fukushima

There must be a large leak," Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility also known as Tepco, told a news conference on Thursday. "The fuel pellets likely melted and fell, and in the process may have damaged ... the pressure vessel itself and created a hole," he added. Since the...

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said fuel rods are fully exposed in the No. 1 reactor at its stricken Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, setting back the utility’s plan to resolve the crisis. The water level is 1 meter (3.3 feet) below the base of the fuel assembly, Junichi Matsumoto, a general...

* Post-Fukushima inspections found issues at U.S. plants * Plants must certify compliance with rules by June 10 * Additional certifications required in July * Industry says "well on its way" to providing answers * INPO president: "We cannot resort to business as usual" (Adds industry quotes...

New evidence suggests that nuclear chain reactions at the Fukushima power plant didn't end when the generators were initially shut down, following the March 11 earthquake. Technology Review explains why Tetsuo Matsui, a researcher at the University of Tokyo, thinks conditions inside two of...

A month has elapsed since the emergency at Fukushima began. But what exactly has gone on there and what are the priorities now? One way of looking at the drama that has unfolded around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors is as a narrative with one central plot, and a number of...

TOKYO — Workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant adjusted measuring gauges Tuesday as part of the process to flood the vessel containing the No. 1 reactor with water and create a system to keep the fuel inside cool. But the working environment remains tough due to...

The recent 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami in Japan triggered a number of explosions at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which caused the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986. The radiation levels in the building exceed expected levels reaching as high as 700 millisieverts per...

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Eight workers and a government inspector entered the reactor building of the quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex's No. 1 unit early Monday to survey conditions inside, another step toward bringing the complex's three damaged reactors under control since they began...

TO CALL it a hot ticket might, in the circumstances, seem a tad tasteless. But no session at this year’s International Conference on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, held in the south of France, was as well attended as the late-running special plenary hastily arranged to provide an update on...

residents of Japan have good cause to mistrust the media, TEPCO officials, and members of their government when it comes to assurances about radiation levels, plutonium dispersal, and the related health risks. Americans also have good cause to mistrust these same sort of assurances issued to...

TOKYO — Calls to protest bring thousands, the conventional press is shunned and rogue academics suddenly find people are willing to listen—it would be going too far to say Japan was joining the “Arab Spring,” but the nuclear crisis has shown there are limits to youth apathy in this country...

Levels of radioactive substances have jumped in the Pacific seabed off Japan to as much as 1,000 times the normal readings, authorities have announced. Seabed samples collected near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March, contained radioactive...

Tokyo Electric Power Company release new video shot by a remote-controlled robot, showing inside reactor No. 1 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Whilst the footage, captured by a "packbot", confirmed that electricity and water supplies inside the reactor were undamaged, monitoring...

Japanese authorities have raised the severity rating of the nuclear crisis at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant to the highest level, seven. The decision reflects the ongoing release of radiation, rather than a sudden deterioration. Level seven previously only applied to the 1986...

TOKYO—A project to install air filters to reduce airborne radiation at the No. 1 reactor building of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex began Monday, in a move aimed at allowing workers to enter the building for the first time since the start of the crisis to make needed repairs...

77-year-old Michio Ishikawa of the Japan Nuclear Technology Institute on the situation at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, as he appeared on Asahi TV on April 29. As I watched the video, I started to like Mr. Ishikawa, who continues to believe in the safety of nuclear power generation. He didn't mince...