Heavy rains from typhoon Wipha appear to have dramatically raised radiation levels at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant. Radioactive strontium, measuring 1,400 becquerels per liter, has been detected in a drainage ditch leading into the sea. This is 70 times higher than was recorded in the same location just a few days earlier. It is […]
Water Treatment System Fails Yet Again
The trouble-plagued ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) system, intended to filter radioactive substances from the water in holding tanks at the Fukushima cleanup site, has reportedly failed once again, causing a minor disruption in the leanup efforts. The system was partially shut down last Saturday after calcium was discovered in one of its 3 lines. […]
Radioactive Water Leaks – An Overview
It is a mess. There is no other word for it. The clean-up of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant has been beset by problems, one after another, since the triple disaster of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear melt-down that struck on March 11, 2011. Granted the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), which maintains the […]
Can the Lowly Muon Save Japan?
One of the biggest hurdles facing cleanup personnel at the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi plant is that much of what is actually happening inside the plant at this time is purely speculation. It’s too dangerous to go inside in person, too risky to send in a camera, and there’s not enough data to produce a valid […]
Fukushima plant water purifier restarted
After several glitches, the water purification system at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant is running again. However all may still not be well. As The New Zealand Herald writes: ” TEPCO [Tokyo Electric Power Co.] is struggling to handle the huge — and growing — volume of contaminated water….Thousands of gallons of contaminated water are […]