Foreign News

On March 11, Japan marks a decade since a huge earthquake and tsunami left more than 22,000 people dead or missing and triggered the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Here is a brief timeline of events after the 9.0 magnitude quake, the biggest recorded in Japan’s history.

Reuters 4th March 2021 read more »

Ten years after the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, land Japan identified for cleanup from the triple reactor meltdown of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi atomic power plant remains contaminated, according to a report from Greenpeace. On average, just 15% of land in the “Special Decontamination Area,” which is home to several municipalities, has been cleaned up, according to the environmental advocacy group’s analysis of government data. That’s despite the government’s claims that the area has largely been decontaminated, the group said.

Bloomberg 4th March 2021 read more »

Fukushima Daiichi 2011-2021: The decontamination myth and a decade of human rights violations.

Greenpeace 4th March 2021 read more »

As the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster approaches, NFLA writes to the Japanese Government and supports CNFE webinar on its ongoing impacts.

NFLA 4th March 2021 read more »

The man who saves cats in Fukushima’s nuclear zone – in pictures.

Guardian 5th March 2021 read more »

Metro 4th March 2021 read more »

Independent 4th March 2021 read more »

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. is considering providing some 3 billion yen ($28 million) in additional funding to a northeastern Japan village where it plans to build a new nuclear power plant, sources close to the matter said Thursday. TEPCO plans to provide the money over the coming five years to maintain good relations with the local government in Higashidori, Aomori Prefecture, the sources said. Plant construction was halted after the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant operated by TEPCO. According to the sources, the company intends to supply the funds through a joint consultative body it aims to set up together with the village to help revive the local economy. But the move could prove controversial, given that the utility, effectively nationalized following the nuclear disaster 10 years ago next month, has been receiving state funds as it faces massive compensation payments and other costs.

Mainichi 5th March 2021 read more »

Nuclear power must be well regulated, not ditched. The earthquake cut the plant off from outside sources of electricity. The tsunami easily topped the plant’s sea walls, flooding the underground bunkers containing its emergency generators—a foreseeable risk Japan’s neutered regulators had failed to foresee. Because there was no way to cool the reactor cores, the nuclear fuel within them began to melt; amid fire, explosion and alarming amounts of radiation, a puddle from hell began eating into the plant’s concrete foundations.

Economist 6th March 2021 read more »

Ten years after Fukushima, nuclear power still dying in Japan.

Sciences et Avenir 4th March 2021 read more »

Sébastien Candel and Marc Fontecave: “It is time to positively reconsider the place of nuclear energy in France”. The current energy policy of replacing nuclear with renewable energies will only lead to an increase in our greenhouse gas emissions, warn scientists in a forum in “The World”.

Le Mondce 4th March 2021 read more »

The Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) is worried about “inadequacies” in EDF’s capacity to manage an extreme crisis at its Flamanville plant (2.6 GW), where an EPR is under construction, has t -she reported Wednesday. On the night of January 11 to 12, ASN carried out an unannounced inspection to test the organization of the crisis by simulating an emergency situation resulting from extreme natural aggression, resulting in congestion on the road network and isolation. partial site, she said in a statement.

Montel News 3rd March 2021 read more »

Luxembourg has an idea to shut down Cattenom. Claude Turmes hopes the German Greens will come to power to put pressure on France and obtain the closure of the Cattenom nuclear power plant.

L’Essentiel 3rd March 2021 read more »

A wide-ranging climate bill has been introduced to the US House of Representatives this week that, if passed, will commit the nation to net-zero by 2050.

Edie 4th March 2021 read more »

As part of its clean-energy agenda, the Biden administration is reviving an energy department program that disbursed billions of dollars in loan guarantees to companies such as electric car maker Tesla and the failed solar company Solyndra, the energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, says. The loan program helped launch the country’s first utility-scale wind and solar farms as part of the Obama administration’s efforts to create “green jobs” but largely went dormant under Donald Trump.

Guardian 4th March 2021 read more »

The head of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant says there’s no need to extend the current target to finish its decommissioning in 30-40 years despite uncertainties about melted fuel inside the plant’s three reactors. Ten years after meltdowns of three of its reactors following a massive March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi plant has stabilized but faces new challenges. Nuclear regulators recently found fatal levels of contamination under the lids of two reactors, a test removal of melted fuel debris from one reactor has been delayed for a year, and a recent earthquake may have caused new damage to the reactors. About 900 tons of melted fuel debris remain inside the plant’s three damaged reactors, and its safe removal is a daunting task that its operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., or TEPCO, and the government say will take 30-40 years to finish. The removal of spent fuel units from cooling pools is already being delayed for up to five years. But Akira Ono, who as head of the plant is also its chief decommissioning officer, said he doesn’t plan to change the current goal to finish decommissioning between 2041 and 2051.

Seattle Times 3rd March 2021 read more »

At a seaside nuclear-power plant here, a concrete wall stretching a mile along the coast and towering 73 feet above sea level offers protection against almost any conceivable tsunami. Two reactors are ready to start splitting atoms again to heat water into steam and generate power, the operator has told regulators. Yet despite safety measures set to cost nearly $4 billion, the Hamaoka plant hasn’t produced a single kilowatt since May 2011, and it has no target date to restart. The paint on billboards is fading and an old “no trespassing” sign outside the barbed wire lies on the ground—signs of creeping neglect. Even a local antinuclear leader, Katsushi Hayashi, said he spent more time these days fighting an unrelated rail line in the mountains, confident that regulators and public opinion wouldn’t let the plant open any time soon. “Fukushima gave us all the proof we need. It’s dangerous,” Mr. Hayashi said. A decade after Fukushima, just nine reactors in Japan are authorized to operate, down from 54 a decade ago, and five of those are currently offline owing to legal and other issues. All of Fukushima prefecture’s reactors are closed permanently or set to do so. Chubu Electric Power Co. , owner of the Hamaoka plant, declined to make an executive available for comment. It has formally applied to reopen two reactors at the plant and told regulators that new measures such as the wall, mainly completed in 2015, make them safe to operate.

Wall St Journal 3rd March 2021 read more »

As work to decommission the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and revitalise the surrounding area continues, there are many ways international communities can learn, assist Japan and support each other, according to a new report from OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. Published today, ahead of the 10th anniversary of the disaster, the report summarises the circumstances of the accident, the current status of the site, and lessons learned. It also considers the challenges that lie ahead and makes policy recommendations.

World Nuclear News 3rd March 2021 read more »

As Ben Fogle offers a chilling reminder of the 1986 disaster on Channel 5 tonight, here’s how you can visit the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone yourself, with an organised tour.

Daily Star 3rd March 2021 read more »

Daily Star 3rd March 2021 read more »

Inside Chernobyl with Ben Fogle, Channel 5, review: A haunting and soulful guide to a fascinating landscape.

iNews 3rd March 2021 read more »

Despite the fact that the Chernobyl nuclear disaster unfolded back in 1986, the fallout continues to impact certain areas of the world to this day. That includes a series of irradiated vehicles that were used in the clean-up operation, which remain as rusting relics in a cemetery located on the outskirts of the Chernobyl zone, near the village of Rossokha.

Lad Bible 3rd March 2021 read more »

The engineer and international consultant in energy Bernard Laponche signs a report on the safety of the Tricastin nuclear power plant (Drôme), whose reactors have been the subject of their fourth ten-year inspection for two years, which means that they are entering their fortieth year of operation. An operation that EDF intends to extend for ten or twenty years, which, according to Bernard Laponche, poses serious problems. So much so that this former CEA, president of the association Global Chance, advocates outright the shutdown of several plants, including Tricastin. Interview.

Objectif Gard 28th Feb 2021 read more »