5/26/2011 | U.S. reactor retrofits in works to avoid blasts

Source: Bloomberg via The Japan Times
Date: Thursday, May 26, 2011

New York/New Delhi — Entergy Corp., the second-biggest nuclear operator in the U.S., and Duke Energy Corp. said the industry may need to retrofit reactors or bolster safety systems after a pressure-relief system failed at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, contributing to the disaster.
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5/26/2011 | One tough job: selling Fukushima

Source: The Japan Times
Date: Thursday, May 26, 2011

FUKUSHIMA — Hands down, the workers at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant trying to cool off the reactors have one of the toughest jobs in Japan.

But in terms of the burden on one person's shoulders, Masaru Saga, director of the tourism division in the Fukushima Prefectural Government, also ranks high among those in a tight spot.
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5/26/2011 | Fukushima Considered for Nuclear Graveyard

Source: Bloomberg
Date: 5/26/2011
by: Shigeru Sato

Japan’s atomic energy specialists are discussing a plan to make the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant a storage site for radioactive waste from the crippled station run by Tokyo Electric Power Co.
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5/26/2011 JST | Natural gas prices projected to rise as antinuclear backlash surges

Source: The Japan Times
Date: Thursday, May 26, 2011

Kyodo

The push to move away from nuclear power because of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant has propelled demand for gas on a global basis — and the subsequent rise in its prices will inevitably hurt Japanese buyers, according to a department head of an Edinburgh-based research and consultancy firm.
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5/26/2011 JST | No. 1 reactor pressure vessel likely damaged immediately after quake

Source: Japan Today
Date: Thursday 26th May, 07:12 AM JST

TOKYO — The pressure vessel housing nuclear fuel at the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant or its accessory piping is likely to have been partially damaged immediately after the March 11 earthquake, possibly allowing steam to leak out to the containment vessel encasing it, according to data made public by its operator.
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5/26/2011 JST | Ibaraki farmers to demand Y6.5 bil in damages from TEPCO

Source: Japan Today
Date: Thursday 26th May, 07:08 AM JST

MITO — A council of agricultural cooperatives in Ibaraki Prefecture and others have decided to demand 6.5 billion yen in damages from Tokyo Electric Power Co in compensation for their losses stemming from radioactive leaks from the utility’s crippled nuclear power plant, its officials said Wednesday.
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5/25/2011 | Tepco: Newly Discovered Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Radiation Leaks May Exceed Chernobyl Levels

Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
Date: May 25, 2011 at 5:28 am
by: Alexander Higgins

Tepco says newly identified leaks of radiation leaks from the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor may have been leaking radiation exceeding Chernobyl levels.

As I previously reported, the American media finally acknowledged TEPCO’s press release that nuclear meltdown had occurred in 3 reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
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5/25/2011 | JAIF Information on Status of Nuclear Power Plants in Fukushima

Source: JAIF (Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc.)
Date: May 25, 2012 Noon
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View original .pdf file here

5/25/2011 | Solar Panels for All New Buildings in Japan?

Source: Reuters
Date: Wed May 25, 2011 2:32am EDT
by: Zachary Shahan

All new buildings may come with solar panels in Japan soon.

Japan has made some major renewable energy announcements recently. Prime Minister Naoto Kan recently announced that it would abandon its plan to build 14 new nuclear reactors in the face of this year's Fukushima tragedy. He said that his country needed to "start from scratch" and create a totally new energy policy and he said a focus would be placed on two things greens the world over love -- clean, renewable energy and energy conservation. Well, apparently, that may include a requirement to put solar panels on all new buildings by 2030.
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5/25/2011 | Soil contamination from Fukushima crisis comparable to Chernobyl: study

Source: Japan Today
Date: Wednesday 25th May, 06:46 AM JST

TOKYO — Radiation released by the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has caused soil contamination matching the levels seen in the Chernobyl disaster in some areas, a researcher told the government’s nuclear policy-setting body Tuesday. ‘‘A massive soil decontamination project will be indispensable before residents in those areas can return,’’ said Tomio Kawata, a research fellow of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan, at the meeting of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission, which sets policies and strategies for the government’s nuclear power development.
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5/25/2011 | Agency stops giving projections of radioactive substance spread

Source: Japan Today
Date: Wednesday 25th May, 03:06 PM JST

TOKYO — The Japan Meteorological Agency has stopped giving projections of the spread of radioactive substances from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant as the International Atomic Energy Agency is no longer asking for them, JMA officials said Wednesday. The IAEA had requested the projections to gauge the potential impact on other countries of the damage to the nuclear plant from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

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5/25/2011 | Swiss to phase out nuclear power by 2034

Source: swissinfo.ch
Date: May 25, 2011 - 17:59

The Swiss cabinet wants to gradually decommission all Switzerland’s nuclear power plants by 2034.

Energy Minister Doris Leuthard said the country’s five nuclear power stations would not be replaced when they reach the end of their lifespan.
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