The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) asked for “patience and public transparency” in its review of cleanup activities at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. It’s the agency’s fourth review mission since the earthquake, tsunami and meltdown destroyed the plant in 2011. By Joshua S Hill Cleantechnica It has been nearly eight years since I began covering […]
Electrify is a Singapore-based energy retail marketplace co-founded by Julius Tan, who is also the blockchain startup’s CEO. Electrify will soon be making it possible for excess solar power to be traded using its peer-to-peer energy trading platform in the Kyushu region of Japan. Mr. Tan answered some questions about the startup’s work for CleantTechnica. Jake Richardson Cleantechnica […]
As a result of a class action lawsuit brought against Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) and the government of Japan — the largest such class action lawsuit to date that relates to the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima — a district court in the prefecture has ruled that both TEPCO and the government are liable for damages […]
From the lips of Japan’s Prime Minister: It will take decades to clean up the meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Meanwhile, our worst fears are being realized as reports come in of radioactive cesium contaminating beef raised downwind of the plant.
As they try to clean up what may be the worst nuclear disaster in history at Fukushima, they continue to make things worse.
“In the last three weeks, everything we knew about the accident has been turned upside down. We were told three partial meldowns, don’t worry about it. Now we know it was 100 percent core melt in all three reactors. Radiation – ‘miminal’ that was released. Now we know it was comparable to the radiation at Chernobyl….”
If a techincally-advanced country like Japan with a reputation for exactitude can suffer from one of the worst nuclear disasters in history, should we be a litttle more worried about places where security and infrastructure are poor to non-existent and corruption is rampant?
That’s the theme of a special report compiled for Reuters, based on diplomatic cables assembled from the Wikileaks treasure trove. And it’s kinda scary.
Considering that the Fukushima nuclear reactor complex is still leaking high levels of radiation nearly three months after the disaster and meltdowns, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to learn that Japan was totally unprepared to deal with it.
But it’s encouraging that, after months of downplaying the dangers and offering uberoptimistic assessments of progress, the Japanese government is finally admitting the truth:
It’s been three months since the crisis began at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor complex, and they’re no closer to cleaning up the radioactive mess. In fact, things may be getting worse.
Japan’s NHK TV broadcast a hellish image of radioactive steam billowing out of cracks in the reactor floor. They also reported high levels of radiation.
Tokyo Electric Power Company inspected the inside of the No.1 reactor building on Friday with a remote-controlled robot.
TEPCO said it found that steam was rising from a crevice in the floor, and that extremely high radiation of 3,000 to 4,000 millisieverts per hour was measured around the area. The radiation is believed to be the highest detected in the air at the plant.
As the crippled reactors in Japan continue to emit radiation into the environment, the risk grows that it will appear in our food. Radiation has already been detected in trace amounts in milk across the U.S., and in strawberries, kale and other vegetables in California.
Japan is scrapping plans to get half its power from nuclear reactors. Leaving us to wonder what took them so long.
Two months after the earthquake that trashed the Fukushima reactor complex they appear no closer to getting that mess cleaned up, while the experts debate whether this disaster is as bad as Chernobyl, or worse.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan told a news conference that his country will now focus on renewable energy such as wind and solar, and conservation.
After weeks of government assurances that everything is under control and there is nothing to worry about, recent events at the damaged Japanes nuclear reactors have revealed the truth: They really have no idea what’s going on inside there.
If there’s one lesson we can gain from this odyssey, it’s that nuclear reactors are only safe so long as nothing goes wrong.
For more than 6o years, government officials have downplayed the dangers of radiation.
The truth is: radiation can kill you – slowly, through cancer. And you can avoid that with some simple measures, right now, such as increasing your intake of Iodine and Iodide.
Good news from the high seas: After repeated run-ins with the anti-whaling Sea Shepherd Society that have prevented its whaling fleet from a successful hunt, Japan’s government announced it is suspending whaling, possibly for the rest of the season. Whaling was banned under an international agreement in 1986, but Japan has exploited a loophole in […]
Developed nations have proposed weaker carbon emission reduction goals at the Bonn climate negotiations. If the rising carbon emissions are to be tamed it is necessary that they set ambitious targets.