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Reversing Course, Japan Makes Push to Restart Dormant Nuclear Plants

Sun, 2014-03-02 18:23 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A TEPCO employee in protective clothing works around tanks filled with radioactive water at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. (photo: AAP)

nytimes.com - by Hiroko Tabuchi - February 25, 2014

TOKYO — The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made its biggest push yet to revive Japan’s nuclear energy program on Tuesday, announcing details of a draft plan that designates atomic power as an important long-term electricity source.

The new Basic Energy Plan, which states that Japan will push to restart reactors that were closed after the disaster in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, overturns a promise made by a previous government to phase out the country’s nuclear reactors. The plan also leaves open the possibility of building new plants as well as restarting existing ones.

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IAEA Delivers Final Report on Remediation in Fukushima to Japan

Fri, 2014-01-24 16:58 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Remediation workers check bags of soil and other decontamination waste at a temporary storage site in Date city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. (Photo: G. Tudor/IAEA)

iaea.org - January 24, 2014

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) handed Japan the final report from an expert mission that reviewed remediation efforts in areas affected by the Fukushima Daiichi accident.

The IAEA report, which is available online, describes the findings of the Follow-up IAEA International Mission on Remediation of Large Contaminated Areas Off-Site the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, held on 14 to 21 October 2013. The report highlights important progress in all areas to date, and offers advice on several points where the team feels it is still possible to further improve current practices.

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Removing Fuel Rods Poses New Risks at Crippled Nuclear Plant in Japan

Wed, 2013-12-11 17:29 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Members of the media inside the Fukushima Daiichi plant on Thursday. The plant’s operator plans to start moving radioactive fuel to safer storage. Pool photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi

nytimes.com - by Hiroko Tabuchi - November 10, 2013

TOKYO — It was the part of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that spooked American officials the most, as the complex spiraled out of control two and a half years ago: the spent fuel pool at Reactor No. 4, with more than 1,500 radioactive fuel assemblies left exposed when a hydrogen explosion blew the roof off the building.

In the next 10 days, the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, is set to start the delicate and risky task of using a crane to remove the fuel assemblies from the pool, a critical step in a long decommissioning process that has already had serious setbacks.

Just 36 men will carry out the tense operation to move the fuel to safer storage; they will work in groups of six in two-hour shifts throughout the day for months.

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Japan asks for world's help on Fukushima leaks

Sat, 2013-12-07 22:51 — Maeryn Obley

Workers at leaking water tanks at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Japan Pool/ AFP/ Getty Images

Image: Workers at leaking water tanks at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Japan Pool/ AFP/ Getty Images

america.aljazeera.com - October 6th, 2013

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday that Japan is open to receiving overseas help to contain widening disaster at the crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima, where radioactive water leaks and other mishaps are now reported almost daily.

"We are wide open to receive the most advanced knowledge from overseas to contain the problem," Abe said in his English speech to open the conference on energy and environment at an international science forum in Kyoto in western Japan.

"My country needs your knowledge and expertise," he said.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Big Typhoons May Collide Off Honshu

Wed, 2013-10-23 23:14 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Double whammy feared; Izu braces for the worst

japantimes.co.jp - by Tomohiro Osaki - October 23, 2013

Less than a week after being hit by the largest typhoon in a decade, Tokyo is bracing for another strong storm that will likely reach the area Saturday, and it may get merged with an even stronger approaching tempest.

Though less powerful than Typhoon Wipha, incoming tropical cyclone Francisco is rated as “strong,” the Meteorological Agency said. But on a possible collision course is Typhoon Lekima, considered “more fierce.”

(CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

(CLICK HERE - JAPAN METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY - TROPICAL CYCLONE INFORMATION)

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(CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW - NOAA - Francisco Long Floater - Infrared Channel 4 Imagery Loop)

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Typhoon Francisco on Course for Japan — May Follow Typhoon Wipha’s Path … Developed in a Similar Area (VIDEO)

Sun, 2013-10-20 15:47 — Kathy Gilbeaux

enenews.com - Energy News - October 19, 2013

Weather Channel, Oct. 18, 2013 at 9:45p ET: Super Typhoon Francisco Brushes Guam, Could Threaten Japan Next Week [...] A tropical cyclone is dubbed a “super typhoon” when maximum sustained winds reach at least 150 mph – the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. [...] Conditions appear favorable for development [... allowing] the typhoon to strengthen in intensity, possibly to 160 mph (Category 5 status) over the next few hours. After that, Francisco will move into a region of cooler ocean temperatures, which cause the typhoon to weaken. Francisco may threaten southern Japan early next week, however the current forecast from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center indicates that the typhoon will be much weaker by that point. That said, intensity forecasts at five days out in time can be highly uncertain [...]

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IAEA Expert Remediation Mission to Japan Issues Preliminary Report

Sun, 2013-10-20 13:35 — Kathy Gilbeaux

21 October 2013 | Tokyo -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s international expert mission to review remediation efforts in areas affected by the Fukushima Daiichi accident concluded today with the presentation of a Preliminary Summary Report to Japan's Senior Vice-Minister of the Environment, Shinji Inoue.

The Follow-up IAEA International Mission on Remediation of Large Contaminated Areas Off-site the Fukushima Daiichi NPS recognised the huge effort and enormous resources that Japan is devoting to its remediation strategies and activities, with the aim of improving living conditions for people affected by the nuclear accident and enabling evacuees to return home.

The Mission Team highlighted important progress since the first IAEA remediation mission in October 2011, noted that Japan had made good use of advice from that earlier Mission, and offered fresh advice in a number of areas where it is still possible to further improve current practices, taking into account both international standards and the experience of remediation programmes in other countries.

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