Even though it caused no damage to the some 1,000 storage tanks within the plant … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Asahi Shimbun / Sep 21, 2013 / In the wee hours of Sept. 20, a strong earthquake measuring a 5-plus on the Japanese seismic scale struck Fukushima Prefecture. Its epicenter was in the Hamadori area in the eastern part of the prefecture, where the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located. Even though it caused no damage to the some 1,000 storage tanks within the plant … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Japan Times / Sep 19, 2013 / Wearing a protective suit to guard against radioactive contamination, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe entered the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant Thursday to inspect the desperate effort to stop tainted water from entering the soil and the Pacific. Abe visited the site in an apparent publicity stunt to demonstrate his determination to get the water crisis under control. An estimated 300 … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia EX-SKF / Sep 21, 2013 / To win 2020 Olympic for Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared to the world that his government will be “at the forefront” to deal with problems at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. Reading the article by Nikkei Shinbun about his most recent visit to the plant and comments from his ministers, it sure looks all talk, nothing but talk. From Nikkei Shinbun … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia ENENews.com / Sep 18, 2013 / We have been conducting an on-site inspection for seismic safety evaluation on the exhaust stack for Units 1 and 2 at Fukushima Daiichi NPS. Today (on September 18), in the inspection, we found fracture-like traces on steel members (diagonal bracings) of the exhaust stack (pictured). Since the area around the exhaust stack includes a location with a high dose rate, we will start … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Channel News Asia / Sep 16, 2013 / Typhoon Man-yi hit Japan on Monday, leaving two people dead and forcing the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to release rainwater with low levels of radiation into the ocean. The powerful typhoon made landfall in Toyohashi, Aichi prefecture, shortly before 8:00am (2300 GMT Sunday), packing gusts of up to 162 kilometres (100 miles) per hour, the Japan Meteorological Agency … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Daily Press / Sep 16, 2013 / In addition to TEPCO’s problem with how to manage the radioactive water from the defunct Fukushima nuclear plant, it was found that there still remain about 150,000 tons of radioactive waste that has not been properly stored. Besides contaminated soil, among those collected were contaminated branches and leaves, accounting for about 30 percent of waste that resulted from the reactor meltdowns. … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia TEPCO.co.jp / Detailed Analysis Results on Groundwater around Units 1 to 4 at Fukushima Daiichi NPS (Results of Measurement around Units 1 and 2)(Follow-up Information 2). We conducted a purification test of wells (sub-drain pits) located next to the Units 1-4 buildings at Fukushima Daiichi NPS, and detected radioactive materials in water accumulated in the pits. One possible cause of the entrance of radioactive materials there is fallout. We … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Wall Street Journal / Sep 13, 2013 / Two and a half years after the disastrous nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan is finally reaching out to the international community for help in grappling with a challenging cleanup operation and improving its response to global fears over contaminated water leaking from the stricken power plant. Tepco invited a U.S. nuclear expert this week as outside adviser for the decommissioning process. … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia euronews.com / Sep 13, 2013 / A senior official from the company which operates the stricken nuclear power plant at Fukushima in Japan has admitted that the situation there is “not under control”. However, within hours Tepco released a statement saying the official, Kazuhiko Yamashita, meant to say something different. His comments came in response to a question at a meeting with the opposition Democratic Party. The politician asked … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Fukuleaks.org / Sep 11, 2013 / TEPCO plans to begin removing spent fuel from unit 4 this fall. This effort only came about after ongoing public outcry over the danger the damaged pool posed. The effort was accelerated and the de-fueling building installed this spring and summer. This will be the first of some very high risk work at the plant but is little understood by the public. How … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Reuters / Sep 10, 2013 / Fukushima nuclear plant operator Tepco Electric’s response to the world’s worst atomic disaster in a quarter century has been called ad hoc and more concerned with cost than safety, but 30 months later, the utility is still in charge. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in the centerpiece of Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics, said he would be personally responsible for a … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Al Jazeera / Sep 8, 2013 / In March 2011, a tsunami hit Japan, killing almost 19,000 people and crippling the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The shutting down of the plant removed thousands of megawatts from the country’s power grid – but that was just the beginning of the problems caused by Fukushima’s meltdown. Continuing fears about food safety are destroying the livelihoods of farmers and fishermen who have … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia JapanFocus.org / Sep 1, 2013 / by Andrew DeWit and Christopher Hobson / Japan’s searing summer of 2013 saw the lid slide further off Fukushima Daiichi and its Pandora’s box of radioactive and political crises. The company in charge, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), already Japan’s most distrusted firm,2 was irredeemably exposed as dangerously incompetent. A slew of reports concerning leaks of high-level radiation led to increasingly concerned appeals, … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia RT.com / Sep. 1, 2013 / Several new hotspots reading potentially lethal doses of radiation have been detected near the tanks storing the radioactive water, forcing the operator to admit there might be even more leaks at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. The high radiation readings were detected during the daily inspection on Saturday near three water tanks and one pipe stretched between the tanks and the plant, … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia SMH.com.au / Aug 27, 2013 / The Japanese government has lost patience with the efforts of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) to get the crippled reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant under control. Toshimitsu Motegi, the minister of trade and industry, visited the plant on Monday to determine progress on decommissioning three reactors damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in March, 2011. Tepco admitted last week that hundreds … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia CNTV.cn / Aug. 25, 2013 / The operator of Japan’s wrecked nuclear plant has attributed this week’s massive leak of contaminated water to deteriorated seams and a possible contortion of a storage tank. Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco rushed to reassemble the tanks after the triple meltdown in March 2011. The quick fix was designed to last till 2016 until it worked out a more permanent solution, but has … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Russia Today / Aug. 22, 2013 / TEPCO, operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, admits it needs overseas help to contain the radioactive fallout, after 18 months of trying to control it internally. It comes after the latest leak at the facility was deemed a “serious incident.” “Many other countries outside of Japan have experienced decommissioning reactors, so we hope we can consult them more and utilize their … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia RT.com / Aug. 21, 2013 / Japan will drastically raise the gravity of the latest Fukushima leak to Level Three, which is considered a “serious radiation incident” on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) for radiological releases. “Judging from the amount and the density of the radiation in the contaminated water that leaked…a Level Three assessment is appropriate,” read the document used during Wednesday’s weekly meeting of Nuclear Regulation … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia NHK World / Aug. 20, 2013 / Residents of Fukushima Prefecture, home to the crippled nuclear power plant, will sue the central government for negligence in providing assistance one year after the enactment of a relevant law. The law enacted in June last year mandates medical, housing and other support to current and former residents of areas where radioactive levels are higher than usual but were not designated as … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia RT.com / Aug. 17, 2013 / TEPCO has sought the expertise of the same US company that produced plutonium for the atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki in World War II. Hanford Engineer Works produced the 20 pounds of plutonium used for the atomic bomb “Fat Man” which was unleashed on the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The company has had decades of experience treating millions of … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Times / Aug. 20, 2013 / Puddles of water with extremely high radiation levels have been found near water storage tanks on the premises of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, nuclear regulators and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday. The radiation level, measured around 50 cm above the toxic water, stood at about 100 millisieverts per hour, Tepco said, while acknowledging that the … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia NHK World / Aug. 19, 2013 / Officials with Tokyo Electric Power Company say they will study storage tanks to find out why radioactive water is leaking at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The officials said on Monday about 120 liters of highly-radioactive water had leaked from a tank near the number 4 reactor. They detected 100 millisieverts per hour of radiation on the surface of puddles … Continue reading →
Continue readingby Andrew DeWit / JapanFocus.org / August 16, 2013 / Japan’s ruined and radioactive reactor plant at Fukushima Daiichi has been an abiding source of concern among knowledgeable observers. There are a host of good reasons for this reemergence. As this Mainichi survey observes, it is now clear that several hundred tons of radiation-contaminated water is entering the ocean per day. Over the past week, it suddenly returned as an … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Reuters.com / August 14, 2013 / The operator of Japan‘s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is preparing to remove 400 tons of highly irradiated spent fuel from a damaged reactor building, a dangerous operation that has never been attempted before on this scale. Containing radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released in the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima 68 years ago, more than 1,300 used fuel rod assemblies packed … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia eurasiareview.com / August 12, 2013 / Ten workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant were exposed to radiation from contaminated mist, TEPCO says. Workers in the building were prohibited from using tap water, which comes from the same tainted source 10 km from the facility. Exposure levels detected by radiation monitors worn by workers were found to be as much as 10 becquerels per square centimeter – 2.5 … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia FukuLeaks.org / August 13, 2013 / TEPCO released this unrealistic statement to the press today. The report was for their creditors. In this report TEPCO claims they plan to restart Kashiwazaki Kariwa by January and return to profitability in fiscal 2013. There are just a few things standing in their way. This does not take into account the massive amounts of money that need to be paid to the … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia RT.com / by Prof. Christopher Busby / August 9, 2013 / Fukushima is a nightmare disaster area, and no one has the slightest idea what to do. The game is to prevent the crippled nuclear plant from turning into an “open-air super reactor spectacular” which would result in a hazardous, melted catastrophe. On April 25, 2011 – one month after the explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plant and the … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia RT.com / August 7, 2013 / Radiation-contaminated water has been pouring into the Pacific Ocean from the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the past two years, an industry ministry official told reporters on Wednesday. A Japanese government official said an estimated 300 tons of contaminated water is leaking into the Pacific Ocean per day from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. Japanese authorities are working in crisis mode, … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia ChannelNewsAsia.com / August 5, 2013 / The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has given its first public estimate of the size of the leakage of radioactive tritium into the Pacific Ocean since the disaster. Between 20 trillion to 40 trillion becquerels of the substance is estimated to have leaked into the sea since May 2011, said Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO). It was the first such figure … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Times / August 1st, 2013 / Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported Wednesday a group net profit of ¥437.93 billion for the April-June quarter, but fuel costs for thermal power generation to make up for the loss of atomic energy due to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant catastrophe that started in 2011 continued to weigh heavily on the utility. The quarterly net profit compares with a loss of … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia RT.com / July 29, 2013 / Water samples taken at an underground passage below the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant contain alarming levels of radiation which are comparable to those taken immediately after the catastrophe. According to a Saturday statement by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the tested water contains 2.35 billion becquerels of cesium per liter, and the radioactive water is now seeping into the sea. The findings … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia NHK World / July 24, 2013 / Experts estimate that cleaning up radioactivity in Fukushima Prefecture would cost 50 billion dollars, more than 4 times the amount that has been earmarked. Experts from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology studied the cost of decontamination for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. They estimate that decontamination in no-entry zones will cost up to 20 billion dollars, and in … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia AlJazeera.com / July 23, 2013 / The operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant has said contaminated ground water had likely been flowing into the sea, acknowledging such a leakage for the first time. Tokyo Electric Power Co, or Tepco, also came under fire on Monday for the revelation that the number of plant workers with thyroid radiation exposure times exceeding the threshold levels for increased cancer risks … Continue reading →
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