Fukushima Daiichi

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A Loaf-Sized Robot Just Took This Important Photo

Locating melted fuel at Fukushima is key, and this is believed to be it

(Newser) - An underwater robot captured images of lava-like lumps Thursday inside a damaged reactor at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant , spotting for the first time what is believed to be nuclear fuel that melted six years ago. Locating the fuel in each of the three wrecked reactors is crucial for...

Japan Marks 6 Years Since Devastating Tsunami

Region is still struggling to recover

(Newser) - Six years ago, more than 18,000 people died or went missing as a tsunami triggered by a massive quake engulfed coastal areas of northeastern Japan. Tens of thousands more people's lives were unraveled when they lost family members, friends, homes, and livelihoods. The displacement widened as entire communities...

Robot Enters Fukushima Reactor, Doesn't Fare So Well

'Scorpion' robot's crawling function fails before it could locate melted fuel

(Newser) - Robot probes sent to one of Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear reactors have suggested worse-than-anticipated challenges for the plant's ongoing cleanup. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said the remote-controlled "scorpion" robot was sent into Unit 2's containment vessel Thursday to investigate the area around...

'Unimaginable' Radiation Detected in Fukushima Reactor

Tokyo Electric Power estimates 530 sieverts an hour

(Newser) - Exposure to 4 sieverts of radiation would kill 50% of people, according to Japan's National Institute of Radiological Sciences, per Japan Times . That's less than 1% of the radiation now being detected inside a damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power station, according to Tokyo Electric Power. The...

US Waters Finally Showing Signs of Fukushima Radiation

But scientists say there's no danger to humans or the environment

(Newser) - Moving at a pace "roughly twice the speed of a garden snail," the plume of nuclear radiation created by the Fukushima disaster has finally crossed the Pacific Ocean and arrived off the West Cost of the US, the Statesman Journal reports. Following a massive earthquake and tsunami in...

Fukushima Quake Was Aftershock From 2011

This time, there was no major tsunami damage

(Newser) - All tsunami warnings and advisories have been lifted in Japan, hours after a powerful offshore earthquake triggered a series of moderate tsunami waves. The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of waves of up to 10 feet soon after the 7.4 magnitude earthquake and urged residents on sections of the Pacific...

Tsunami Expected After Earthquake Near Fukushima

Residents advised to flee the coast

(Newser) - A tsunami warning has been issued after a 7.3 earthquake hit off of Fukushima, Japan, Monday, the AP reports. Per Reuters , residents have been advised to flee the Fukushima coast and a tsunami was expected "within minutes." The story is developing.

Fukushima Woman First to Speak Out About Her Cancer

'Don't rock the boat' culture has left cancer patients scared to talk after nuclear meltdown

(Newser) - She's 21, has thyroid cancer, and wants people in her prefecture in northeastern Japan to get screened for it. That statement might not seem provocative, but her prefecture is Fukushima, and of the 173 young people with confirmed or suspected cases since the 2011 nuclear meltdowns there, she's...

Japan Paying 1st Fukushima Worker With Cancer

Country concedes possible radiation link, awards compensation

(Newser) - A Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant worker is the first diagnosed with cancer from possible radiation exposure and will receive compensation under the country's labor laws, the Japanese health and labor ministry said Tuesday, per the Wall Street Journal . The unnamed man, said by various sources to be in his...

Ultrasounds on Fukushima Kids Alarm Researchers
Ultrasounds on Fukushima Kids Alarm Researchers
NEW STUDY
Oct 9, 2015 8:05 AM CDT

Ultrasounds on Fukushima Kids Alarm Researchers

Study: Kids near the nuclear plant have thyroid cancer rates 20 to 50 times higher

(Newser) - For four years, nearly all kids living in Japan's Fukushima prefecture have received ultrasounds to gauge the effects of the nuclear disaster there in March 2011. Now a research team says the alarming results are in: Children living near the nuclear plant have thyroid cancer rates that are 20...

Fukushima Ghost Town Given All-Clear

But most residents are holding back for now

(Newser) - Japan's government today lifted a 4 1/2-year-old evacuation order for the northeastern town of Naraha that had sent all of the town's 7,400 residents away following the disaster at the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant. Naraha became the first to get the order lifted among seven municipalities forced...

Nuclear Power Is Back in Japan

Restarting of first reactor in 2 years brings protests

(Newser) - A power plant operator in southern Japan restarted a nuclear reactor today, the first to begin operating under new safety requirements following the Fukushima disaster . Kyushu Electric Power Co. says it has restarted the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai nuclear plant as planned. The restart marks Japan's return...

Fukushima Operators Begin Super-Delicate Stage

Removing reactor covers is next step in decades-long decommissioning process

(Newser) - It's going to take decades to completely decommission the Fukushima nuclear power plant , but a critical step in that process began in earnest today, reports NBC News. One of the six 136-foot covers draped over one of the plant's nuclear reactors to keep radioactive materials from seeping out...

Fukushima Radiation Hits North America for 1st Time

Very, very little of it

(Newser) - It's the nuclear meltdown that keeps on giving, albeit in pretty trace amounts: Radiation from the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster has been detected four years after the fact along the shore of British Columbia's Vancouver Island, reports Reuters , marking the first time that the radiation has been noted...

Tokyo Jolted by Its Biggest Quake Since 2011

No major damage; hours later, another quake hits Burma, Thailand

(Newser) - A strong earthquake jolted Tokyo early today, rattling windows and nerves though there were no initial reports of major damage. The national broadcaster NHK, citing local authorities, said 17 people were reported injured, some of them from falls as the quake struck. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake had...

Fukushima Hot Zone Ready for Residents

District's 357 residents were booted 3 years ago

(Newser) - Some 357 Japanese citizens are getting the green light to return home after three years in exile—if they dare. The former residents of the Miyakoji area of Tamura were forced to leave their homes in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster three years ago; those homes were roughly...

Japan Marks 3 Years Since Triple Disaster

270K tsunami survivors still can't go home

(Newser) - Japan is marking the third anniversary of a devastating earthquake and tsunami that left nearly 19,000 people dead or missing, turned coastal communities into wasteland, and triggered a nuclear crisis. In Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Emperor Akihito spoke at a memorial service, marking the moment the magnitude...

Fukushima Springs Big New Toxic Leak

100 tons of radioactive water flow from tank

(Newser) - Almost three years after Japan's triple disaster, there has been yet another leak at the Fukushima nuclear plant, seriously shaking public confidence in the ongoing cleanup and containment effort. In the latest leak—the biggest since last August —around 100 metric tons of highly contaminated water overflowed from...

Radiation? Bah, Japanese Farmer Won't Budge

Masami Yoshizawa makes a stand after nuke plant disaster

(Newser) - A farmer is defying evacuation orders around Japan's Fukishima nuclear plant, saying he'll stay in the radioactive wasteland to keep cattle alive—even if it puts his health at risk, the New York Times reports. "These cows are living testimony to the human folly here in Fukushima,...

Japan's Nuclear Cleanup Enters Critical New Phase

Fuel-rod transfer poses serious danger

(Newser) - Teams working at the Fukushima power station are facing a critical—and extremely dangerous—new task: pulling 13-foot nuclear fuel rods from the Unit 4 structure slammed by the tsunami. "It's going to be very difficult, but it has to happen," an official tells the BBC . To...

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