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Research Towards High Radiation Robots For Fukushima
One of the largest challenges in the effort to decommission the Fukushima Daiichi disaster site is developing robotic technology to remove melted fuel. Radiation levels in certain areas of the reactors and reactor buildings remain so high that they damage electronics and components. Research has been ongoing through IRID and JAEA to attempt to develop new materials and technologies that can withstand the extremely high radiation levels near the melted fuel. A workshop is being conducted … Read entire article »
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SimplyInfo.org Fukushima 5th Year Report
Our research team’s 5th year report on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is out. Full of technical … Read more »
The Reopening Of Naraha Fukushima, What The Press Failed To Mention
The press has widely reported the reopening of Naraha as the government uses it as a PR … Read more »
SimplyInfo.org Report: Taiwan Food Testing Of Japanese Imports
Thanks to activists in Japan, we were made aware of ongoing Japanese food import testing being … Read more »
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New Fukushima Radiation Release Estimates Compiled
Fukushima Radiation Release Estimates This is one of the questions we are asked the most, “how much radiation … Read more »
New Photos From Inside Fukushima Daiichi
These images appear to be from late 2011. The spent fuel pool end of unit 4 is partially dismantled yet the upper side corners remain. Those were eventually removed. All images appear … Read more »
Thorium, Not The Nuclear Savior Claimed
As people have been discussing the issues surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi Disaster, the future of nuclear power comes up. Frequently someone will show up to the discussion to proclaim thorium will be … Read more »
Latest
Japan Sees Another Reactor Permanently Shut Down
The Ikata unit 1 reactor will be permanently shut down. The nearly 40 year old reactor needs 200 billion yen in upgrades and repairs if it were to ever be allowed to restart. The fuel savings the power company claims it would gain from running the plant is only 10 billion yen. The repairs would also take up to five years, … Read entire article »
Interim Fukushima Contaminated Soil Storage Won’t Start Until 2020
Yomiuri Shimbun is reporting that the effort to establish an interim soil storage site for the mountains of contaminated soil collected around Japan and in Fukushima Prefecture would not be able to open until 2020. The delay involves obtaining contract or sale of the land needed near the power plant disaster site. The bags used for soil storage have a … Read entire article »
3 Incidents Show High Stakes Game Of Nuclear Chicken
Three serious incidents came to light in recently that show a disturbing level of risk to the public from nuclear power plants around the world. The Kakrapar nuclear plant in India had a serious incident that is ongoing. A serious near miss at Fessenheim nuclear plant in France happened in 2014 but is just now coming to light. Then today, … Read entire article »
Fukushima Unit 2 Gets Mini Muon Detector
Unit 2 already had one muon scan done by Nagoya University that found no fuel to likely be in the reactor vessel. They did have a small level of uncertainty because they were unable to image the very bottom of the reactor vessel. This caused them to say there was a chance some fuel debris could remain in the bottom … Read entire article »
Fukushima; What Will The Future Be?
Many media reports tried to document the 5th anniversary of the 3-11 disaster. Some gave it superficial coverage. Others tried to grasp the situation. Some tried to erase the problems it had created. Few looked at what will happen over the next five years. Friday in Tokyo, the 187th nuclear protest rally was held. Friday protests have been ongoing since the … Read entire article »
Japanese Court Forces Takahama Nuclear Plant To Shut Down
A district court in Shiga prefecture has forced Kansai Electric to shut down unit 3 at Takahama Nuclear Plant and keep unit 4 offline. Unit 4 was given restart permission but suffered a mechanical failure when it attempted to send power to the grid. The court cited lacking emergency response plans and insufficient upgrades to reactor systems. The ruling cited “There … Read entire article »
Fukushima Disaster Costs Taxpayers $100 Billion So Far
The Financial Times reports the estimate, based on work by Ritsumeikan University professor Kenichi Oshima. This includes what taxpayers have paid through taxes or TEPCO electric bills for compensation and disaster related work to cover disaster costs. It highlights how a nuclear disaster is largely burdened back on society. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the … Read entire article »
Fukushima Documentary; 88 Hours Inside The Disaster
NHK is broadcasting a documentary throughout the week called 88 Hours – The Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown. It is based on the testimony and interviews with workers who were involved in the response at the plant during the first 88 hours as the meltdowns unfolded. The documentary views more like a disaster movie than a documentary yet captures the gravity of … Read entire article »
Fire At Namie Nuclear Waste Site
Loose branches and dead grass being prepared to be loaded into the iconic black bags used for nuclear soil and debris storage caught fire in Namie Fukushima. The fire burned for 5 hours on March 5th before fire fighters were able to put it out. The fire can be seen in the ANN video burning in close proximity to the … Read entire article »
SimplyInfo.org Fukushima 5th Year Report
Our research team’s 5th year report on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is out. Full of technical details rarely covered by the press, the report shows the new understanding of the disaster. The social and environmental impacts are also covered in this 40 page report complete with diagrams, illustrations and images covering the past year. Read the report online or download … Read entire article »
IAEA Says Feature Key To Controlling Fukushima Disaster Not Used Elsewhere
The head of the IAEA talked about this with Kyodo News recently. The seismic “isolated” building, sometimes referred to as the bunker building at Fukushima Daiichi was a critical component to being able to fight the disaster at the plant. The building was built to resist earthquakes and to deal with a number of disaster scenarios. Equally important was the … Read entire article »
Chat Service Restored
Chat service has been intermittent for the last 4 hours. It should be corrected now. If you continue to have login problems please contact us via the website email address for support assistance. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2015 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights Reserved Content cited, quoted etc. … Read entire article »
3 TEPCO Execs Indicted On Criminal Negligence Charges
Three TEPCO executives were successfully indicted on Monday in Tokyo. The three are Tsunehisa Katsumata, 75, chairman of TEPCO at the time Sakae Muto, 65, and Ichiro Takekuro, 69, both former vice presidents Unfortunately none were arrested after the indictment and the first trial date has not yet been set. The indictments come after a years long struggle by a citizens group to force … Read entire article »
Takahama Reactor Fails Days After Restart
An issue in the turbine systems caused unit 4 at the Takahama nuclear plant in Japan to automatically shut down just days after it was allowed to restart. The same unit had a problem 9 days earlier when a pipe leak caused a problem. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2015 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights Reserved Content cited, quoted etc. from other sources is under the respective rights of that content owner. If you are viewing this page on any website other than www.simplyinfo.org (or www.fukuleaks.org) it may be plagiarized, please let us know. If you wish to reproduce any of our content in full … Read entire article »
TEPCO Admits To Fukushima Meltdown Coverup
TEPCO has admitted that they failed to officially notify the government of the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi and that they knew by at least March 14th of 2011. The official required notification would have made denying the meltdowns impossible. It took TEPCO until May of 2011 to even admit publicly there was any meltdown at all and years before they … Read entire article »
Fukushima Ice Wall To Begin Freezing Early March
TEPCO should begin freezing the sea side of the ice wall in early March according to Asahi Shimbun. That should take roughly two and a half months. TEPCO cited a total of about eight months to freeze the entire ice wall. This indicates they may make a pause after freezing the sea side to check for unwanted changes to the … Read entire article »
Details On Fukushima Tritium Removal System
Kurion’s tritium removal system is inching closer to implementation. Bloomberg has some information on how the system will work. A prototype is apparently in operation at Hanford Washington. The system operates by separation using an electrolyzer to split the oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen and tritium are then separated through a catalytic exchange column. It is not mentioned what they intend … Read entire article »
TEPCO And NRA Agree On Fukushima Frozen Wall Plan
TEPCO and NRA have come to an agreement to being operation of the frozen wall. TEPCO wanted to freeze the land side first, NRA the seaside first. NRA’s concern was that TEPCO’s method could cause groundwater levels to drop too fast causing leaks of highly contaminated water from the reactor buildings. TEPCO said they would make adjustments to deal with dropping … Read entire article »
Fukushima Daiichi Frozen Wall Controversy Hits Stalemate
The NRA in Japan has put a stop to implementation of the frozen wall. Our ongoing reporting on the frozen wall can be found here. The work began in 2013 yet NRA did not raise concerns at that time that we were able to find. Work progressed since then with Kajima providing the construction and METI the financing as we … Read entire article »
A Fukushima Evacuee’s Story; Who Represents Us?
We try to present the first hand experience of those impacted by the Fukushima disaster whenever possible. Those who have survived the disaster struggle to have their voices heard and it is rarely reflected in the official record of events. This piece by Toshinori Shishido is republished with permission. Translation to English by Sloths Against Nuclear State. This version originally appeared here: https://jfissures.wordpress.com/2016/02/04/on-fukushima-prefecture-and-hiroshi-kainuma/ FUKUSHIMA, VOICES OF … Read entire article »
Strontium 90 Rises Between Units 1 And 2 At Fukushima Daiichi
Strontium 90 has risen in a number of wells between unit 1 and 2 at Fukushima Daiichi to record levels. Since our research team documented the changes that have taken place after the September 2015 closing of the metal sea front wall a number of changes have taken place that we have documented in previous articles on SimplyInfo.org. This may be … Read entire article »
New Meltdown Byproduct Found Far From Fukushima Daiichi
Another type of material has been found by researchers that is tied to the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi. We have reported extensively over the years on the finding of “black stuff” around mainland Japan. This is a highly radioactive black sand like material that had gathered in gutters and roads as far away as Tokyo. Analysis of materials of that … Read entire article »
New Plan To Inspect Fukushima Unit 1 Unveiled
IRID has published a new plan to complete phase 2 of the robot containment inspection of unit 1 at Fukushima Daiichi. The initial plan involved dropping the shape changing robot down to the basement level of the containment structure. Due to brackish water and small debris in the water they have opted to not attempt to drop the shape changing … Read entire article »
Fukushima Unit 2 Containment Inspection Postponed Further
TEPCO is reporting that the effort to put a robot into unit 2′s containment has been delayed further. Work to decontaminate around the CRD hatch is taking longer than hoped. No solid completion date was given. There is also a note that they will drill a hole into the CRD hatch to insert the robot. Opening the hatch would be … Read entire article »
2013 Fukushima Dust Release May Have Caused Fallout At Regulator
In the summer of 2013 researchers from Kyoto University began finding evidence of new radiation releases from Fukushima Daiichi. By March of 2014 they took their findings to the environment ministry and NRA but it took six months before the government informed the public. The environment ministry may have known about the problem on their own as early as September 2013 when they began finding unusual contamination patterns in rice harvested in Minamisoma. After proof of the releases was announced, NRA tried to explain away the problem claiming it was kicked up dirt in the local area. NRA provided no evidence to back up their statement. Now the Kyoto University researchers and a team of international … Read entire article »
Fukushima Unit 3 Spent Fuel Removal Work Begins
The process to remove the spent fuel from the pool at unit 3 will be a long term project but significant work begins in 2016. TEPCO’s schedule shows the work to install the cover building and platform should start around March of 2016. Once that installation work is completed, underwater small debris removal will begin around mid 2017. Actual removal … Read entire article »
Virtual Reality Being Used To Tackle Fukushima Daiichi
If you wondered why there was an interest within the last year to take 3D images of the reactor buildings at Fukushima Daiichi, this is why. The Naraha Remote Technology Development Center is using those images to build a virtual version of the damaged reactors. Researchers can navigate the buildings and structures using virtual reality technology. Only certain portions of the … Read entire article »
TEPCO Releases Photos Of Fukushima Unit 1 Demolition
TEPCO released two images of the work underway to remove the refueling floor level of unit 1. They commented that this specific steel removal work was to allow access for the water spray that will be used to keep down radioactive building dust as further removal work takes place. Handout http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2016/images1/handouts_160108_09-j.pdf This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of … Read entire article »
The Problems With Takahama
Takahama unit 3 is the most recent nuclear reactor to attempt a restart in Japan. It is also one of the more controversial. The reactor restart had been blocked by the courts for being unsafe until another judge overturned that decision. On December 25th 157 fuel assemblies including 24 MOX assemblies were loaded into the reactor. The power company plans … Read entire article »
Foxes Invade Fukushima Unit 2 Reactor Building
TEPCO reported finding foxes have invaded the unit 2 reactor building. The plant has had problems with rats in the buildings and electrical systems and a few rogue dogs and tanuki. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2015 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights Reserved Content cited, quoted … Read entire article »
Japanese Govt. To Reuse Fukushima Contaminated Soil
The Environment Ministry has announced they plan to “reuse” contaminated soil in public construction projects. Last week they announced that some contaminated materials and soil below 8000 bq/kg of contamination would be released from government oversight. The ministry has a business plan to reuse the contaminated soil. There is a vague mention of attempting some sort of decontamination on the soil … Read entire article »
Fukushima Unit 3 3D Torus Scans Begin
3D inspections of the unit 3 torus room are set to begin December 22nd. This work is expected to investigate all of the torus room except the section where a robot was lost in 2011. TEPCO has not disclosed what has happened in that area to make it off limits. The work should continue into January 2016 and is part … Read entire article »
Salt Water Infiltrates Fukushima Daiichi
TEPCO has admitted a new problem with the water management and steel sea wall at Fukushima Daiichi. Salt levels in groundwater being pumped up from around the reactor buildings and sea front were found to now have more than the expected amount of salt. This appears to indicate some amount of sea water is infiltrating back into the plant grounds … Read entire article »
TEPCO Makes Two New Big Admissions On Fukushima Disaster
TEPCO has made two major admissions on the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The Japanese press has documented these two out of a large data dump of accident review reports. Unit 2: The new admission for unit 2 was that the pneumatic air controls for the steam relief valves failed early in the disaster. These air lines are used to open and close steam … Read entire article »
Japan’s Craziest Nuclear Idea To Date
The Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry is exploring the idea of storing their high level nuclear waste under the sea floor. That would be in the Pacific ocean, or Sea of Japan. Efforts to find a land based site has been met with obvious resistance from local communities. This disturbing new concept offered no idea how they planned to prevent … Read entire article »
How The US & Japan See India As Ripe For Nuclear Exploitation
The groundwork goes back decades. After WWII the US looked to shed the reputation gained after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The tactic brought about the Atoms for Peace program. The plan was to divert attention away from nuclear weaponry and war towards nuclear power and other uses that could be seen as “peaceful” uses of the technology. Opposition to … Read entire article »
Fukushima Evacuees Denied Housing, Pushed Back To The Zone
Mainichi has an in depth look at the evolving problems for evacuees. While the government has claimed it would treat all evacuees fairly, the actions behind the scenes show they never intended to do so. The government collected surveys from evacuees to estimate how many people needed public housing in order to build enough units. Mainichi’s investigation and leaked documents show … Read entire article »
Russia Wants To Reprocess Fuel From Fukushima Daiichi
Russia has expressed interest in reprocessing the large amounts of spent fuel from Fukushima Daiichi at their Mayak nuclear site. By 2017 their facility would be capable of reprocessing “western” design nuclear fuel. That would include the boiling water reactor style fuel used at Fukushima Daiichi. Russia recently won a contract to do research work on a tritium removal system for … Read entire article »
Fukushima Pacific Plume Reaches Predicted Levels
A press release from Woods Hole announced today that new radiation readings for the Pacific off the North American coast have reached new post Fukushima highs. “Scientists monitoring the spread of radiation in the ocean from the Fukushima nuclear accident report finding an increased number of sites off the US West Coast showing signs of contamination from Fukushima. This includes the … Read entire article »
