Free Republic

Images captured by a robotic probe inside one of the three melted reactors at Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant showed exposed steel bars in the main supporting structure and parts of its thick external concrete wall missing, triggering concerns about its earthquake resistance in case of another major disaster. An underwater remotely operated vehicle named ROV-A2 was sent inside the Unit 1 pedestal, a supporting structure right under the core. It came back with images seen for the first time since an earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant 12 years ago. The area inside the pedestal is where traces...

Despite the objections of local fishermen, the tritium-tainted water stored at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant will be dumped into the sea, a top official at Tokyo Electric says. “The decision has already been made,” Takashi Kawamura, chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., said in a recent interview with the media. Tritium typically poses little risk to human health unless ingested in high amounts, and ocean discharges of diluted volumes of tritium-tainted water are a routine part of nuclear power plant operations. This is because it is a byproduct of nuclear operations but cannot be filtered out...

The robots sent in to find highly radioactive fuel at Fukushima's nuclear reactors have “died”; a subterranean "ice wall" around the crippled plant meant to stop groundwater from becoming contaminated has yet to be finished. And authorities still don’t know how to dispose of highly radioactive water stored in an ever mounting number of tanks around the site. Five years ago, one of the worst earthquakes in history triggered a 10-meter high tsunami that crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station causing multiple meltdowns. Nearly 19,000 people were killed or left missing and 160,000 lost their homes and livelihoods...

OSAKA – Kansai Electric Power Co. on Monday began checking the safety of two aging nuclear reactors in Fukui Prefecture that are nearing the end of their certified lives to see if it can keep them going for another two decades. The reactors are the No. 1 and No. 2 units at the Takahama nuclear plant. Safety requirements adopted after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis include a provision requiring operators to shut and dismantle reactors when they are 40 years old. But the nuclear regulator may grant a one-time extension of up to 20 years if utilities carry out thorough...

Fukushima failure: Decontamination system stops functioning The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) has stopped using its systems to decontaminate radioactive water at the facility, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported. The Advanced Liquid Processing System, or ALPS, has been utilized to liquidate radioactive substances from contaminated water stored at the plant. The crane to get rid of the container from the ALPS ceased working on Tuesday. On Wednesday, TEPCO stopped operating all 3 ALPS systems at the facility. The company officials say the system may take a long time to restart. The container where the...

Turner Radio Network (TRN) has issued a report regarding Fukushima Diachi Nuclear Plant that is expected to affect the entire Northern Hemisphere. According to the report: “Persons residing on the west coast of North America should IMMEDIATELY begin preparing for another possible onslaught of dangerous atmospheric radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site in Japan.” TEPCO has confirmed that via camera surveillance, that steam has begun to pour from Reactor 3, although they have “not been identified abnormal plant conditions.” TEPCO are reporting that “radioactive steam has suddenly begun emanating from previously exploded nuclear reactor building #3 at the Fukuishima...

Link only because "Copyright 2013 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed."

Just now on Bloomberg TV

(Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered the scrapping of two Fukushima nuclear reactors that survived the 2011 tsunami, a write-off that threatens to complicate a turnaround plan the operator has presented to creditors. He also said he stood by his commitments to the International Olympic Committee of insuring a safe 2020 Summer Games.

Even geography is working against Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the government in their struggle to deal with the persistent problem of radiation-contaminated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. The site receives so much groundwater that special equipment--rendered useless by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami--was set up to prevent the plant’s buildings from floating on the continuous flow. The most pressing problem is stopping the groundwater from entering the plant’s reactor buildings, becoming contaminated and spilling into the sea. But it is far from the only obstacle in the roadmap to decommission the reactors at the stricken plant....

The operator of the leaking Fukushima nuclear plant said Tuesday that it dumped more than 1,000 tons of polluted water into the sea after a typhoon raked the facility. Typhoon Man-yi smashed into Japan on Monday, bringing with it heavy rain that caused flooding in some parts of the country, including the ancient city of Kyoto. The rain also lashed near the broken plant run by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), swamping enclosure walls around clusters of water tanks containing toxic water that was used to cool broken reactors. Some of the tanks were earlier found to be leaking contaminated water....

The government will be able to take legal action against Japanese authorities if the latter continues to leak radioactive water into the ocean which could affect marine life in Korean seas, experts said, Tuesday. Their view is a response to the recent leaks of highly toxic water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which has fuelled concern here over possible environmental impacts. “Our government can demand Japan provide us with timely and detailed information about water leaks from the nuclear power plant, and also to stop leaking radioactive water,” said Kim Young-sok, a law school professor at Ewha Womans...

(SPEIGEL ONLINE) Japan is stumbling helplessly from one crisis to the next as it battles the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. US nuclear inspector Dale Klein is demanding the intervention of foreign experts, but a quick solution is unlikely. This week, the chief nuclear officers of around 100 American nuclear power plant reactors are taking a field trip. They are travelling to Japan and then taking a bus to Fukushima. There, dressed in protective suits, they will walk through the ruins left behind by the earthquake of the century, the tsunami of the century and the resulting...

TOKYO - A senior official of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said Friday that situation in the stricken plant was "out of control," according to local media. The remark was made by Kazuhiko Yamashita, who holds the executive-level title of fellow, at a meeting with Japanese opposition lawmakers in the city of Koriyama in Fukushima prefecture, said Japan's Kyodo News. His words came less than a week after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assured the world at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at Argentina that the situation in the...

A US nuclear expert brought in to offer advice about the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant says leaks of radioactive water into the sea are not a major concern. It is believed about 300 tonnes of contaminated water is seeping into the ocean every day. Responding to criticism over its handling of leaks at Fukushima, the plant's operator TEPCO brought in expert Lake Barrett, who spent several years dealing with the Three Mile island nuclear accident in the United States. Mr Barrett has just completed his first tour of the shattered Fukushima complex. Appearing in Tokyo after inspecting the site, he...

(Reuters) - Fukushima nuclear plant operator Tepco Electric's response to the world's worst atomic disaster in a quarter century has been called ad hoc and more concerned with cost than safety, but 30 months later, the utility is still in charge. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in the centerpiece of Tokyo's successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics, said he would be personally responsible for a plan to cope with the legacy of the March 2011 disaster in which a massive earthquake and tsunami caused triple meltdowns, spewing radiation and forcing some 160,000 residents to flee their homes. A crisis over...

Japanese prosecutors on Monday decided not to charge former prime minister Naoto Kan and TEPCO bosses over the initial stages of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. TOKYO: Japanese prosecutors on Monday decided not to charge former prime minister Naoto Kan and TEPCO bosses over the initial stages of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. The decision still leaves open the possibility that they will face criminal charges over other aspects of the disaster, including recent leaks of contaminated water from the crippled power plant. Local residents and activists had filed a criminal complaint against Kan and his ministers alleging professional negligence...

Seoul blames 'scientifically unacceptable' information from Tepco over radiation levels in waters around nuclear plant ***** South Korea has banned all fish imports from a large area of Japan in response to growing concern over the possible environmental impact of recent leaks of highly toxic water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In Japan, the row over the plant operator's handling of the leaks deepened on Friday when the head of the country's nuclear watchdog issued a stern rebuke to Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) for causing unnecessary alarm overseas by releasing "scientifically unacceptable" information about radiation levels. Seoul's decision...

When the 13-meter (40-foot) tsunami that wrecked Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant hit Onagawa to the northeast, hundreds of residents found refuge at the local nuclear plant, rather than run the other way. It was the right call. At Fukushima, the tsunami knocked out power supply and its cooling system, triggering reactor meltdowns and forcing 80,000 to evacuate in the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years. The Onagawa plant, in contrast, shut down safely and its gym served for three months as a shelter for those made homeless. "At that time, there was no better place than the nuclear plant,"...

Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s department responsible for managing nuclear power plant facilities did not act on a risk of massive tsunami near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant projected in an in-house study in 2008, ruling out an immediate need to better protect the power station from seawater flooding, company sources said Sunday. Despite the projection of a tsunami as high as 10.2 meters, officials of the department at the company’s headquarters insisted that such a risk was unrealistic, they said. In March, the power station was ravaged by a tsunami as high as about 15 meters. Tsunamis triggered by...