“Mind Blowing”: Die-off in Pacific far worse than anything ever seen before — Expert: Alarm over what’s happening in ocean — Deaths puzzling gov’t scientists, “I’ve never heard of such a thing anywhere in world” — Reports: Beaches full of bodies… Countless carcasses — Official: We want to know if it’s related to Fukushima (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/mind-blowing-die-pacific-worse-anything-previously-recorded-expert-alarm-bells-going-about-problems-ocean-govt-scientists-puzzled-deaths-ive-never-heard-anywhere-world-reports-beaches-full-de PHOTOS: “Alien fish” caught alive off Pacific coast… Bizarre creature resembles “albino shark” with large distended stomach — Doctor: 3 exceedingly rare albino dolphins captured off Japan in one year… Fukushima must be researched as possible cause http://enenews.com/photos-alien-fish-caught-alive-pacific-coast-bizarre-creature-resembles-albino-shark-large-distended-stomach-doctor-3-exceedingly-rare-albino-dolphins-captured-japan-one-year-fukushima-be-researche Govt. push for dry cask storage at nuclear plants The Japanese government wants to increase the use of a safer dry cask storage system for spent nuclear fuel. Officials plan to promote the system by raising subsidies for municipalities that host facilities. The system keeps and cools spent fuel in metal containers and is considered a safer option than water pools. Around 15,000 tons of spent fuel is stored at nuclear plants in Japan. Less than 3 percent of them, or about 410 tons, use the dry cask system. The other 97 percent is kept in water storage pools. The government and power companies want to expand the use of the dry cask system, but municipalities hosting nuclear plants are reluctant. They fear spent fuel will be kept within their compounds for long periods, once new dry cask facilities are built. In order to provide incentives, the government has decided to raise subsidies granted for municipalities hosting nuclear power plants, if they allow the adoption of a dry cask system. The government currently pays municipalities about 3,550 dollars for one ton of spent nuclear fuel kept at its nuclear plants, regardless of how they are stored. From April, it will raise the amount to around 5,330 dollars for fuels kept in dry casks, while lowering it to about 2,670 dollars for those in water storage pools. TEPCO to start freezing wall at Fukushima plant The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has gained approval from the regulator to start freezing soil around its reactors. Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO plans to create an ice wall that will reduce the amount of groundwater flowing into the 4 reactor buildings and thereby limit the buildup of radioactive water. The utility got the go-ahead on Wednesday from the Nuclear Regulation Authority, or NRA, to begin the underground freezing. It is expected to start the work as early as Thursday. The volume of contaminated water at the plant is increasing due to inflowing groundwater. Once the freezing process is complete, together with other measures, the daily accumulation of underground water is expected to fall from 400 tons to about 50 tons. The wall is expected to start restricting the inflow of groundwater about 45 days after the freezing starts. TEPCO finished building the underground freezing systems last month, after 2 years of work. But the regulator did not immediately give the greenlight to its freezing plans. It was concerned the wall could lower the groundwater level too much and cause radioactive water pooled in the reactor buildings to leak out. TEPCO submitted a revised plan to do the freezing work in stages. Under the new plan, it will first freeze soil at the downstream side of the buildings to prevent water leaking there. Abe asked to put off start of spent fuel plant A group of peace activists and scholars has called on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to indefinitely postpone the start-up of a nuclear reprocessing plant now under construction. Representatives of the group told reporters on Monday that they appealed to Abe in a letter. They said their initiative has been endorsed by about 180 people, including some in nearly 20 Western and Asian nations. In their letter, they demanded a postponement of the start-up of a new plant to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. The plant is being built in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan. They noted that Japan currently holds over 47 of the approximately 270 tons of the world's civilian-use plutonium extracted by reprocessing. They said the international community will become concerned if Japan's stockpile of plutonium grows, fearing that the material could be used to produce nuclear weapons. After 30 Years, Plutonium 238 has been producing for NASA’s deep space explorations http://www.albanydailystar.com/science/after-30-years-plutonium-238-has-been-producing-for-nasas-deep-space-explorations-modesto-daily-news-14687.html

• published: 31 Mar 2016
• views: 182