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TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A strong 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off Japan’s east coast late Saturday, rattling the region hit by the powerful 2011 quake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown just weeks before the disaster’s 10th anniversary. The quake produced powerful shaking along parts of Japan’s eastern coast, and was felt strongly in Tokyo, but triggered no tsunami alert. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters that no major casualties were reported, according to Kyodo news agency, […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan will release more than a million tonnes of treated radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea in a decades-long operation, reports said Friday, despite strong opposition from local fishermen. The release of the water, which has been filtered to reduce radioactivity, is likely to start in 2022 at the earliest, said national dailies the Nikkei, the Yomiuri, and other local media. The decision ends years […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Radioactive water from the stricken nuclear plant in Fukushima should be released into the ocean or vaporised into the air, an expert panel advised the Japanese government on Friday. The proposal is non-binding and sets no deadline for the government to decide or carry out procedures to deal with the water. The panel has been weighing the issue for more than three years, but a decision is becoming urgent as space […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s government said Wednesday it would set aside millions of dollars to help areas devastated by Typhoon Hagibis, which killed more than 70 people across the country. Hagibis slammed into Japan on Saturday, unleashing fierce winds and unprecedented rain that triggered landslides and caused dozens of rivers to burst their banks. By midday Wednesday, the government put the toll at 74, with more a dozen people still missing. Prime Minister […]
by Kyoko HASEGAWA Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese court on Thursday acquitted three former power company executives of professional negligence in the only criminal prosecution stemming from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown. The three men were senior officials at the TEPCO firm operating the Fukushima Daiichi plant and faced up to five years in prison if convicted. “All defendants are not guilty,” the presiding judge announced to the Tokyo courtroom, […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan will for the first time next month lift an evacuation order in one of two towns where the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is located, officials said Tuesday. The government plans to lift the order for part of Okuma town on April 10, cabinet office official Yohei Ogino told AFP. It will be the first time the government has lifted an evacuation order in the towns — Okuma and Futaba — […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese court Wednesday awarded nearly $4 million in fresh damages to scores of residents forced to flee their homes after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown. The Yokohama district court ordered the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) to pay 419.6 million yen ($3.8 million) to 152 local residents, a court spokeswoman told AFP. The verdict was the fifth time the government has been ruled liable for the disaster […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A robot arm has successfully picked up pebble-sized pieces of radioactive fuel at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant in a complex operation seen as key to clean-up efforts after the 2011 meltdown, officials said Thursday. Operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) on Wednesday sent down a remote-controlled probe to the melted fuel at the bottom of the plant’s reactor 2, one of three that melted down after a massive earthquake and tsunami […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A robot will attempt to examine radioactive fuel at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant on Wednesday in a complex operation seen as key to clean-up efforts after the 2011 meltdown. The operation is intended to better assess the status of the melted fuel, including whether it is stable enough to be picked up for removal, or may crumble upon contact. “The operation began at 7:00am local time and will last around five […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan has announced for the first time that a worker at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant has died after being exposed to radiation, Japanese media reported. The man aged in his 50s developed lung cancer after he was involved in emergency work at the plant between March and December 2011, following the devastating tsunami. The Japanese government has paid out compensation in four previous cases where workers contracted cancer following the disaster, […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan has reopened three beaches in regions devastated by the 2011 tsunami and resulting Fukushima nuclear disaster after years of reconstruction efforts, officials said Monday. Local officials in Fukushima said they hoped the opening of the Haragamaobama beach would help change perceptions of the region, which has become inextricably linked with the 2011 disaster. One of the reopened waterfronts is Haragamaobama beach in Fukushima prefecture, about 40 kilometres north of the […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The operator of Fukushima’s crippled nuclear power plant has released fresh images of the wreckage inside a damaged reactor, showing broken metal parts and debris that could be melted fuel. Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) inserted a special camera into one of the plant’s three melted-down reactors on Friday, a company spokesman said, as part of its efforts to dismantle the disaster-hit facility in northeastern Japan. Images captured by the camera […]
