Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

Radiation levels inside a stricken reactor at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant have hit a record high capable of shutting down robots, in the latest challenge to efforts aimed at dismantling the disaster-hit facility.

TOKYO, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Japan's trade ministry has almost doubled the estimated cost of compensation for the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and decommissioning of the damaged Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant to more than 20 trillion yen ($177.51 billion), the Nikkei business daily reported on Nov. 27. 

A powerful earthquake rocked northern Japan early on Nov. 22, briefly disrupting cooling functions at a nuclear plant and generating a small tsunami that hit the same Fukushima region devastated by a 2011 quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, Reuters reported. 

Japan is considering to release tons of radioactive tritium from Fukushima’s nuclear power plant into Pacific ocean, raising many concerns world widely.

A unit of Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Bulgaria has been switched off to undergo repair, plant officials have said.

The repair is scheduled to go on until mid-May. Unit 5 will then be loaded with new nuclear fuel.

Currently, Unit 6 is working at full capacity under all safety arrangements.

The Japanese prime minister in office when the Fukushima nuclear disaster took place in March 2011 has said he regrets recommending Japanese nuclear technology to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, citing the risks posed by earthquakes and terrorism.

The robots sent in to find highly radioactive fuel at Fukushima's nuclear reactors have "died;" a subterranean "ice wall" around the crippled plant meant to stop groundwater from becoming contaminated has yet to be finished.

Japan's nuclear power-reliant utility Kansai Electric Power said yesterday it had found a pool of contaminated water at a nuclear reactor slated to restart in late February after years of being shut down. 

A former Fukushima nuclear plant worker has been diagnosed with radiation-linked cancer, Japanese officials said on Oct. 20, and an expert said the first confirmed case since the 2011 accident could be just the "tip of the iceberg".
 

Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant on Sept.14 began releasing previously contaminated water into the sea, but the man tasked with preventing another meltdown warned other highly radioactive fluid still stored on site could pose a major threat.