Tag: Nuclear

PARIS - A majority of French people want to get rid of nuclear power, a poll on Wednesday showed, underscoring the impact of the Fukushima disaster on public opinion around the world. The poll conducted by OpinionWay found that 57 percent of respondents were generally in favour of dropping nuclear energy, with 20 percent strongly in favour of the idea.
Only 27 percent were prepared to accept a corresponding rise in electricity tariffs, however, compared to 72 percent against,

SANYA - Japanese authorities may be exaggerating the scope of the country's nuclear disaster to reduce the liabilities of insurance companies, Russia's nuclear chief said on Wednesday. Japanese officials on Tuesday upgraded the severity of the emergency at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant to a 7, putting it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the world's worst. "It is hard for me to assess why the Japanese colleagues have taken this decision.
I suspect,

TOKYO - Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday that the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant is gradually stabilising and that the amount of radiation being released is falling.
"Step by step, the reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi power plant are moving toward stability," Kan said in a televised press conference. "The level of radioactive materials released is declining."
Kan also asked people to return to normal life one month after a massive seabed earthquake sent a

TOKYO - China said on Tuesday it was still concerned about Japan's nuclear calamity, a disaster Japan put on a par with the world's worst nuclear accident, Chernobyl, after new data showed more radiation had leaked from its earthquake-crippled power plant in the early days of the crisis than first thought.
Japanese officials said it had taken time to measure radiation from the plant after it was smashed by March 11's massive quake and tsunami, and the upgrade in its severity

TOKYO - Japan on Monday expanded the evacuation zone around its crippled nuclear plant because of high levels of accumulated radiation, as a strong aftershock rattled the area one month after a quake and tsunami sparked the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. A magnitude 6.6 tremor shook buildings in Tokyo and a wide swathe of eastern Japan on Monday evening, killing one man, knocking out power to 220,000 households and causing a brief halt to water pumping to cool 3 damaged nuclear

TEHRAN - Iran can "easily" help Japan in dealing with a crippled nuclear power plant which was damaged in the aftermath of a March 11 tsunami, a top Iranian atomic scientist was quoted as saying on Saturday.
"Iran is one of the nations which under the current circumstances can help Japan with the damage in the Fukushima (Daiichi) nuclear plant," Mahmoud Reza Aghamiri, Iran's newly appointed representative to the Middle East's SESAME nuclear project, was quoted as saying by the

TOKYO - China said on Friday it was concerned at Japan pump ing radioactive water into the sea from its crippled nuclear power plant, reflecting growing international unease at the month-long crisis triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
China will "closely" monitor Japan's actions to regain control of the plant, the foreign ministry said, demanding Tokyo provide swift and accurate information on the crisis which began on March 11 when a magnitude 9 earthquake and

BEIJING - China on Friday expressed concern over the release of radioactive water from Japan's crippled nuclear power plant and urged its neighbour to protect the marine environment.
"As a neighbour of Japan's, it is natural for us to express concern," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement published on his ministry's website.
"We hope Japan acts in line with international laws and takes effective steps to protect the marine environment."

TOKYO - Japan said Thursday it is considering expanding the area covered by a compulsory evacuation order, with no immediate end in sight to the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
As emergency workers began pumping nitrogen into the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant to prevent further explosions, the government said it was seeking advice from experts on whether more areas should be evacuated. Residents within a 20-kilometre (12-mile) radius of the nuclear power

TOKYO - Workers at Japan's crippled atomic power plant on Wednesday plugged a hole spewing highly radioactive water into the ocean, boosting efforts to contain the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
But in an illustration of how fragile progress is at the Fukushima plant, operator Tokyo Electric Power said it was concerned a build-up of hydrogen gas at a different reactor could cause another explosion at the site. The water leak was thought to be a source of spiking

TOKYO - An accidental leak of highly radioactive water into the ocean from a Japanese nuclear plant was stopped Wednesday, boosting efforts to contain the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl 25 years ago.
The leak was thought to be a source of spiking radiation levels in the sea, which prompted Japan to announce its first seafood radiation safety standards following the discovery of fish with elevated contamination. To stop the long-running leak from the Fukushima plant on the

KASUR - Former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad has said that they do not want a war with the US, but just want abolition of the system under which the nation is being enslaved.
Talking to JI Kasur workers, Qazi said that the US under a conspiracy was spreading unrest in the country. "The US is trying to destroy Pakistan's nuclear power because it considers our nuclear power is more dangerous for Israel than it is for India. We can stand on our feet if there is no US

TOKYO - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday proposed a meeting of G20 nuclear industry officials in May to start hammering out new global safety standards in the wake of the power plant disaster in Japan.
Japan's battle to avert a catastrophic meltdown of fuel rods at the earthquake-wrecked facility north of Tokyo has triggered alarm and safety reviews in nuclear-powered countries around the world. Sarkozy, the first foreign leader to visit Japan since the March 11

TOKYO - Japan's trade ministry ordered nuclear power plant operators to take immediate steps to improve emergency preparedness and will review energy policies to promote renewable sources and ease power shortages as it grapples with a nuclear safety crisis.
The ministry said on Wednesday that nuclear plants would be required by mid-April to deploy back-up mobile power generators and fire trucks able to pump water, while beefing up training programmes and manuals, aiming to avoid

BERLIN - The German broadcaster of "The Simpsons" said Monday it has decided not to show any episodes of the satirical US cartoon series showing nuclear disasters in light of Japan's atomic emergency.
"We are checking all the episodes and we won't show any suspect ones, but we won't cut any scenes," Stella Rodger, a spokeswoman for private broadcaster Pro7, told. "We haven't postponed any yet." The nuclear plant in the Simpsons' hometown of Springfield is however a key element in

HONG KONG - The world's highest hotel opened its doors in Hong Kong on Tuesday, housed in the city's tallest skyscraper and offering unrivalled panoramic views of the world famous Victoria Harbour.
Towering some 490 metres (1,600 feet) above the bustling, chaotic streets of the Southern Chinese city, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel is making a grand comeback after temporarily closing in 2008.
Visitors peered out of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the 118th floor of the International

WASHINGTON - Iran is not making fast progress towards acquiring a nuclear weapon, a US expert said on Friday, adding he believed Tehran would still need another two years to achieve that goal. "Iran is not moving as fast as it could. They've been at it since 25 years since they started the Iranian enrichment program in about 1985," said Mark Fitzpatrick, from the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He said Iran would still need "a little over two years to have a bomb."