Japan

Stories 1021 - 1040 | << Prev   Next >>

Japan Nuke Crisis Raised to Chernobyl Level

Fukushima Dai-ichi may have spilled more radiation than thought

(Newser) - Japan has decided to raise the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster from 5 to 7, according to government sources, a severity level only previously seen in Chernobyl, reports Kyodo News. The country's Nuclear Safety Commission today found that at times after the breach, the plant was emitting some 10,000 terabecquerels...

New Radiation High Found in Milk ... in Arkansas

Iodine-131 in Little Rock is 3 times higher than EPA 'max containment level'

(Newser) - The levels of radiation detected in milk tested in Little Rock, Ark., are the highest yet, according to data released by the EPA on Saturday. The level of iodine-131 in the milk was three times higher than the EPA's "maximum containment level" set for safe exposure. But the milk...

Tsunami Warning Follows New 7.1 Quake in Japan
 Another 7.1 Quake Hits Japan 
UPDATED
Apr 11, 2011 4:02 AM CDT

Another 7.1 Quake Hits Japan

On one-month anniversary of massive shaker

(Newser) - A fresh tsunami warning has been issued in Japan following a powerful 7.1-magnitude aftershock off the northeast coast today. Tokyo's international airport was shut briefly and shoppers at an electronics store in central Sendai screamed and raced outside, but returned after a short time when windows stopped rattling, reports...

Japan Earthquake Sends 'Island' of Debris to Hawaii, US West Coast
 'Island' of Earthquake 
 Debris Headed for US 
in case you missed it
Apr 10, 2011 6:09 AM CDT

'Island' of Earthquake Debris Headed for US

Tires, cars, and human remains to wash up in Hawaii, west coast

(Newser) - If oceanographers are right, a veritable island of cars, houses, human remains, and other debris from Japan’s earthquake will soon wash ashore in Hawaii, and from there travel to the west coast of the US. Using computer models developed by tracking buoys across the ocean, researchers at the University...

Fukushima Endgame: Years, a Fortune Away

Will likely take decades to decommission nuke plant

(Newser) - The day when radiation stops spilling out of Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi is still unknown, but it'll be at least a decade and millions of dollars beyond that by the time the nuclear plant is decommissioned, reports the AP. That's the timeline from Toshiba, which built four of the six reactors,...

Team Weighs Mammoth Task: Dismantling Reactors

Planning begins as stabilizing efforts continue at Fukushima

(Newser) - It could be months or years before authorities have simply stabilized Japan’s nuclear crisis, but Japanese and American engineers are already teaming up to figure out how to dismantle the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant’s reactors. Toshiba and Westinghouse are among the firms planning the gargantuan task: Never before have...

Little Damage Reported After New Japan Quake
 2 Killed in Japan Aftershock 
UPDATED
Apr 7, 2011 11:54 PM CDT

2 Killed in Japan Aftershock

All appears normal at Fukushima plant after 7.1-magnitude quake

(Newser) - Thursday's 7.1-magnitude aftershock killed at least two people in Japan and injured dozens more as it shook Japan's battered northeast but the Fukushima nuclear plant was spared, reports AP. The aftershock knocked out power at three other nuclear plants, but backup systems kicked in, notes the New York Times...

How Japan Quake Liquefied a Town 200 Miles Away

Urayasu dealing with warped streets, tilted buildings

(Newser) - Urayasu lies 200 miles south of the Japan earthquake epicenter, far from the danger zone—so why are residents relieving themselves in plastic bags while waiting for their sewage, water, and gas services to be restored? Though no buildings fell and no tsunami hit in this seaside town on March...

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...

Stories 1021 - 1040 | << Prev   Next >>