fukushima

Executives In Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Deserve 5-Year Prison Terms, Prosecutors Say

1:43pm December 26, 2018

by Bill Chappell

Japanese prosecutors say three top TEPCO executives didn't do enough to protect the nuclear plant, despite being told in 2002 that the Fukushima facility was vulnerable to a tsunami.

The Japanese government says that a worker at the Fukushima nuclear power plant died as a result of radiation exposure.

World News

Japanese Government Acknowledges First Fukushima Radiation Death

5:20pm September 05, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

Thousands of people died as a result of the earthquake and tsunami that hit in 2011, but this is the first death that the government says was caused by radiation. He was a Fukushima worker.

This map by the U.S. Geological Survey shows the epicenter of the quake, which hit Japan early Tuesday local time.

World News

Tsunami Warning Follows Earthquake Off Japan's Coast

7:00pm November 21, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

The Japan Meteorological Agency says waves as high as 9 feet are "expected to hit repeatedly" along the Fukushima coast and "damage due to tsunami waves is expected."

Employees work on the construction of an "ice wall" last month at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. March 11 marked the fifth anniversary of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami that caused meltdowns at Fukushima.

Ready, Set, Freeze: Japan Prepares To Switch On Fukushima 'Ice Wall'

12:58pm March 30, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Japanese regulators say an underground refrigeration system at the nuclear power plant can be activated. The facility was damaged five years ago, and the ice wall is a year behind schedule.

In a photo from March 2011, then-U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos visits the Tohoku region, hardest hit by the tsunami and earthquake. He and his team then started the Tomodachi (Friends) Initiative to help young survivors.

World News

After Tsunami And Quake, A U.S.-Japan Partnership To 'Give Hope'

7:22pm March 11, 2016

by Elise Hu

When the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis hit Japan in 2011, U.S. troops delivered aid in Operation Tomodachi, Japanese for "friends." Another Tomodachi program brings Japanese kids to the U.S.

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This San Francisco home collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which also claimed dozens of lives.

U.S. Quake Warning System Could Save Lives When Seconds Count

7:14pm February 02, 2016

by Christopher Joyce

Before it does damage, an earthquake sends out a "P wave" that scientists use to find location and size. The U.S. quake warning system under development on the West Coast is built around the P wave.

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A doctor examines the thyroid of a child at a temporary housing complex in Nihonmatsu, about 31 miles from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, in 2013.

Fukushima Study Links Children's Cancer To Nuclear Accident

8:06pm October 08, 2015

by Geoff Brumfiel

The study says rates of thyroid cancer are high for children who lived near the tsunami-crippled nuclear plant in Japan. But other scientists are skeptical of the findings.

An aerial view of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, on March 11.

Particles From The Edge Of Space Shine A Light On Fukushima

1:59pm August 27, 2015

by Geoff Brumfiel

Researchers have been using muons to take a peek inside the nuclear reactors in Japan that melted down in 2011. The results could aid the continuing cleanup operations.

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Farmer Magoichi Shigihara checks on his cucumber farm in Nihonmatsu in Fukushima prefecture, about 31 miles west of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, in May 2011. Testing shows radiation in foods grown and raised in Fukushima is back to pre-accident leve

Eat Your Veggies! Even The Ones From Fukushima

11:24am March 06, 2015

by Poncie Rutsch

Foods from Fukushima, Japan, are back to pre-accident levels of radiation but people still aren't eating them. One way to ease concerns: a chemical that blocks radioactive cesium from entering plants.