"Tokyo Electric says fuel rods at its Fukushima Daiichi power plant have been damaged, releasing five kinds of radioactive material and contaminating seawater nearby."
"A spike in radiation levels in Tokyo tap water spurred new fears about food safety Wednesday as rising black smoke forced another evacuation of workers trying to stabilize Japan's radiation-leaking nuclear plant."
"Chile and the U.S. signed a nuclear energy accord Friday even as fears of radiation spread in Japan after a devastating earthquake and tsunami severely damaged some of its nuclear reactors."
"Japan's 'nuclear samurai' are risking their lives to avert catastrophe, but many are manual labourers unequal to the task."
"TEPCO says it's not hiding anything, but critics have complained for years that it and other Japanese nuclear power plant operators have withheld information about safety violations and accidents."
"Just a month before a powerful earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant at the center of Japan's nuclear crisis, government regulators approved a 10-year extension for the oldest of the six reactors at the power station despite warnings about its safety."
As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission begins a presidentially ordered review of U.S. nuclear power-plant safety, the NRC's chief operations officer says no major safety changes are needed.
The U.S. has called for evacuating a 50-mile radius around the stricken Japanese nuclear plant. If a similar disaster were to require evacuation around the Indian Point plant, the comparble circle would include almost all of New York City and a big chunk of New Jersey. Despite an evacuation "plan," such an evacuation on short notice would be unrealistic.
"The nuclear industry likes to claim that each new reactor model is safer than the last. The unfolding nuclear emergency in Japan suggests otherwise."
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