Radioactive Waste

Record levels of radiation have been recorded at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant reactor, just months after the nuclear accident resulting from the earthquake and tsunami in March.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported that Geiger counters - a hand-held device used to measure radiation - registered their highest possible reading at the site on Monday.

TEPCO said that radiation exceeding 10 sieverts [10,000 millisieverts] per hour was found at the bottom of a ventilation stack standing between two reactors.

Al Jazeera's Aela Callan, reporting from Japan's Ibaraki prefecture, said the level recorded was "fatal to humans" but that it was contained just to the plant's site. However, scientists are planning to carry out more tests on Tuesday.... Read more »

Don't you wish you could have bought Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) from the federal government? Had you been the buyer, you would have pocketed $60 million from the transaction. Sound like a strange deal? It is, but it's the kind of deal that is normal in the weird world of nuclear energy.

SNC-Lavalin, which recently bought AECL from the federal government, put up $15 million for the company and then received $75 million in federal supports for research and development. For that, SNC gets most of AECL's $1.1 billion in assets.... Read more »

In a televised news conference, Mr Kan said the country should harness renewable energy sources.

The 11 March earthquake and tsunami wrecked the Fukushima plant, which continues to leak radioactive material.

A large section of public opinion has turned against nuclear power.

About 30% of Japan's electricity was nuclear generated before the Fukushima crisis, and the country had targeted raising that figure to 53% by 2030.

But Mr Kan had already said this commitment should be scrapped.

On Wednesday, he went a step further, saying: "We will aim at realising a society which can exist without nuclear power."

He said the country should aim to develop alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass.

But he did not lay out a timescale for his plan.... Read more »

It’s been one of the mysteries of Japan’s ongoing nuclear disaster: How much of the damage did the March 11 earthquake inflict on Fukushima Daiichi’s reactors in the 40 minutes before the devastating tsunami arrived? The stakes are high: If the quake alone structurally compromised the plant and the safety of its nuclear fuel, then every other similar reactor in Japan is at risk.... Read more »

Operators of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant have suspended an operation to clean contaminated water hours after it began due to a rapid rise in radiation.

Some 110,000 tonnes of water have built up during efforts to cool reactors hit by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.

CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO AND ILLUSTRATION... Read more »