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Tech NewsThis Week’s Fukushima Earthquake Was an Aftershock From 2011
When a magnitude 6.9 earthquake rocked the Fukushima prefecture of Japan on Tuesday, fear swept the island nation that it could herald a repeat of the tsunami and nuclear disaster at Fukushima five years ago, both of which were caused by an enormous, magnitude 9.1 earthquake. Mercifully, Japan was spared this time around. But the … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
We’ll Always Be Able to Catch Pokémon at Fukushima
Pokémon Go is everywhere, and for some, that’s a problem. Earlier today, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Co. (Tepco) urged players in Japan not to venture into the radiation zone around its damaged Fukushima reactor—which melted down in 2011—for fairly obvious reasons. Tepco joins the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., Nagasaki Peace Park, and the … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech NewsSploid
What a Radioactive Town Looks Like Five Years After the Humans Left
Since March 2011, a 30-mile radius around the ruined Fukushima Daiichi reactor has been a designated exclusion zone, unsafe to travel. Over 100,000 evacuees left in a hurry and left behind a snapshot of what life looked like in the moments just before they fled. A brave soul recently snuck in to photograph the apocalyptic … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech News
Fukushima Is Now Home To Radioactive Wild Boars
After a nuclear disaster, wildlife tends to flourish in contaminated areas, unchecked by humans that might otherwise hunt them. In the forests around Fukushima, the population of radioactive wild boars is exploding. According to The Independent, the boars have been eating contaminated food, which renders them unsafe for human consumption, all the while they’ve been … Continued
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Tech News
Fukushima Farmers Are Using Soil Made From Polyester
It’s been five years since Japan’s Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown in Fukushima—and some consumers are still wary of produce grown in the region. That’s why some farmers aren’t growing plants in soil that might be contaminated—they’re growing plants in polyester instead. Farmers in Kawamata, a town in Fukushima prefecture that’s about 30 miles … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech News
Japan Is Down to One Nuclear Power Plant
Japan has closed one of its two remaining operational nuclear plants. The shutdown comes just days before the fifth anniversary of a catastrophic earthquake that triggered a tsunami and the biggest nuclear meltdown since Chernobyl. On Wednesday, a Japanese court ordered the shutdown of Takahaka Nuclear Plant in western Japan, citing poor safety measures. This … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech News
New Photos From Fukushima Paint a Dire Picture of the Clean Up
Five years ago, a 9.0 undersea earthquake shook Japan. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the country, and it was followed by devastating tsunami waves, killing 15,894 people. The tsunami caused level 7 meltdowns at three reactors in the Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant complex, resulting in the … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
Tech NewsFukushima Reactor Debris Stands No Chance Against Toshiba’s Slicing, Dicing Robot
It’s already been almost five years since the nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and the inspection and clean-up is going to last decades. Our best weapon? Amazing robots, like this one Toshiba announced on Monday. It looks like a James Bond torture device, but this bad boy’s here to clear junk from … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech News
Japan Is Trying to Terror-Proof Its Recently Reopened Nuclear Reactors
In August, Japan reopened its first nuclear reactors after an almost two-year hiatus that followed the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Now, months later, Kyushu Electric Power Co. is preparing to guard the controversial energy source against terrorist attacks, too. Asahi Shimbun reports that Kyushu Electric Power Co. will build off-site terror response centers near the … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
ScienceHealth
First Fukushima Recovery Worker Diagnosed With Radiation-Linked Cancer
When Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered its meltdown in 2011, over 44,0000 workers helped safely take it offline. Now, more than four years later, comes the first diagnosis of cancer in a recovery worker to be linked to radiation exposure during the work. Earlier today, reports the Washington Post, Japan’s ministry of health, … Continued
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Tech News
New ‘Scorpion’ Robot Will Inspect Fukushima Reactor This Summer
When the 2011 earthquake in Japan damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant, teams scrambled to find a robot that could go where humans couldn’t. In many ways those robots failed, and ever since, there has been a focus on creating robots that can get the job done. Enter Toshiba’s “Scorpion” robot, which will make its … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsThe Best Way to Map Radiation? Bento Boxes Stuffed With Geiger Counters
Back in 2011, a team of volunteers crammed Geiger counters into bento-shaped boxes to map the radiation following the Fukushima meltdown. It turned into the biggest collection of radiation data in history. Next up: tackling air pollution. The nonprofit, formed one week after the March 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake to map Fukushima radiation, is called … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech News
This Huge Wind Turbine Floating on Water Is Fukushima’s Energy Solution
A mere 12 miles from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will soon sit a 620-foot, 1,500-ton windmill atop a 5,000-ton podium. It’ll be the biggest floating wind turbine on Earth, and it could usher in a new age of green energy for a region largely fed up with nuclear energy. The turbine, completed Monday, … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech News
Should Fukushima’s Radioactive Water Just Be Dumped In the Ocean?
There is no permanent solution for Fukushima’s radioactive water, which has been leaking out of storage tanks again and again. Could the best option actually be just letting all into the ocean? Over at Nautilus, Eliza Strickland has a snappy summary of the problem with Fukushima’s radioactive water, which is at 620,000 gallons and counting. … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech News
Two Malfunctioning Robots Are Now Stuck Inside the Fukushima Reactor
The dangerous and unenviable task of cleaning up the Fukushima reactor has hit its latest snag: Two snake-like reconnaissance bots had to be abandoned inside the reactor—after one got stuck and another’s camera was damaged by radiation. The Fukushima cleanup relies almost entirely on robots because radiation levels inside the reactor are still too dangerous … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
io9What The Hell Is This Strange Green Glow Inside The Fukushima Plant?
A second robotic probe has investigated the interior of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant. Using its onboard camera, it sent back eerie images of the plant’s interior, including what appears to be a mysterious green glow. Earlier this month, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) dispatched the first of the shape-shifting robots to survey the … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Is How Robots Are Mapping Radiation at Fukushima
Deep within the abandoned shell of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, it’s too dangerous for humans to investigate—so it’s being inspected by robots instead. New Scientist reports that two new robots, called Rosemary and Sakura, are exploring the depths of the site. It hasn’t all gone smoothly: one robot sent in earlier this month got … Continued
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Tech News
The Fukushima Cleanup Wasted Half a Billion Dollars on Bad Technology
The cleanup of Fukushima’s leaking nuclear plant has been long, expensive, and plagued with problems. Now, the AP reports a government audit has found that more than a third of the budget for cleanup was wasted—totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The previous allegations of incompetence and straight-up lies that surround Tokyo Electric Power Co, … Continued
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Tech News
Fukushima Is Teaching Us How Radioactivity Spreads
After the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima, scientists began a massive effort to monitor radioactive contamination of food grown nearby. And one good thing did come out of it—we learned how radioactivity moves through the ecosystem. First, let’s be clear that the analysis confirms extensive monitoring kept food whose radioactivity levels exceeded safety limits from reaching … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech News
The Latest Fukushima Leak Was Unreported for Almost a Year
More reports, more mystery leaks, more questions about the complexity of cleaning up a broken nuclear plant. Last weekend, we learned about Fukushima’s latest leak, which led to water with 70 times the normal levels of radiation leaking into the nearby ocean. It seems that Tepco, the company responsible for the maintenance and decommissioning of … Continued