High-Tech Farm Aims to Reclaim Fukushima’s Contaminated Soil

via Inhabitat.com / January 7, 2014 / Construction has just begun on a futuristic farming project in Japan’s Fukushima prefecture. A combination farm and solar park, the Renewable Energy Village will contain 120 photovoltaic panels that will generate about 30 kilowatts of power to be sold to a local utility company. Crops will be grown beneath those panels in what’s being called a “solar sharing” layout. Of course, the biggest … Continue reading

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Fukushima Across the Pacific

via Safecast.org / January 11, 2014 / Let’s make it clear: the release of radioactive contamination from the Fukushima NPP to the environment — the air, the land, and the ocean — is a massive disaster. There’s no other way to describe it. Radiation in the air spread far and wide, and was even detectable, though barely, on other continents, while radiation in the ocean is spreading more slowly but … Continue reading

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TEPCO restarts water treatment system at Fukushima

via NHK World / January 10, 2014 / Tokyo Electric Power Company has restarted a system to treat radioactive wastewater at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. TEPCO put the ALPS system back online on Friday. A crane to transfer containers that store removed radioactive materials had stopped working on Tuesday. One of the crane’s 4 motors had broken down, but the utility confirmed that the crane works with … Continue reading

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TEPCO overpaying to procure goods and services

via Japan Times / January 10, 2014 / An in-house Tepco panel has found that the financially troubled utility paid two to five times more than reasonable levels in buying goods and services to run its operations. The panel’s investigation found that Tokyo Electric Power Co. came up with a quote of ¥21 million for work at one of its nuclear power plants that the panel said could be reduced … Continue reading

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All The Best, Scientifically Verified, Information on Fukushima Impacts

via DeepSeaNews.com / January 8, 2014 / With all the misinformation around the internet here are links to articles that we trust. The following provides credible information about what is actually occurring and/or dispel myths about Fukushima radiation that are prevalent on the internet. I will not link to pseudoscience, misinformation, or outright lies in this post or allow them in the comments below.  These posts and ideas have received … Continue reading

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Extra safety steps at Ikata nuclear plant shown

via NHK World / January 8, 2013 / Shikoku Electric Power Company on Wednesday presented extra steps to prevent severe accidents at the Ikata nuclear power plant (pictured) in Ehime Prefecture, western Japan. Last year, the Nuclear Regulation Authority found that tornado and fire prevention was inadequate in its review of measures to avoid severe accidents at the plant. The review that the Nuclear Regulation Authority started this July is … Continue reading

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Atomic lie: Fukushima danger ‘under control’

via WND.com / written by Steve Elwart / Much has been said about the Fukushima nuclear power-plant disaster, much of it true, some untrue. The problem with the news coming out of the troubled complex is that the operating company TEPCO, the Japanese government and international agencies are not being completely forthcoming. Some call it political spin, but others just say the world is being told lies. The epitome of … Continue reading

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TEPCO to siphon off radioactive water from tunnels under Fukushima plant

via Russia Today / January 6, 2014 / The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant plans to start cleaning underground tunnels believed to be part of the sources of radioactive materials poisoning the groundwater in the area. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) will first block the flow of tainted water between the damaged buildings and the tunnels. Workers will begin burying pipes in the ground to carry … Continue reading

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‘Fukushima cowboy’ fights government orders to kill contaminated cattle

via ABC Australia / January 4, 2014 / A Japanese “cowboy” and self-proclaimed leader of the Fukushima nuclear resistance movement is refusing to leave his beloved cattle and the land of his forefathers despite government orders. Masami Yoshizawa (pictured) is also resisting government attempts to have his herd slaughtered, saying the beasts should be studied to better understand the health effects of long-term radiation exposure. Mr Yoshizawa’s property is just … Continue reading

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130 ‘radioactive’ Japanese cars banned from entering Russia

via Russia Today / January 6, 2014 / More than 130 used cars from Japan were denied access to Russia last year as consumer watchdog agency Rospotrebnadzor remains concerned about the contaminated water leaks at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. Strict control of all cargo, arriving from Japan, will continue in 2014 as well, Rospotrebnadzor said on its website. “In 2013, Russia has banned 165 batches of contaminated goods … Continue reading

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Fukushima Meltdowns: A Global Conspiracy of Denial

via Global Research / January 5, 2013 / Does anyone in authority anywhere tell the truth about Fukushima?   If there is any government or non-government authority in the world that is addressing the disaster at Fukushima openly, directly, honestly, and effectively, it’s not apparent to the outside observer what entity that might be. There is instead an apparent global conspiracy of authorities of all sorts to deny to the public … Continue reading

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‘Duct tape, wire nets’ were used to mend #Fukushima water tanks

via Russia Today / January 5, 2014 / As TEPCO began preparations for the cleaning of the drainage system with tons of leaked radioactive water at the Fukushima power plant, a former employee reveals the reason for so many leaks was cost cutting measures such as using duct tape, Asahi reported. Yoshitatsu Uechi, auto mechanic and tour-bus driver, worked at the devastated nuclear power plant between July 2 and Dec. … Continue reading

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Japan to set nuclear waste disposal policy

via Asia-Pacific Perspective / January 4, 2013 / The Japanese government plans to revise a basic policy for disposing of nuclear waste so that it can play a more active role in selecting disposal sites. The industry ministry said starting early this year it will act on proposals submitted in November by a panel of experts, Japanese (NHK World) website reported. The government plans to store highly-radioactive waste from nuclear … Continue reading

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Is The US Government Stockpiling Iodine In Preparation for Fukushima Meltdown?

via Global Research / January 1, 2013 / Following the revelation that The Department of Health and Human Services has ordered 14 million doses of potassium iodide to be available by no later than the first of February, it is easy to see that the same federal government responsible for silently raising the allowable limits of radiation in the food supply and turning off key radiation counters positioned in the west coast … Continue reading

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Fukushima ghost towns struggle to recover

via The Hindu / January 2, 2014 / Post-tsunami reconstruction and radiation cleanup could take 10 years, but officials say something has been permanently lost Nearly three years after a major earthquake, tsunami and nuclear radiation leak devastated coastal and inland areas of Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, 280 km northeast of Tokyo, Namie (pictured left) has become a silent town of ghosts and absent lives. Namie’s 21,000 residents remain evacuated because … Continue reading

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Radioactive fears blight Japan’s seafood industry

via RT.com / December 25, 2013 / Due to radiation fears, Fukushima Prefecture fishermen have to dump most of their catch. Two years into the nuclear disaster, the world is growing weary of Japan’s seafood, with South Korea even banning Japanese fish and seafood imports. Fish has traditionally not only been an integral part of Japanese food culture, but also one of its prized exports. In 2011, before the Fukushima … Continue reading

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Did the #NSA conceal #Fukushima meltdown from military sent into area?

via Washington Times / December 24, 2013 / As over fifty US Navy sailors who served about the USS Ronald Reagan and other Navy ships responding to the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan report falling ill to cancer and other radiation-linked diseases, it is critical to ascertain if the NSA intercepted telephone and email communications from the Tokyo Electric Power Company. The question of whether the spy agency already knew … Continue reading

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Radioactive cesium detected in deeper groundwater

via NHK World / December 20, 2013 / Tokyo Electric Power Company says radioactive substances have been detected in water samples taken from deep underground at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Highly radioactive substances had been detected in previous months in shallow groundwater that was found to be leaking into the ocean. But for the first time in December, TEPCO investigators detected radioactivity in groundwater taken from a … Continue reading

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U.S. sailors report cancers after Fukushima rescue mission

via Al Jazeera / December 16, 2013 / Fifty-one crew members of the USS Ronald Reagan say they are suffering from a variety of cancers as a direct result of their involvement in Operation Tomodachi, a U.S. rescue mission in Fukushima after the nuclear disaster in March 2011. The affected sailors are suing Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), alleging that the utility mishandled the crisis and did not adequately warn … Continue reading

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Drones to monitor radiation at crippled Fukushima plant in 2015

via Voice of Russia / December 17, 2013 / Japan has presented a model of unmanned aircraft that will monitor radiation background around the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japanese media report. The round-shape six-engine crash-proof drone was designed in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It has an in-built camera and several radiation meters and can perform autonomous flights. The aircraft is currently undergoing tests. If … Continue reading

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Release of water into sea inevitable after purification

via Yomiuri Shimbun / December 17, 2013 / It is imperative to speed up efforts to contain contaminated water at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. A government panel on measures to dispose of contaminated water at the crippled nuclear complex has compiled a set of additional steps aimed at reducing radioactive water collecting there and preventing the water from leaking into the environment. The source … Continue reading

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Japan lacks decommissioning experts for Fukushima

via Phys.org / December 15, 2013 / Japan is incapable of safely decommissioning the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant alone and must stitch together an international team for the massive undertaking, experts say, but has made only halting progress in that direction. Unlike the U.S. and some European countries, Japan has never decommissioned a full-fledged reactor. Now it must do so at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. Three of its six reactors … Continue reading

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JGov asks Fukushima prefecture to accept intermediate storage facilities

via Asahi Shimbun / December 15, 2013 / Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara (pictured below) and reconstruction minister Takumi Nemoto on Dec. 14 asked the Fukushima governor and mayors of three towns in the prefecture to accept facilities to temporarily store soil and other materials contaminated with radioactive substances. The government hopes to buy a total of 19 square kilometers of land in Futaba, Okuma and Naraha for the construction of … Continue reading

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TEPCO: Not all pumped-in water reached overheating Fukushima reactors

via Asahi Shimbun / December 2014 / Fire engines were used in a desperate, and ultimately futile, attempt to pump water to cool overheating reactors during the early phase of the 2011 Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant disaster, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. According to a Dec. 13 report by the operator of the crippled facility, water was pumped in sufficient quantity to avert core meltdowns in the No. … Continue reading

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Record radiation levels detected in well at Fukushima nuke plant

via Asahi Shimbun / December 13, 2013 / A record 1.8 million becquerels of beta-ray sources per liter of water were detected at a monitoring well at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Dec. 13. The reading concerns strontium and other beta-ray sources. The water was sampled at a monitoring well in an area close to the sea near the No. 2 … Continue reading

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TEPCO Admits Security Fault in Fukushima

via Presna Latina / December 13, 2013 / Tokyo Electric Power Company admitted errors in the security system of Fukushima Nuclear Plant, destroyed by an earthquake and later a Tsunami in March 2011, reported NHK channel. In the continuation of public reports in this regard, requested by the government, spokesmen of the company noted that the errors in the cooling system and water injection prompted the meltdown of the number … Continue reading

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Fukushima contractor sanctioned by Japan labor regulator

via Reuters / December 13, 2013 / Japanese labor regulators have sanctioned a construction firm involved in the decommissioning of the Fukushima nuclear power plant for improperly employing workers to repair another nuclear plant, also damaged by the 2011 earthquake. ABL Co Ltd, based in Okuma, where the Fukushima plant is located, managed at least eight workers who had been supplied illegally by several layers of subcontractors for inspection and … Continue reading

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$970mn to be spent storing radioactive Fukushima soil

via Russia Today / December 11, 2013 / Tokyo is looking to invest 100 billion yen ($970 million) for storing more than 130,000 tons of contaminated soil dug out near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, according to local media. No nearby town has offered its land for the plan, though. The Japanese government wants to buy some 3 to 5 square kilometers (1.2 to 2 square miles) of land … Continue reading

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Japan proposes more steps to store Fukushima water

via Associated Press / December 3, 2013 /  A government panel proposed additional measures to lessen the radioactive water crisis at Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant, saying Tuesday that current plans are not enough to prevent the risk of a disaster. Officials on the Industry Ministry’s contaminated water panel also said that the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant could run out of storage space for contaminated water within two years if current … Continue reading

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Water decontamination system in trouble

via Voice of Russia / December 2, 2013 / A trouble-prone system used to decontaminate radioactive water at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant was switched off Sunday because of a chemical leak, the plant’s operator said. Hydrochloric acid, used to neutralise alkaline water being decontaminated, was found seeping from a pipe joint, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said in a statement.   The joint was wrapped in a vinyl bag … Continue reading

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Coal-fired power plants to be built in Fukushima

via Voice of Russia / November 30, 2013 / Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced its intention to build two advanced coal-fired power plants in Fukushima. Company officials claim that the new power plants will help the region recover after the nuclear disaster. TEPCO promises that the new construction project will help fight unemployment by creating two thousand jobs and a source of cheap energy. The intended capacity of the … Continue reading

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Typhoons spreading Fukushima fallout

via ABC.net.au / November 29, 2013 / Typhoons that hit Japan each year are contributing to the spread of radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the country’s waterways, researchers say. A joint study by France’s Climate and Environmental Science laboratory (LSCE) and Tsukuba University in Japan shows contaminated soil gets washed away by the high winds and rain and deposited in streams and rivers. “There is a definite … Continue reading

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Lower House passes state secrets bill

via Russia Today / Japan’s lower house has passed a heavy-handed state secrets act despite fears that it will have severe repercussions for state freedoms. Officials will now face a maximum punishment of ten years in prison if they are found to have leaked to the press. Japan’s Diet (parliament) passed the bill, which is aimed at expanding the definition of a state secret and place increasing penalties upon anyone … Continue reading

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First Stage of Fukushima’s Fuel Rod Transfer Completed

via Energy Business Review / Tokyo Electric Power Company has transported 22 fuel assemblies from the Unit 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Loaded into a cask (pictured), the fuel assemblies were transferred from the crippled reactor building to the nearby common pool building at the power plant for safe storage. The extraction of fuel from the Unit 4 spent fuel pool will pause shortly for … Continue reading

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First Stage of Fukushima’s Fuel Rod Transfer Completed

via Energy Business Review / Tokyo Electric Power Company has transported 22 fuel assemblies from the Unit 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Loaded into a cask (pictured), the fuel assemblies were transferred from the crippled reactor building to the nearby common pool building at the power plant for safe storage. The extraction of fuel from the Unit 4 spent fuel pool will pause shortly for … Continue reading

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Thousands protest in Japan against new state secrets bill

via Russia Today / Thousands of people protested in Tokyo against a bill that would see whistle-blowing civil servants jailed for up to 10 years. Activists claim the law would help the government to cover up scandals, and damage the country’s constitution and democracy. A 3,000-seat outdoor theater in a park in downtown Tokyo, near the parliament, was not enough to contain everyone who came on Thursday to denounce government … Continue reading

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Thousands protest in Japan against new state secrets bill

via Russia Today / Thousands of people protested in Tokyo against a bill that would see whistle-blowing civil servants jailed for up to 10 years. Activists claim the law would help the government to cover up scandals, and damage the country’s constitution and democracy. A 3,000-seat outdoor theater in a park in downtown Tokyo, near the parliament, was not enough to contain everyone who came on Thursday to denounce government … Continue reading

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TEPCO at final stage in 1st round of fuel transfer

via NHK World / The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is preparing to complete the first transfer of nuclear fuel from a reactor building to a safer storage pool. On Thursday, Tokyo Electric Power Company moved the batch of nuclear fuel from the No. 4 reactor building to a nearby facility housing the safer pool. TEPCO workers used a trailer to carry a cask containing 22 unused fuel … Continue reading

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Atomic mafia: Yakuza ‘cleans up’ Fukushima, neglects basic workers’ rights

via Russia Today / Homeless men employed cleaning up the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, including those brought in by Japan’s yakuza gangsters, were not aware of the health risks they were taking and say their bosses treated them like “disposable people.”   RT’s Aleksey Yaroshevsky, reporting from the site of the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, met with a former Fukushima worker who was engaged in the clean-up operation. … Continue reading

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Uncertainties abound in Fukushima decommissioning

via Associated Press / November 19, 2013 / It’s costly, risky and dependent on technologies that have yet to be fully developed. A decades-long journey filled with unknowns lies ahead for Japan, which took a small step this week toward decommissioning its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. Nobody knows exactly how much fuel melted after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems. Or where exactly the fuel … Continue reading

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Video: Transfer of Fuel Assemblies to the Cask inside Reactor 4

via EX-SKF / November 20, 2013 / TEPCO started removing fuel assemblies stored in Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool on November 18, 2013. 4 unused (new) assemblies containing about 60 fuel rods each were removed to the cask by 6:45PM. The work continues on November 19, 2013, and TEPCO hopes to load the cask with 22 unused (new) fuel assemblies before the cask is lowered by the gantry crane to … Continue reading

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Fukushima operators begin risky nuclear fuel rod removal

via Russia Today / November 18, 2013 / In a highly risky undertaking Fukushima plant operators have finally begun removing over 1,500 nuclear fuel rods from one of the four reactors at its damaged nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan on Monday. The operation is expected to take at least a year hailed as a key first step toward a full cleanup of the plant. Unit 4 of the Fukushima … Continue reading

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TEPCO Admits 80 Spent Fuel Assemblies Had Damage Before Nuclear Accident

via EX-SKF / November 18, 2013 / Move over, three fuel assemblies with damaged/deformed fuel rods inside in the Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool! You’re nothing. According to Kahoku Shinpo, a Fukushima local paper, TEPCO admitted on November 15, 2013 that there are 70 fuel assemblies with damaged fuel rods in the Reactor 1 Spent Fuel Pool, located on the operating floor (top floor) of the reactor building whose air radiation … Continue reading

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Unit 4: Fuel Removal To Start November 18

via Kyodo News / Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday it will start removing nuclear fuel from the spent fuel pool of the No. 4 reactor building at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant from Monday (Nov. 18) “Full-scale removal (from the accident-stricken unit) is a very important process in moving ahead with the plant’s decommissioning,” TEPCO spokesman Masayuki Ono told a press conference, adding that the experience will be useful … Continue reading

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Unit 4: Three Fuel Assemblies Deformed or Damaged, says TEPCO

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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Robot pinpoints leaks on Fukushima unit 1

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

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Record radioactivity level found at Fukushima plant well

via 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

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Fukushima: Now For The Tough Part

via 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

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For many Fukushima evacuees, the truth is they won’t be going home

via Reuters / November 11, 2013 / For many of Japan’s oldest nuclear refugees, all they want is to be allowed back to the homes they were forced to abandon. Others are ready to move away, severing ties to the ghost towns that remain in the shadow of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. But among the thousands of evacuees stuck in temporary housing more than two and a half years … Continue reading

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