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A private organization that monitors radiation data from network points across the United States issued email alerts today for two Western U.S. cities, Reno, Nev., and St. George, Utah. The alerts came from the the Nuclear Emergency Tracking Center, which explains its mission is to provide radiation monitoring information from hundreds of sites in Japan and the U.S., including those run by the Environmental Protection Agency. The warning pinpointed an area “of concern” in St. George, Utah, where background radiation levels more than doubled today from the typical reading. In Reno, “the current background radiation level has increased suddenly...

PACHUCA, Mexico (AP) - Federal police blocked access Friday to a central Mexico hospital where six people were reported to have been admitted with radiation exposure. An official familiar with the case confirmed Mexican media reports that the six have been admitted to the general hospital in the city of Pachuca and may have been exposed to a stolen source of cobalt-60.

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<p>TOKYO (AP) -- A government panel proposed additional measures to lessen the radioactive water crisis at Japan's crippled nuclear power plant, saying Tuesday that current plans are not enough to prevent the risk of a disaster.</p> <p>Officials on the Industry Ministry's contaminated water panel also said that the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant could run out of storage space for contaminated water within two years if current plans are not fully workable.</p>

Fukushima operator starts hazardous year-long fuel removal TOKYO Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:50am EST Nov 18 (Reuters) - The operator of Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant took the first step on Monday in the long and hazardous process of decommissioning the facility, extracting a fuel rod from its container for later removal. Tokyo Electric Power Co said it transferred the rod to a steel cask within the same cooling pool in a badly damaged reactor building, beginning the delicate and unprecedented task of removing 400 tonnes of highly irradiated spent fuel from that reactor.

I'm pasting the whole interview here: The Mita clinic in Kodaira city, Tokyo, has carried out blood examination and thyroid ultrasound examination on 1,500 patients, including children. Mamarevo Magazine here interviews Dr. Mita, the head of the clinic, about what he has seen through the blood exam.   Kanto usually consists of metropolitan Tokyo, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tochigi and Kanagawa prefectures.   The original article in Japanese is in Mama-revo magazine website What is a ‘differential white blood cell count’? What can we learn from checking it? Q: Please tell us about the examinations that are conducted by the Mita clinic.   ...

Scientists Warn of Extreme Risk We’ve long said that the greatest short-term threat to humanity is from the fuel pools at Fukushima. The Japanese nuclear agency recently green-lighted the removal of the spent fuel rods from Fukushima reactor 4′s spent fuel pool. The operation is scheduled to begin this month. The head of the U.S. Department of Energy correctly notes: "The success of the cleanup also has global significance. So we all have a direct interest in seeing that the next steps are taken well, efficiently and safely."

I have watched a TV programme called ‘Fear Factor.’ In the series there are contestants who have to confront their worst fears to see who bails out and who can fight the fear and get through.

Fukushima nuclear plant operators prepare for dangerous procedure Hundreds of radioactive rods must be removed at Fukushima without exposing them to air PUBLISHED : Sunday, 27 October, 2013, 6:07am UPDATED : Sunday, 27 October, 2013, 6:07am Julian Ryall in Tokyo The operator of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant is making final preparations before starting the most delicate and dangerous procedure attempted at the plant since three reactors were wrecked in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Engineers from Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) need to remove 1,533 rods of highly irradiated spent fuel from the damaged storage pool alongside the...

The next time you step onto an airplane, consider the following: In any given year, the pilot of your aircraft probably absorbs as much radiation as a worker in a nuclear power plant. And you are about to follow him wherever he goes. The FAA classifies pilots as "occupational radiation workers." Flying high above Earth with little atmosphere to protect them, they can absorb significant doses of cosmic rays and solar radiation. During a typical polar flight from Chicago to Beijing, for instance, a pilot is exposed to the equivalent of two chest x-rays. Multiplied over the course of...

Special Report: Help wanted in Fukushima: Low pay, high risks and gangsters By Antoni Slodkowski and Mari Saito IWAKI | Fri Oct 25, 2013 1:45pm EDT Oct 25 (Reuters) - Tetsuya Hayashi went to Fukushima to take a job at ground zero of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. He lasted less than two weeks. Hayashi, 41, says he was recruited for a job monitoring the radiation exposure of workers leaving the plant in the summer of 2012. Instead, when he turned up for work, he was handed off through a web of contractors and assigned, to his surprise, to...

Fukushima situation calls for international emergency work – expert Sharp radiation growth was registered in ground water samples throughout just one day, October 18th, in the area of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. Tritium concentrations, for example, exceeded the admissible values 6,500 times. This is the gravest situation since the 2011 Fukushima accident. The area of the nuclear meltdown remains open and is being cooled by flowing water, says an expert in nuclear physics and nuclear power generation, Igor Ostretsov. "Radioactive water keeps coming and should be stored somewhere, Igor Ostretsov says. They have deployed a great number of...

Radioactivity level spikes 6,500 times at Fukushima well Published time: October 18, 2013 02:08 Edited time: October 19, 2013 04:05 Radioactivity levels in a well near a storage tank at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan have risen immensely on Thursday, the plant’s operator has reported. Officials of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said on Friday they detected 400,000 becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances - including strontium - at the site, a level 6,500 times higher than readings taken on Wednesday, NHK World reported. The storage tank leaked over 300 tons of contaminated water in...

TOKYO — Workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan are about to embark on one of the most critical aspects of the clean-up: removing the fuel rods from one of the worst-hit reactors. Critics say the plant’s owners, TEPCO, should not be trusted to carry out the operation and warn the consequences of any accident would be unprecedented. Over 1500 fuel rods sit in a damaged storage pool 30 meters above the ground inside the shell of the reactor 4 building at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Safely removing them is the next big challenge for the plant’s...

IAEA experts are trying on the ground to sort out work to do away with the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. But the situation grows increasingly tense despite all efforts by the government. Hundreds of tons of radioactive water leaked out of the reservoirs and reached the subterranean waters just days ago. It may have likewise leaked into the ocean, says an expert in nuclear physics and nuclear power generation, Igor Ostretsov, Doctor of Engineering. “I am absolutely certain that the radioactive water leaks into the ocean have never stopped, because the plant molten corium is continuously...

Cracks found in vent pipe at Fukushima plant The people in charge of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant say they've found cracks in a steel framework that supports an unused ventilation pipe. They relied on the pipe for a period of time to release dangerous vapors created by the 2011 accident. Officials at Tokyo Electric Power Company say workers on Wednesday discovered the cracks and cuts at 8 places in the buttress about 66 meters above the ground.

Japan condemns Fukushima cartoon Japan has formally protested over a French newspaper cartoon depicting sumo wrestlers with extra limbs fighting in front of the country's crippled nuclear power plant and linking it to Tokyo's successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics. Published: Thu, September 12, 2013 Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the cartoon insulted those affected by the March 2011 disaster and misrepresented conditions at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. A Foreign Ministry official said Japan has submitted an official complaint to the weekly paper Le Canard Enchaine's chief editor Louis Marie Horeau through its embassy in Paris....

Crime up among No. 1 plant staff JIJI FUKUI, JIJI – The number of decontamination workers in Fukushima Prefecture suspected of committing crimes has been rising, bringing the total to 101 as of the end of August, the National Police Agency said. The rise is likely due to an increase in the number of workers brought into the prefecture to meet growing demand for decontamination work, an NPA official said Thursday.

Don't let Fukushima nuke disaster devolve into another Battle of Guadalcanal Things are going badly. There's radioactive water leaking, and it can't be controlled. The minister of economy, trade and industry has said that the central government will now "man the front lines" in the war to tame the Fukushima nuclear crisis, but if the workers on-site do not consent to join battle, if they cannot muster the courage to keep up the fight, then we cannot expect real progress. At least, that's the impression I got after talking with one of those workers, an employee of Fukushima No. 1...

CBS/AP/ September 7, 2013, 9:45 AM Tokyo wins bid to host 2020 Olympics BUENOS AIRES, Argentina Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Olympics on Saturday, capitalizing on its reputation as a "safe pair of hands" and defying concerns about the Fukushima nuclear crisis. Tokyo defeated Istanbul 60-36 in the final round of secret voting Saturday by the International Olympic Committee. Madrid was eliminated earlier after an initial tie with Istanbul. Tokyo, which hosted the 1964 Olympics, billed itself as the safe and reliable choice at a time of global political and economic uncertainty