Storm suspends work at Japan Fukushima nuclear plant
The operator of Japan's crippled nuclear plant has suspended some of its outdoor work due to a tropical storm, just days after it admitted it was not prepared for harsh weather.
Heavy rain and strong winds are hitting north-east Japan, which was devastated in the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.
There are fears that more radioactive material from the Fukushima plant could drain into the land and sea.
Japan's Meteorological Agency has warned of mudslides and floods.
Typhoon Songda weakened to a tropical storm over south-west Japan late on Sunday, but strong winds and rain have continued to pound the north-east of the country.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which runs the nuclear plant, said it was on alert to ensure that contaminated water in reactor buildings did not flow out.
I am impressed by this:
Switzerland Plans To Abandon Nuclear Power
The Swiss government announced last week a proposal to phase out nuclear power as an energy source for electricity generation and to look more towards energy efficiency and renewables.
Under the proposal, existing nuclear power stations will be decommissioned at the end of their operational lifespan and will not be replaced by new reactors. This would see Switzerland being nuclear free by 2034.
And this:
Germany: Nuclear power plants to close by 2022
Germany's coalition government has announced a reversal of policy that will see all the country's nuclear power plants phased out by 2022.
The decision makes Germany the biggest industrial power to announce plans to give up nuclear energy.
Environment Minister Norbert Rottgen made the announcement following late-night talks.
Chancellor Angela Merkel set up a panel to review nuclear power following the crisis at Fukushima in Japan.
There have been mass anti-nuclear protests across Germany in the wake of March's Fukushima crisis, triggered by an earthquake and tsunami.
Because loss of life and land is a reality and
mistakes and
disasters are inevitable, these are intelligent actions by these countries. How many of them do we need to learn it takes only one mistake to forever devastate a region and destroy communities?
2 comments:
My comment is for all of you interested in following the incident. Focus on information that gives you and understanding of the Iodine-131/Cesium-137 concentration ratio. Iodine-131 as all short lived isotopes are created by fission, and should be decreasing to half in terms of Becquerels/m2^ or Liter or m^3 every 8 days.
Don't care about anything else you hear, just look for sources that allow you to estimate this ratio. If you don't see it go to half every 8 days, then fission is still on-going and the drama is alive, meaning that the worst case scenarios are still possible. Once you see that this ratio keeps on going down, then we are in territory where even talking about controlling the disaster starts to make sense. Before that, we are in a bomb defusing scenario with thousands of tons of nuclear fuel involved. An Engineer has given some examples of the levels of energy involved in just 1 nuclear reactor in lunatic outpost.
Your very interesting comment would hold more weight if you didn't have an advertisement in your name. But thanks for the statement.
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