Fallout forensics hike radiation toll

Tokyo, October 25 2011 - The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March released far more radiation than the Japanese government has claimed, according to a study that combines radioactivity data from across the globe to estimate the scale and fate of emissions from the plant.
> www.nature.com: Fallout forensics hike radiation toll
> Fukushima Radiation Levels

Areas Near Japan Nuclear Plant May Be Off Limits For Decades

Fukushima, August 29 2011 - Areas surrounding Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant could remain uninhabitable for decades due to high radiation, the government warned on Saturday as it struggles to clean up after the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
> planetark.org: Areas Near Japan Nuclear Plant May Be Off Limits For Decades

Japan Eyes Global Nuclear Compensation Treaty: Report
(Planet Ark) - 15 August 2011 - Japan is considering joining a U.S.-led global nuclear compensation treaty in a bid to fend off excessive overseas damage claims related to nuclear accidents, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday, without citing sources.
> planetark.org: Japan Eyes Global Nuclear Compensation Treaty: Report

Japan PM Naoto Kan Brings His Nuclear-Free Vision To Hiroshima

Hiroshima, August 9, 2011 - Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Saturday took his campaign against nuclear energy in Japan to Hiroshima which 66 years ago became the world's first victim of an atomic bomb.
It marks a change of tack in a country which has until now carefully avoided linking its fast growing, and now discredited, nuclear power industry to its trauma as the only country to have been attacked with atomic bombs.
Kan, speaking at an anniversary ceremony for victims of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, repeated that the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at Fukushima after a March earthquake convinced him Japan should end its dependence on nuclear power.
> planetark.org: Japan PM Naoto Kan Brings His Nuclear-Free Vision To Hiroshima
See also:
> George Monbiot: The Moral Case for Nuclear Power

Nuclear waste requires cradle-to-grave strategy
London, June 30 2011 - After Fukushima, it is now imperative to redefine what makes a successful nuclear power program -- from cradle to grave. If nuclear waste management is not thought out from the beginning, the public in many countries will reject nuclear power as an energy choice, according to research that appears today in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by SAGE.
> www.eurekalert.org: Nuclear waste requires cradle-to-grave strategy

British government's plan to play down Fukushima

London, June 30 2011 - British government officials approached nuclear companies to draw up a co-ordinated public relations strategy to play down the Fukushima nuclear accident just two days after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and before the extent of the radiation leak was known.
Internal emails seen by the Guardian show how the business and energy departments worked closely behind the scenes with the multinational companies EDF Energy, Areva and Westinghouse to try to ensure the accident did not derail their plans for a new generation of nuclear stations in the UK.
"This has the potential to set the nuclear industry back globally," wrote one official at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), whose name has been redacted. "We need to ensure the anti-nuclear chaps and chapesses do not gain ground on this. We need to occupy the territory and hold it. We really need to show the safety of nuclear."
Officials stressed the importance of preventing the incident from undermining public support for nuclear power.
> www.guardian.co.uk: British government's plan to play down Fukushima
> www.guardian.co.uk: UK government and nuclear industry email correspondence after the Fukushima accident

Workers rush to get rid of radioactive water at Japanese nuclear plant

A Tokyo Electric Power Company picture from April 2 shows water gushing from the cracked concrete shaft

Tokyo, April 4, 2011 - The dumping of tons of radioactive water from a waste treatment facility at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility into the ocean has started, Tokyo Electric Power Company officials said Monday. The additional dumping of water from reactors Nos. 5 and 6 will begin within hours, they said.
> www.cnn.com: Workers rush to get rid of radioactive water at Japanese nuclear plant

Disaster-hit Japan faces protracted nuclear crisis

Damage to Fukushima reactors No. 1 and 4. Satellite image from March 18 2011.

Tokyo, March 27, 2011 - Japan appeared resigned on Monday to a long fight to contain the world's most dangerous atomic crisis in 25 years after high radiation levels complicated work at its crippled nuclear plant.
> www.reuters.com: Disaster-hit Japan faces protracted nuclear crisis

Hard to tell when Japan's nuclear crisis would end: Edano

Workers in protective suits prepare Thursday to decontaminate two nuclear plant workers in Fukushima, Japan

Tokyo, March 26, 2011 - Japan's top government spokesman Yukio Edano said Saturday he finds it difficult to predict when the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant would end.
Asked about the prospects of the crisis, Edano said, ''The current situation is that we are preventing it from worsening.'' He said the situation still requires ''an enormous amount of work'' before it settles down.
''The work is very significant for Japan's future. I will push myself to the max,'' Mabuchi told reporters at the premier's office after taking the new post. ''The whole world is closely watching'' the crisis.
> kyodonews.jp: Hard to tell when Japan's nuclear crisis would end: Edano
> www3.nhk.or.jp: Fukushima troubles affecting other nuclear plants
> www3.nhk.or.jp: Challenge to remove water from reactors
> edition.cnn.com: Radiation in seawater off nuclear plant spikes to 1,250 times normal
> us.cnn.com: Photos: Earthquake rocks Japan

Why (or why not) nuclear energy?

Atlanta, March 26, 2011 - Since Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered damage from a massive earthquake and tsunami March 11, you might be a little more aware of the nuclear power plant nearest you. Does it really need to be there? Is it safe?
> www.cnn.com: Why (or why not) nuclear energy?

Nuclear safer than coal, Chinese atomic official says
Beijing, March 25, 2011 - Even in the wake of Japan's Fukushima nuclear crisis, nuclear power remains a safer and cleaner choice for China than coal, Pan Ziqiang, the chairman of the science and technology committee at the China National Nuclear Corporation, said on Friday.
> www.reuters.com: Nuclear safer than coal, Chinese atomic official says

Lobbyists' long effort to revive nuclear industry faces new test
New York, March 24, 2011 - Today the future of nuclear energy in the United States is in doubt, with advocates on all sides bracing for a fierce debate over whether the disaster in Japan should slow or even derail the planned expansion of America’s 104 nuclear reactors.
> www.nytimes.com: Lobbyists’ Long Effort to Revive Nuclear Industry Faces New Test

Monbiot: Going Critical

London, March 21, 2011 - (by George Monbiot) - You will not be surprised to hear that the events in Japan have changed my view of nuclear power. You will be surprised to hear how they have changed it. As a result of the disaster at Fukushima, I am no longer nuclear-neutral. I now support the technology.
> www.monbiot.com:

Special Report: Fuel storage, safety issues vexed Japan plant

Photo: September 2010

Tokyo, March 19 2011, - When the massive tsunami smacked into Fukushima Daiichi, the nuclear power plant was stacked high with more uranium than it was originally designed to hold and had repeatedly missed mandatory safety checks over the past decade.
> www.reuters.com: Special Report: Fuel storage, safety issues vexed Japan plant
> www.independent.co.uk: Nuclear plant was storing too much spent fuel as tsunami hit / It's nonsense to worry about microsieverts."
See also:
> Dossier Fukushima: Radiation levels increasing (extremely)

From Hiroshima to Fukushima and back

TOKYO, March 19 2011, - (By Tilman Ruff) - Settled agriculture began about 12,000 years ago. If human children are still born and play on a hospitable planet in another 12,000 years, it will be because we succeeded in eradicating the terror of nuclear weapons and preventing runaway climate change. Twelve thousand years is not very long really.
> kyodonews.jp: From Hiroshima to Fukushima and back
> www.mapw.org.au: Homepage Tilman Ruff

Fukushima workers labour round the clock in effort to avert catastrophe

Fukushima, March 18 2011 - The 200 technicians left at the power plant are battling intolerable conditions and threatened by radiation exposure. The population of Japan is with them in spirit and, according to reports, colleagues of the estimated 200 remaining workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant are ready to work alongside them to avert catastrophe.
> www.guardian.co.uk: Fukushima workers labour round the clock in effort to avert catastrophe
> www.straitstimes.com: 'We're not running away': Fukushima worker

IAEA: Japan in race against time to control nuclear crisis
London, March 18 2011 - The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has warned that Japan's battle to regain control at the failing Fukushima power plant is a race against time, as the crisis enters a second week.
> www.guardian.co.uk: IAEA: Japan in race against time to control nuclear crisis"

TEPCO asked to pull workers from nuclear plant

Berlijn, March 17, 2011 - Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) asked the Japanese government earlier this week to permit a full withdrawal of its employees from the troubled nuclear plant now facing fears of a meltdown, a daily said Friday.
TEPCO had first concluded that it would be "difficult" for its workers to continue to restore the Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant, where high levels of radiation have been monitored, the Mainichi Shimbun said. TEPCO sounded out the plan on Monday after explosions and fire hit the nuclear reactors crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
But Prime Minister Naoto Kan turned down the request, telling TEPCO: "Withdrawal is impossible. It's not a matter of whether TEPCO collapses. It's a matter of whether Japan goes wrong," according to Mainichi.
An unnamed official related to TEPCO, however, was quoted by Mainichi as saying: "If withdrawal is unacceptable, it's as if (Kan) said 'Do it until you are exposed to radiation and die." Up to 5,000 people used to work at the plant. TEPCO has not announced the number of employees still working inside the facility. Some news reports say around 70 people are working now.
> www.terradaily.com: TEPCO asked to pull workers from nuclear plant
> climateprogress.org: Status of Japanese reactors, spent fuel ponds, and possible outcomes

Monbiot: Atomised
London, 16 March 2011 - (by George Monbiot) - The nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan is bad enough; the nuclear disaster unfolding in China could be even worse. “What disaster?”, you ask. The decision today by the Chinese government to suspend approval of new atomic power plants. If this suspension were to become permanent, the power those plants would have produced is likely to be replaced by burning coal. While nuclear causes calamities when it goes wrong, coal causes calamities when it goes right, and coal goes right a lot more often than nuclear goes wrong. The only safe coal-fired plant is one which has broken down past the point of repair.
> www.monbiot.com: Atomised

German Green Industries Say Can Fill Nuclear Gaps

Berlijn, March 16, 2011 - German renewable industry lobby BEE said on Wednesday it would be able to supply 47 percent of German power requirements by 2020, joining a debate on how to replace nuclear generation capacity.
The lobby, which groups 22 individual units representing wind, hydro, solar and biomass-to-power producer interests, said it could offer a high share of reliable renewable supply.
"Renewables could be ready to provide 47 percent of German power supply up to 2020. This way they would not just compensate for the nuclear withdrawal (meant to happen by 2021 at the latest) but in addition offer affordable and sustainable power," the group said.
> planetark.org: German Green Industries Say Can Fill Nuclear Gaps

Analysis: World to warm if Japan panic spreads
London, March 16, 2011 - Global warming will intensify if leading carbon emitter China drops the world's most ambitious nuclear power building program and Germany shuts down its nuclear plants amid panic over Japan's atomic energy crisis.
> www.reuters.com: World to warm if Japan panic spreads