Fukushima

The head of a UN nuclear agency task force assessing the safety of Japan's plan to release treated radioactive water from the wreaked Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea said on Friday that Japanese regulators have shown their commitment to comply with international safety standards. International concern over the plan has been widening. Last week, the head of the 18-nation Pacific Island Forum, which includes Australia, New Zealand and other island nations, expressed concern about any impact of radiation from the water on the livelihoods of people in the region which suffered in the past from atomic bomb tests, and urged Japan to suspend the plan. The region is steadfast in its position that there should be no discharge until all parties verify through scientific means that such a discharge is safe, forum Secretary General Henry Puna said at a public seminar on the Fukushima issue. The US National Association of Marine Laboratories, an organisation of more than 100 laboratories, .

Japan has revised the timing of a planned release to the sea of treated but still radioactive wastewater at the Fukushima nuclear power plant to around spring or summer", indicating a delay from the initial target of this spring, after factoring in the progress of a release tunnel and the need to gain public support. The government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, announced in April 2021 a plan to begin releasing the treated wastewater into the sea starting in spring 2023. They say more than 1 million tons of water stored in about 1,000 tanks at the plant are hampering its decommissioning and risk leaking in the event of a major earthquake or tsunami. Under the current plan, TEPCO will transport the treated water through a pipeline from the tanks to a coastal facility, where it will be diluted with seawater and sent through an undersea tunnel, currently under construction, to an offshore outlet. The company has acknowledged the possibility of rough win

Japan's nuclear regulator approved plans by the operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant to release its treated radioactive wastewater into the sea next year

Govt officials warned power supply is expected to fall short of demand Tuesday evening, and officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co. said there could be partial outages if the supply squeeze continues

The magnitude-7.4 earthquake off the coast of Fukushima on March 16 killed four people and injured more than 230 others

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage

The ice wall is intended to limit the seepage of groundwater into the plant, which has created large amounts of toxic water being stored by Tepco in tanks.

An IAEA mission arrived in Japan on Monday to help prepare for a decades-long release into the ocean of treated but still radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, officials said

Honestly speaking, I don't know, and I don't know if anybody knows, said Christophe Xerri, head of an International Atomic Energy Agency team reviewing progress in the plant's cleanup.

South Korea expressed strong regret on Tuesday over Japan's decision to dump radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean

Some scientists say the long-term impact on marine life from low-dose exposure to such large volumes of water is unknown.

Japan's government decided Tuesday to start releasing massive amounts of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean in two years

The United States on Monday extended support to Japan, stating that Tokyo appears to have adopted an approach in accordance with globally accepted nuclear safety standards

The Japan Meteorological Agency says a strong earthquake has hit off the coast of northeastern Japan

A draft investigation report into the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown says it has detected dangerously high levels of radioactive contamination at two of the three reactors

Yu Miri, who won this year's National Book Award for translated literature, says Tokyo's Ueno Park, where a homeless man kills himself in her award-winning story, looks very clean ahead of Olympics

Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday that his government is working on the of a plan to release the massive amounts of radioactive water being stored at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant

Staff cleaning up the plant wear special plastic overcoats to prevent radioactive dust settling on clothes or the body and the TEPCO operator gets through 6,000 per day

The three men were senior officials at the TEPCO firm operating the Fukushima Daiichi plant and had faced up to five years in prison if convicted

TEPCO said the reactor had enough water left inside and there was no temperature increase or radiation leak from the incident