Japan

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US Warns of Fresh Threats at Fukushima

But radioactive water leak is finally plugged at crippled nuke plant

(Newser) - The Fukushima nuclear plant is facing fresh threats that could persist indefinitely, according to a report prepared by American experts and obtained by the New York Times . The engineers warn that steps being taken to stabilize the plant are presenting threats of their own, including the risk that containment structures...

India Bans All Japan Food Imports

US eateries installing radiation detectors

(Newser) - India has slapped a ban on all food imports from Japan out of fear of radiation from the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. The ban will last for three months or until "credible information is available that the radiation hazard has subsided to acceptable limits," the Indian government says. Many...

Japan Plant Offers 'Jumpers' $5K a Day for Hazard Duty

Workers risk lives for high pay inside nuclear plant

(Newser) - How on earth do the operators of Japan's nuclear plant convince workers to risk their lives exposing themselves to huge doses of radiation? Money helps, apparently. TEPCO officials are advertising for so-called "jumpers" to carry out dangerous jobs for up to $5,000 a day, reports Reuters . They're called...

Japanese Wonder Dog Survives Tsunami, High Seas

Dog rescued by coast guard off the northern coast of Japan

(Newser) - Get Disney on the line. While conducting last-ditch search and rescue efforts off the northern coast of Japan, the coast guard discovered what might be the world's most resilient dog, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Rescuers spotted him atop the floating debris of a house that had washed away, and...

Concrete Pit Leaking Radioactive Water Into Ocean

Japan trying to plug newly found crack at Fukushima plant

(Newser) - Japan might have figured out why seawater near the Fukushima plant has been showing such high levels of radioactivity: a cracked concrete maintenance pit. The newly discovered crack may have been allowing radioactive water to leak directly into the ocean since the earthquake, and workers are trying to plug it...

Fukushima's Disaster Plan: A Stretcher and a Fax

Plant was woefully unprepared for natural disaster

(Newser) - Tokyo Electric Power Co. had a disaster plan in place at its Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, but certainly not a very thorough one: It only involved one stretcher, and relied heavily on a satellite phone and fax machine for emergency communications. In a look at the plan, the Wall Street ...

UN Calls for Wider Evacuation Zone at Fukushima

Radiation dangerously high in village 25 miles from plant

(Newser) - Japanese officials are seriously considering taking the United Nations' advice and expanding the mandatory evacuation zone around the crippled Fukushima nuclear complex as radiation continues to spew into the environment. People within 12 miles of the leaking plant have been ordered to leave, but the UN says radiation levels above...

Japan Evacuees: Clinics Deny Care Over Contagion Fears

Worries are groundless—but unsurprising, says expert

(Newser) - Fearing contagion from exposure to radioactivity, Japanese shelters and clinics are rejecting hundreds of evacuees from near the Fukushima nuclear plant, reports the Telegraph . The institutions are requiring certificates from evacuees that show they haven’t faced exposure. Such concerns, however, are “completely irrational,” says a British expert...

US Sending Robots to Fukushima

Radiation-hardened robots to assist at stricken plant

(Newser) - The Energy Department is sending a squad of robots—and people—to help Japan in its battle to regain control of its Fukushima nuclear plant. A shipment of "radiation hardened robotics" is being sent to Japan along with 40 people and thousands of pounds of other equipment, a top...

Inside the Hell That Is Fukushima

Little sleep, food, water; plenty of stress, danger, misery

(Newser) - As if risking their lives to work feverishly to avoid nuclear meltdown wasn't grim enough, there's no respite for the weary workers at Japan's hobbled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. A Japanese nuclear official who just returned from five days at Fukushima paints a picture of life on the inside, reports the...

Plutonium Seeping from Fukushima

Traces of highly toxic substance found outside plant

(Newser) - Highly toxic plutonium is seeping from the damaged nuclear power plant in Japan's tsunami disaster zone into the soil outside, officials said Tuesday, heightening concerns about the expanding spread of radiation. Plutonium was detected at several spots outside the Fukushima plant—the first confirmed presence of the dangerously radioactive substance,...

Fukushima: Big Radiation Spike Was Wrong

Worker fled before taking second reading

(Newser) - That big spike in radiation levels 10 million times normal that Fukushima Dai-ichi reported earlier? Inaccurate, red-faced officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co now say. "The number is not credible," says a spokesman. "We are very sorry." The apology came after employees fled the complex's Unit...

Radiation in Fukushima, Nearby Waters Spikes

Radioactive iodine hits 10 million times normal level, forcing evacuation

(Newser) - Radiation is spiking both in and around the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, forcing workers to evacuate the plant. Radioactive iodine in water leaking from the No. 2 reactor's turbine housing unit soared to 10 million times the usual limit, said Tokyo Electric Power Co., where workers had been struggling...

Japan Fears Reactor Core Breach

Damage may have occurred in explosion last week

(Newser) - Japanese officials fear that one of the reactor cores of the Fukushima nuclear facility may have been breached, raising the specter of significant environmental damage and halting work at the nuclear complex. "It is possible that somewhere the reactor may have been damaged," says a spokesman for the...

Japan Earthquake, Tsunami Death Toll Passes 10K
 Japan Death Toll 
 Passes 10K 
Mar 25, 2011 6:00 AM CDT

Japan Death Toll Passes 10K

17K still missing as concern grows over food, water

(Newser) - A sad milestone out of Japan: Two weeks after the quake struck, its official death toll has broken the 10,000 mark—and that number is still on the rise, with more than 17,400 missing. Police estimate the toll will surpass 15,000 in the hardest-hit prefecture alone. Among...

China Reports Radiation on 2 Japanese Tourists

It 'seriously exceeded' safety levels, say officials

(Newser) - Not only Japan but the Japanese themselves have apparently become a source of radiation. Radiation "seriously exceeding" safety levels was discovered on two tourists traveling from Japan to eastern China, Chinese officials report. The two were given medical attention at a local hospital, and they pose no risk to...

Japan Resorts to Mass Graves
 Japan Resorts to Mass Graves 
Mar 23, 2011 2:16 PM CDT

Japan Resorts to Mass Graves

Quake left too many dead to cremate

(Newser) - Thanks to the earthquake, the Japanese have been forced to do a lot of something they usually avoid at all costs: burying their dead. Japan’s Buddhist traditions dictate that bodies should be cremated, and the ashes stored in family tombs; burial is outright illegal in many places. But with...

Baby Dolphin Rescued From Japan Tsunami Trap
 Baby Dolphin 
 Rescued From 
 Rice Paddy 
TSUNAMI AFTERMATH
Mar 23, 2011 1:37 PM CDT

Baby Dolphin Rescued From Rice Paddy

Man pulls animal out, drives it to sea

(Newser) - A baby dolphin trapped in a flooded rice paddy after Japan’s tsunami has been returned to the sea, Reuters reports. "A man passing by said he had found the dolphin in the rice paddy and that we had to do something to save it," says a pet...

Radiation Spikes in Tokyo Tap Water

Don't use water for infant formula, officials advise

(Newser) - Radiation in Tokyo tap water has spiked to twice the level considered safe for infants, sparking a new round of fears in Japan over the nation's crippled nuclear reactors. Rising smoke, meanwhile, prompted a new evacuation of workers trying to plug leaks in the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex, reports AP . Infants...

Radioactive Milk a Threat —if You Drink 58K Cups

Heath officials blowing things way out of proportion in Japan: researcher

(Newser) - Japan is finding elevated radiation levels in milk, spinach, and water —scary, right? Richard Knox at NPR sits down with RPI health physicist Peter Caracappa to crunch some numbers about what those levels mean. The gist:
  • The max radiation a US nuclear worker is allowed to be exposed to
...

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