April 11, 2012
Kansai Electric has submitted a detailed timetable for meeting Japan’s new medium and long-term safety standards. All short–term standards have already been met. The new standards call for filtered ventilation systems for all containment buildings to minimize the...April 9, 2012
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and 3 ministers approved new nuclear safety standards on Friday. They call for utilities to have enough power sources to avoid a blackout in the event of an earthquake or tsunami. They also contain steps to prevent the situation from...April 6, 2012
TEPCO says another leak from a waste water pipe has reached the sea. They found another leak from the same pipe that leaked on March 26. The pipe is attached to a decontaminated water storage tank. TEPCO estimates that 12 tons of water was released before it was found...April 4, 2012
The Environmental Ministry has ramped up its decontamination program for Fukushima. The head of the decontamination task force, Masaru Moriya, says the mission is urgent and should be performed quickly under central government authority. On Monday, five new branch...April 2, 2012
The Tokyo government is finally re-defining the Fukushima evacuation zone. The existing 20km no-go zone and northwest evacuation corridor will be modified based on actual surveys of radiation levels made this year. The government said it is rearranging the evacuation...March 30, 2012
Radioactive Cesium concentrations in the air within 20km of F. Daiichi are all below the national standard. Monitoring between March 18th and 25th throughout the no-go zone revealed that the air’s Cesium level is below 20 Becquerels per cubic meter. (JAIF) A NY Times...March 28, 2012
Monday’s endoscopic look inside unit #2 containment (PCV) revealed 60 centimeters of water. Previously, the water level was thought to be 3-4 meters deep. This is not inside the reactor pressure vessel (RPV), but rather in the bottom of the massive containment...March 26, 2012
NISA has released a comprehensive set of slides on the current status of Fukushima Daiichi, including technical causes of the accident and “countermeasures” taken to maintain cold shutdown. http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/files/en20120321.pdf TEPCO is making a...March 23, 2012
Two international experts conclude that the radiological impact of Fukushima will be much less than Chernobyl. They spoke at a day-long symposium at Univ. of California/San Francisco marking the anniversary of the accident in Japan and said even those who lived inside...March 21, 2012
The Environment Ministry finds that most of the soils and open water in Fukushima have no Cesium concentrations. The Ministry conducted the most recent survey from January 5 through Jan. 27. One water sample from the Hirose River near Date had detectable Cesium at 8...March 19, 2012
TEPCO has made underwater videos of the unit #4 Spent Fuel Pool (SPF) giving further proof there was never any fire during the accident. Debris which fell into the pool from the building’s hydrogen explosion is seen in one video, and another shows the tops of the...March 16, 2012
TEPCO workers have entered the unit #2 pressure suppression chamber for the first time. This is where it has been rumored a hydrogen explosion took place on March 15. The quick inspection revealed no evidence of an explosion. Pictures taken by the workers allowed...March 14, 2012
474,000 tons of earthquake/tsunami debris remains piled up in the Fukushima no-go zone. The Environment Ministry says the debris has contamination levels as high as 59,000,000 Becquerels per kilogram. The Ministry also reports that much of the rubble has much lower...March 12, 2012
Comment : The real disaster in Japan Sunday, March 11, 2012, marked the first anniversary of the Great Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami. While most media pundits focus on radiation fears and apocalyptic “what-if” scenarios relative to the Fukushima accident, I choose to mark...This site requires a lot of work. We hope you find our efforts valuable and rewarding. Please consider offering your support. There is no minimum amount. Feel free to donate as you see fit, without restriction. Thank you...
