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Workers Flee Japan Nuclear Plant as Smoke Rises

03/21/2011 Leave a comment

Note: This smoke is coming from reactor no. 3 which contains MOX fuel.

“FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Gray smoke rose from two reactor units Monday, temporarily stalling critical work to reconnect power lines and restore cooling systems to stabilize Japan’s radiation-leaking nuclear complex.

Workers are racing to bring the nuclear plant under control, but the process is proceeding in fits and starts, stalled by incidents like the smoke and by the need to work methodically to make sure wiring, pumps and other machinery can be safely switched on.

‘Our crisis is still going on. Our crisis is with the nuclear plants. We are doing everything we can to bring this to an end,’ Gov. Yuhei Sato of Fukushima prefecture, where the plant is located, told the more than 1,000 people moved away from the plant into a gymnasium. ‘Don’t give up. We know you are suffering.’

‘Please get us out of here,’ yelled Harunobu Suzuki, a 63-year-old truck driver.

What caused the smoke to billow first from Unit 3 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant and later from Unit 2 is under investigation, nuclear safety agency officials said.”  Read more.

Categories: Earthquakes, Man-Made Disasters Tags: , , , ,

Fukushima Nuclear Reactor No. 3 Using Controversial, and Dangerous, MOX Fuel

03/14/2011 7 comments

By ICA

As many who have been following developments in Japan are now well aware, reactor No. 3’s housing at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan exploded on March 14, 2011 following the massive 9.0 earthquake off Japan’s east coast.  What many may not have been aware of, however, is the fact that, according to an August 2010 announcement by Shikoku Electric Power Co. Inc., reactor No. 3 was filled with a controversial fuel called MOX (Mixed OXide) — a mixture of plutonium and uranium oxides — and was to begin producing electricity about one month following the announcement: Read more…

Categories: Man-Made Disasters Tags: , , , , ,