March 21, 2011

The nuclear power plants in Japan after the March 11 , 2011 earthquakes could become a major nuclear disaster.
Keep watching this page for updates and insights by Raymond Rouse on the issues from a nuke scientist's point of view.

Continuing Updates:

IAEA Status of Fukushima

INES Leaflet on Nuclear Accidents

Continuing Updates on Earthquakes around the world

April 30, 2012
Japan Physicians Demand Answers: 90% of urine samples contaminated with cesium in city 200km from Fukushima

April 29, 2012
33% of prized bird species disappears after summer near Fukushima — Those making it back “were in a poor condition” says New Zealand gov’t researcher

April 28, 2012
Video: Corium from Fukushima causing increase in radon-222?

Tokyo Suburb: Children playing on dirt with “huge amounts of radioactivity” — Includes alpha particles — Cesium levels so high it prevented identification of other isotopes (VIDEO)

April 27, 2012
Source: Black substance over 500 microSv/h detected 70km from Fukushima Daiichi (PHOTO)

Kyodo: Gov’t says 1,000s in Fukushima need “immediate psychological care” after filling out survey — Trouble sleeping and concentrating

April 26, 2012
NHK: “Unclear” whether any of Japan’s stopped reactors can be restarted

April 25, 2012
150km from Fukushima Daiichi: Radioactive plumes continued during summer — Fallout was re-suspended during daytime by daily convection due to sunshine

April 24, 2012
Book by Fukushima Worker: Bottom of Daini reactor may be ‘broken through’ — Rumors of possible explosion

Tepco to dump groundwater from under reactor buildings into ocean — Kyodo: 1,000 tons a day; “Tepco would check contamination level before releasing it”

Washington Post: Closing reactors causing a “mess” after “non-catastrophic” Fukushima crisis — Argues for building more nuke plants in US

Inspection sheds light on Fukushima torus

April 23, 2012
New Interview: Fukushima poses lethal risk to US West Coast, says Senator — Another bomb waiting to go off — Extreme nuclear vulnerability, especially in Reactor No. 4

Prime Minister Kan: Radiation disaster ‘would hit the world’ if Fukushima Daiichi was evacuated — ‘No longer a question of only Japan’ — Worry over current state of plant

April 22, 2012
HuffPo: Large amounts of radioactive materials could be deposited across 1,000s of miles if water lost at Fukushima fuel pool — Media just beginning to grasp that danger to world is far from over -Nuclear Expert

April 21, 2012
CNN: Fukushima Daiichi engineer says “we still don’t know what’s going on inside the reactors” — Cold shut down “wasn’t true then, and it’s still not true today”

April 20, 2012
MSNBC: Fukushima radiation “much higher than expected” says biologist — Negative effects to happen quicker than at Chernobyl… and be worse

Japan Gov’t: Monitoring shows relatively high radiation dose rate in Chiba ~200km from Fukushima; Tochigi, Gunma too — Necessary to continuously confirm accumulation and migration of radioactive substances

April 19, 2012
Deutsche Welle: 15 of Japan’s nuclear reactors are currently shut down due to damage

German state-run TV: “Reports from Japanese journalists confirm what anti-nuclear activists fear: the situation in Fukushima is much worse than gov’t is letting on”

April 18, 2012
Japan Times: The Titanic and The Nuclear Fiasco — “Catastrophic effects of Fukushima fiasco are more far-reaching and long lasting” — “Name has already become synonymous with disaster”

Study: “Increases in frequency of selective deaths due to mutations” as consequence of Fukushima — “Results suggest significant mortality costs of low-dose radiation” — 0.05 microSv/h considered contaminated

*Listen* Gundersen: As much cesium in No. 4 fuel pool as in all 800 atom bombs ever dropped — Fukushima would be at one place, at one time, and on ground level (AUDIO, 30 min.)

April 17, 2012
NHK: No spent fuel removal at No. 4 until Fall 2013 at earliest — Reactor building to be demolished (VIDEO)

Confirmed: 35-ton machine “sitting on top of the spent fuel rack in the pool” of Reactor No. 3 — Extent of damage not yet known (VIDEOS)

April 16, 2012
Book: Reactor No. 4 deformed in front of our eyes, says Fukushima worker — Walls morphed like special effects from movie — No large explosion, yet building destroyed

April 15, 2012
Tepco: Another thermometer breaks at Fukushima — Now only one left at bottom of Reactor No. 2 pressure vessel

April 14, 2012
Japan Times Headline: Machine fell into MOX spent-fuel pool -Tepco — “Highly dangerous mixed oxide fuel”

April 13, 2012
Kyodo: Tepco finds 35-ton machine fallen in No. 3 fuel pool — Appears to have dropped on nuclear fuel racks (VIDEO)

Tepco Press Conference: SFP No. 4 heat exchanger restarted — New photos released of debris inside SFP No. 3 — Reactor No. 1 temperature “started to rise noticeably” (PHOTOS)

Temperature doubles in a day at No. 4 Spent Fuel Pool (VIDEO)

April 12, 2012
Ex-Fukushima Daiichi Reactor Operator: Fuel rods still active and alive — Most worried about recriticality — Tepco must measure neutrons near core (VIDEO)

April 11, 2012
Gundersen: No. 3 fuel pool worse off than No. 4 — Mechanically it’s rubble, the pool is rubble — Nobody has even gotten near it yet (AUDIO, 30 min.)

Nuclear Expert: Spent Fuel Pool No. 4 likely to shatter or collapse onto its side in a M7.0 quake (AUDIO)

April 10, 2012
Radiation from Japan found in kelp off U.S. West Coast

Japan Magazine: Gov’t planning to build 88km wall around Fukushima evacuation zone

Goodard Journal’s analysis indicates steam explosion at Reactor No. 3 — NRC discussed steam explosion ejecting entire core (VIDEOS)

April 9, 2012
WATCH: Japan lawmakers warned about Spent Fuel Pool No. 4 during testimony of former ambassador (VIDEOS)

April 8, 2012
Fukushima will start burning radioactive waste — 100,000 Bq/kg to be incinerated — 1 billion pounds of debris in exclusion zone -Mainichi

*NEW* Goddard’s Journal: Did Fukushima Unit 3 Fuel Pool Explode? (VIDEO)

April 7, 2012
MSNBC on Reactor No. 2: It is beyond human capability, “problem gets worse and worse and worse” — The really bad news is this is the good news, as they can’t even determine what is going on at Reactors No. 1 and 3 (VIDEO)

Report from Japan: Fukushima doctors can’t express anxieties about radiation or say things that are against what medical leaders decide to make public (AUDIO)

April 6, 2012
Osaka Mayor: Japan will collapse if reactors are restarted hastily — Asahi: New safety standards for restarts written in just two days

AP: US blasts tsunami ‘ghost ship’ with cannons — Sinks after multiple attempts — Huge column of smoke seen over gulf — Was to be salvaged, but “inspection showed the ship was not worth saving”

April 5, 2012
WSJ: Possible Fukushima Leak Renews Concerns About Plant’s Stability — AP: Officials say no ‘immediate’ health threat

Radiation Threatening Japanese Delicacies

April 4, 2012
Japan Gov’t Study: Fukushima radiation reached Alaska via ocean in under a month

Video shows dark smoke from Fukushima Daiichi blowing over Japan on Mar. 15, 2011 after explosion at Reactor No. 3

April 3, 2012
Forever: Iodine-129 “a growing radiological risk” — 15.7 million year half-life — Almost undetectable — Traveled along with iodine-131 from Fukushima — Concentrates in hotspots

April 2, 2012
Host says Fukushima Daiichi was on fire before tsunami hit (AUDIO & VIDEO)

April 1, 2012
Fukushima monthly fallout now 10 times higher than last September

March 2012 Updates

February 2012 Updates

January 2012 Updates

December 2011 Updates

November 2011 Updates

October 2011 Updates

September 2011 Updates

August 2011 Updates

July 2011 Updates

June 2011 Updates

April 27 - May 31, 2011 Updates

April 18 - 26, 2011 Updates

April 10 - 17, 2011 Updates

April 2 - 9, 2011 Updates

March 27 - April 1, 2011 Updates

March 11 - 26, 2011 Updates