According to World Nuclear News, the Swedish utility Vattenfall is suing Germany at the Washington-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes concerning the closure of the Brunsbüttel and Krümmel nuclear power plants. As announced by Vattenfall on October 10: “The hearing on Vattenfall’s claim against the Federal Republic of Germany at the International Centre for […]
Cherry blossoms in the foreground of Mount Fuji (image: ladyadventurer.co.uk) So far, at least, the famed blossoming cherry trees of Japan don’t discriminate geographically. This time of year, they grace even the surroundings of nuclear power generators shaken by earthquake, tsunami, and meltdowns three years ago. Otherwise, though, the Fukushima landscape remains desolate. Despite widespread […]
Not again. Last year, as PlanetSave’s James Ayre reported, dead giant oarfish—-bizarre and terrifying serpents of the sea (Regalecus glesne) five and six yards long—-washed ashore at separate locations off the California coast during one week in October. Also last year, National Geographic documented video by a remotely operated undersea vehicle of a giant oarfish […]
For this little Fukushima irony, many thanks to Fukushimaemergencywhatcanwedo.blogspot.com!
Construction of the Advanced Liquid Processing System at TEPCO’s ruined Fukushima nuclear power complex (photo: TEPCO, via mainichi.jp). Still dealing with the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, subsequent tsunami, and three meltdowns at its Fukushima I nuclear power complex, Tokyo Electric Power Company had more bad news yesterday about its Fukushima ALPS cleanup efforts. […]
Bad news from the annual American Geophysical Union’s Ocean Sciences Meeting in Honolulu. Researchers there announced today that radioactive isotopes from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, when three reactors melted down after the March 11, 2011, Tohoku earthquake and subsequent mega-tsunami, have finally reached the West Coast. John Smith, a research scientist at Canada’s Bedford Institute […]
A diver in California’s kelp forest. A new study will explore possible radioactive contamination from the 2011 Fukushima meltdowns (Wikimedia Commons/Ed Bierman). Biology professor Steven L. Manley of California State University, Long Beach, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Head of Applied Nuclear Physics Kai Vetter have set up monitoring off the state’s coast throughout […]
It’s not too late to catch America Tonight‘s exclusive four-part series, Return to Fukushima. The television special delves into real-world impacts of the nuclear disaster, industry and government efforts to mitigate the damage done, and how any ongoing fallout could affect the safety of Americans. Last night’s installment dealt with the ghost towns the Japanese […]
NHK World reports the beginning of Fukushima Reactor Unit 4 fuel rod transfer. (Screenshot of NHK broadcast, video released by TEPCO.) The ticklish operations involved in decommissioning Tokyo Electric’s ruined nuclear power plant at Fukushima began on Monday. Workers at the plant began removing unused nuclear fuel from the fourth-floor storage pool at the damaged […]
With a photo of fuel rod assemblies in the background, nuclear engineer, former executive, and educator Arnie Gundersen explains his doubts yesterday about the nuclear fuel relocation at Fukushima Unit 4 (screenshot). Brace yourselves. Japanese media and the UPI reported early today that TEPCO has scheduled the ticklish job of relocating highly radioactive nuclear fuel […]
Readying Fukushima 1 Unit 4 for decommission operation, but… (Kyodo News/flickr.com/photos/simplyinfo/) Not so fast with the Fukushima decommissioning, TEPCO. A Japanese government-affiliated agency (the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization) has advised the Tokyo Electric Power Company that its proposed method of clearing Reactor Unit 4’s exposed cooling pool needs a test run before anyone commits […]
Here’s what the Fukushima I power nuclear plant complex looked like prior to the natural disasters and explosions. (Source: ad-hoc-news.de.) Before March 2011, if you heard the words “Fukushima Daiichi,” you might wonder if someone had concocted a new sushi roll. Now most of us know about the nuclear accident cascade following Japan’s massive Tōhoku […]
Preparing to decommission the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, TEPCO recently dismantled the damaged roof parapet of Unit 4 and removed debris there. (Screenshot source: Enformable.com/Lucas W. Hixson.) As early as next Friday (November 8), the scariest decommissioning work at the ruined nuclear power complex may begin. Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the largest electrical utility in […]
“Threat analysis from TEPCO. Accuracy? Credibility?” (Photo and story from International Business Times.)
The last nuclear reactor in Japan was shut down today. The last of 50 nuclear reactors, this will be the first time in 40 years that Japan doesn’t generate any electricity with nuclear power. Last year on March 11, an earthquake and tsunami caused meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plants, causing enormous human, […]
In the past few weeks, polar bears have been showing up with a loss of fur and skin lesions in the southern Beaufort Sea region of Alaska. The causes are currently unknown, but they don’t appear to have any other health problems. USGS scientists have taken tissue and blood samples from the bears to […]
Tomorrow, March 11, is my birthday, which makes the date of one of the worst disasters the world has ever seen quite easy to remember. On March 11, 2011, a tremendous earthquake and series of aftershocks struck the country of Japan. For days to follow, but especially that entire birthday, I was feverishly following […]
Some top green news from around from the past day or so: Global Warming Heartland associate taught ‘biased’ climate course at Ottawa university An associate of the Heartland Institute, the thinktank devoted to discrediting climate change, taught a course at a top Canadian university that contained more than 140 false, biased and misleading claims about […]
2011 was a big year for the environment, in some good ways and some bad ways. Here’s a quick run-down of the top 10 stories of the year, in my opinion: 1. Tremendously high levels of carbon emissions continue to warm Earth. Despite efforts to switch to clean energy, increase energy efficiency, and use more […]
Sorry, I’m not a big fan of name-calling, but I’m really genuinely wondering tonight — are Republican leaders pure evil or are the just plain stupid?
TEPCO reported that radiation levels are over 10,000 millisieverts per hour on the second floor of reactor one. The problem with that report is that Geiger counters can’t measure past 10,000 millisieverts per hour. So how high is the radiation level on the second floor of reactor one?
Jeremy Bloom of our sister site Red, Green, & Blue has been providing updates on the situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant and in Japan, in general, from time to time since the earthquake and tsunami on March 11. Here are a couple on water, food, radiation, and long-term predictions for those in the area from the past couple weeks.
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.
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.
The title above comes fro the YouTube page. For more, watch the video
The Tokyo Electric Power Company has released new images from Fukushima, depicting the current problem and photos of the day of the tsunami.
Germany will shut down all its nuclear power stations by 2020, according to the government’s Secretary of State for the Environment and Nuclear Safety, Jürgen Becker.
His comments were made earlier today to Reuters during a meeting of the International Renewable Energy Association (IREA) in the United Arab Emirates.
In a forceful, March 16 statement on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientist to the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Chief Scientist Dr. Edwin Lyman states:
“The NRC and the industry cannot hide this time behind the ‘it can’t happen here’ excuse. We have 23 plants of the same design. We have plants that are just as old. We have had station blackouts.”
The U.S. Seventh Fleet said Monday it had moved its ships and aircraft away from a quake-stricken Japanese nuclear power plant after discovering low-level radioactive contamination.