Essay: Decontaminating Fukushima – have the billions spent been worth it?
In an article first published on The Conversation, JIM SMITH, professor of environmental science at the University of Portsmouth, looks at how effective decontamination efforts have been in th wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan…
Fukushima wastewater released into the ocean, China bans all Japanese seafood
Tokyo, Japan Reuters Japan started releasing treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, a polarising move that prompted China to announce an immediate blanket ban on all aquatic products from Japan. China is “highly concerned about the risk of radioactive contamination brought by…Japan’s food and agricultural […]
Japan mothers’ group fears Fukushima water release could revive health concerns
Iwaki, JapanReuters Waves crashing on a Japanese beach lashed a man and a woman wearing waders and hats as they demonstrated the use of a blue bucket to scoop some of the liquid into large plastic containers to be taken away and tested for radiation. Members of a group that tracks such levels in food […]
Last students graduate: School closures spread in ageing Japan
EIMI YAMAMITSU, TOM BATEMAN and ISSEI KATO, of Reuters, report from the village of Ten-ei…
Fukushima water release stokes fresh fears for fisherman
Shinchimachi, Japan Reuters A chilly dawn paints the sky magenta and purple as Japanese fisherman Haruo Ono unloads his catch of flounder, crab and sea bass from his boat at the small port of Shinchimachi. A third-generation fisherman, Ono, 71, has been putting to sea for half a century from Shinchimachi, 55 kilometres north of […]
Explainer: Zaporizhzhia’s power lines: ramparts against nuclear meltdown
Vienna, Austria Reuters The last of four regular power lines supplying the Russian-held nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine was briefly cut on Thursday, meaning the plant had to resort to backup power for the first time, thinning its defences against a meltdown. In all nuclear power plants, fission of nuclear fuel gives off […]
Updated: Quake in Japan kills two, halts factories, cuts power to thousands of homes
Last updated: 12.30pm, 18th March, 2022 (AEDT)Tokyo, JapanReuters A powerful earthquake off Japan’s northeast coast left thousands of homes without water and power on Thursday and forced factories to suspend operations, adding to supply chain woes for makers of smartphones, electronics and automobiles worldwide. The magnitude 7.4 tremblor struck just before midnight on Wednesday east of […]
As Fukushima memory fades, Japan’s nuclear power proponents hope for reset
Tokyo, Japan Reuters For the first time since a massive earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011 and killed nearly 16,000 people, Japan held no state memorial for the disaster anniversary on Friday. On the eve of the 11th anniversary of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, some ruling party lawmakers […]
Waves, smiles but no cheers as Olympic torch relay kicks off under pandemic shadow
Fukushima/Tokyo, JapanReuters With waves, smiles and streamers, but no cheers, the Olympic torch relay kicked off on Thursday, beginning a four-month countdown to the postponed 2020 summer Games in Tokyo, the first ever organised during a deadly pandemic. Casting a pall over celebrations already scaled back because of coronavirus measures, North Korea launched two short-range […]
Wow!: Japanese smart city offers residents quake, privacy protection
RINA CHANDRAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on a new technological push to safeguard residents in Aizuwakamatsu city…