Japan Times, April 16

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source : Japan Times .

Fuel rod fragments at bottom of vessels
Melted fuel rod fragments have sunk to the bottom of three reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant and could broach their pressure vessels if cooling operations are seriously disrupted.

If too many of the melted fuel fragments puddle at the bottom, they can generate enough concentrated heat to bore a hole in the pressure vessel, which would result in a massive radioactive release to the environment..

"It will take at least two or three months ... until the situation of fuel rods is stabilized" said Takashi Sawada, vice chairman of the nuclear body.
[MORE] ->
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110416a1.html

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Scholars eye extensive study on nuclear crisis
Kyodo

Professors and researchers from across Japan will jointly launch a large-scale study on the environmental and health effects of radioactive contamination from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, sources said Thursday.

More than 100 professors and other scholars will take part in collecting data on the impact of the nation's worst-ever nuclear plant crisis while establishing a team of academics to check the radiation exposure of residents in areas affected by the leak of radioactive substances.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110416a4.html

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One month on, debris fields barely dented

A month after the devastating earthquake and tsunami, the challenges seem as daunting as ever: Thousands are missing and feared dead, tens of thousands have fled their homes, the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant continues to leak and powerful aftershocks keep coming.

Vast tracts of the Tohoku region are demolition sites: The stuff of entire cities is sorted into piles taller than three-story buildings around which dump trucks and earthmovers crawl. Ankle-deep water stagnates in streets, and massive fishing boats lie perched atop pancaked houses and cars. The occasional telephone poll or bulldozer is sometimes the only skyline.

"It's a hellish sorrow," said Numata Takahashi, 56, who escaped his home in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, just before the waves came. "I don't know where we'll go, but I'm not coming back here. . . . We'll go somewhere where there are no tsunami."

"I am speechless over the uncertainty that our people must face each day," Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato said.

MORE
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110416f2.html

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Special nuclear confab to address Fukushima
VIENNA
The contracting parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety, which finished their 10-day review meeting in Vienna on Thursday, have decided to hold an extraordinary meeting on the Fukushima No. 1 plant crisis in August 2012.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110416a5.html

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Tepco told to pay provisional compensation
Tokyo Electric says it will comply with a government order and pay nearly \50 billion in compensation to about 50,000 households forced to leave the 30-km nuclear evacuation zone in Fukushima Prefecture.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110416a2.html


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Tokyo Electric says it will be able to raise its power-generating capacity to 95 percent of demand this summer instead of 85 percent.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110416a3.html


Farmers' cooperative urges Tepco to pay up for losses to agriculture
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110416a9.html


Geiger counters ineffective for checking food, water
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110416f1.html


Earthquake relief: Little people doing big things
AMY CHAVEZ
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/fl20110416cz.html
(this features my BLOG here! )

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