The International Atomic Energy Agency is set to release a report Monday criticizing Japan’s handling of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. The review – based on a fact-finding mission to Fukushima – says Japanese officials failed to anticipate threats to nuclear facilities from earthquakes and tsunamis. It also says that nearby […]
IAEA Report: Japan Failed to Prepare for Nuclear Crisis
Posted June 20th, 2011 at 3:05 am (UTC-5)
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Japan Vents Damaged Reactor Building
Posted June 20th, 2011 at 12:40 am (UTC-5)
Japanese officials said Monday they have fully opened a door to the building housing one of the Fukushima nuclear plant’s damaged reactors to release water vapor so that workers can install a cooling system to prevent an explosion. A spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Company said said the amount of radiation released by ventilating […]
Japanese Exports Fall Again in May
Posted June 19th, 2011 at 10:10 pm (UTC-5)
Japanese exports in May dropped more than 10 percent from a year earlier, marking the third straight monthly decline. The government said Monday that exports shrank 10.3 percent to about $6 billion, while imports rose more than 12 percent, resulting in Japan’s biggest trade deficit since January 2009, when exports plunged in the wake of […]
Japan Suspends Nuclear Waste Water Operation
Posted June 18th, 2011 at 1:25 am (UTC-5)
The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has suspended a process to decontaminate more than 110,000 tons of radioactive water. Tokyo Electric Power Company officials said Saturday that the operation had to be halted just five hours after the water scrubbing system came online. TEPCO officials said the part of the system that […]
Japan Begins Cleaning Radioactive Water at Damaged Nuclear Plant
Posted June 17th, 2011 at 9:25 am (UTC-5)
The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant on Friday began a process to decontaminate more than 110,000 tons of radioactive water. The water was used to cool the plant’s reactors after a nuclear meltdown caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March. It has been held in reservoirs at the plant, but […]
Mazda to Build $500 Million Factory in Mexico
Posted June 17th, 2011 at 3:05 am (UTC-5)
Mazda Motor Corporation says it will build a $500 million factory in Mexico with the help of trading company Sumito Corporation. The Japanese automaker said Friday construction on the plant will begin later this year in the central Mexican state of Gunajuato. Mazda says the first vehicles are expected to roll off the assembly line […]
Japan Refusing to Extend Kyoto Pact
Posted June 16th, 2011 at 6:25 pm (UTC-5)
Japan is refusing to carry out its pledge to extend greenhouse gas emission cuts after the global treaty known as the Kyoto Protocol expires next year. Japanese delegates at U.N.-sponsored climate talks in Bonn, Germany say Japan will not promise more cuts unless a new broader agreement is put together. They say the 1997 treaty […]
Nuclear-Tainted Tea Found at Five Japanese Plants
Posted June 15th, 2011 at 4:00 am (UTC-5)
Officials in the Japanese prefecture of Shizuoka have asked five tea manufacturing plants to stop shipping green tea leaves after they were found to contain excessive levels of a radioactive material. The tea leaves contained 580 to 650 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram, above the legal limit of 500 becquerels. The product was tested […]
Poll: Majority of Japanese Support Ending Nuclear Power
Posted June 14th, 2011 at 5:40 am (UTC-5)
A new survey finds nearly three-quarters of Japanese citizens say they want to see nuclear power gradually phased-out as a source of energy in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster. The survey by the Asahi newspaper was taken as the government continues to grapple with the world’s worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 […]
Japanese Cabinet Approves Nuclear Accident Compensation Plan
Posted June 14th, 2011 at 3:45 am (UTC-5)
Japan’s Cabinet has approved legislation that will help the owners of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant compensate people affected by the disaster. The plan calls for the creation of a fund that Tokyo Electric Power Company will use to pay reparations to tens of thousands of residents who were living within a 20-kilometer evacuation zone […]
