contamination

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo has advised Americans to evacuate the area within 80 kilometers of an earthquake-damaged nuclear power plant, or take shelter indoors, out of concern that radiation leaking from the plant could contaminate the area. The evacuation warning, issued by U.S. Ambassador...

How much radiation is dangerous? Radiation is measured using the unit sievert, which quantifies the amount of radiation absorbed by human tissues. One sievert is 1,000 millisieverts (mSv). In the U.S., the average person is exposed to about 6.2 millisieverts a year, mostly from background...

Link Removed The explosion on Tuesday at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Photograph: Abc Tv/EPA Japan is facing one of the world's biggest nuclear crises as a team of engineers struggles to regain control of the Fukushima plant following another explosion and a fire that caused radiation to rise...

Residents in the capital, 150 miles south of Fukushima, prepare for possible lockdown as embassies advise citizens to leave Link Removed News of a serious radiation leak at the Fukoshima nuclear plant has sparked panic buying in Tokyo, as some residents started to leave the capital to escape...

Thousands of people are still missing and fires are burning out of control due to gas explosions . Hole observed in reactor 2 following fresh blast . People within 20 KMS told to stay indoors . Melt down now seems to be imminent ! Blast at reactor 4

Link Removed There have been two explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, following Friday's earthquake and tsunami, and a third reactor is reportedly at risk of fuel-rod meltdown. How great a danger do these problems pose for people in Japan and further afield? Has...

Link Removed A file picture of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant reactor No 7, in Niigata prefecture, Japan, that was damaged in the quake. Photograph: Franck Robichon/EPA Workers are battling to stave off a possible nuclear meltdown at a plant in north-eastern Japan as the country...

NEW ORLEANS (Associated Press) - It is an overlooked danger in oil spill crisis: The crude gushing from the well contains vast amounts of natural gas that could pose a serious threat to the Gulf of Mexico's fragile ecosystem. The oil emanating from the seafloor contains about 40 percent...

Oil slick just a few miles from Louisiana coast - CNN.com A 120-mile oil slick advanced to within a few miles of the mouth of the Mississippi River on Thursday as authorities scrambled to keep the spill from damaging wetlands along the Gulf of Mexico. The slick was about three miles off the...