Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

By Antoni Slodkowski TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's defenses against a major tsunami and the safety of its nuclear plants were thrown into further doubt after two official studies predicted much higher waves could hit and that Tokyo quake damage could be bigger than it was prepared for. The reports, carried in the media over the weekend, are likely to intensify the debate about whether to restart Japan's 54 nuclear reactors, all but one of which are shut amid public fears about nuclear safety sparked by the Fukushima disaster in March 2011.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima power plant, shut its last operating nuclear reactor on Monday for regular maintenance, leaving just one running reactor supplying Japan's creaking power sector. Japan has 54 reactors, but since the tsunami last March triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at the Fukushima plant, it has been unable to restart any reactors that have undergone maintenance due to public safety concerns. Tepco said it shutdown the No.6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant, the world's biggest nuclear power plant, raising concerns about a power crunch this summer when electricity demand peaks due to hot weather.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima power plant, shut its last operating nuclear reactor on Monday for regular maintenance, leaving just one running reactor supplying Japan's creaking power sector. Japan has 54 reactors, but since the tsunami last March triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at the Fukushima plant, it has been unable to restart any reactors that have undergone maintenance due to public safety concerns. Tepco said it shutdown the No.6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant, the world's biggest nuclear power plant, raising concerns about a power crunch this summer when electricity demand peaks due to hot weather.

By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - Global use of nuclear energy could increase by as much as 100 percent in the next two decades on the back of growth in Asia, even though groundbreakings for new reactors fell last year after the Fukushima disaster, a U.N. [More]

Map of nuclear power reactors in the USA (image from the U.S.

Scientific American editor David Biello takes us through newly released audio from the first week of the nuclear meltdown crisis at Fukushima Daiichi. [More]

A year ago today, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Northern Japan. In the wake of this earthquake, a massive tsunami would flatten the Northern Tohoku region , killing nearly 20,000 people and knocking out power to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

The meltdown started when water to cool the reactors fell to dangerously low levels four hours after a the fourth-largest recorded earthquake rattled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant .

1 Year after Fukushima: Could It Happen in the U.S.? [More]

Border of the Fukushima exclusion zone.

Japan still struggles with the effects of powerful earthquake, devastating tsunami and multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant [More]

On March 11, 2011, Japan suffered a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that destroyed roads, bridges, and buildings; killed nearly 16,000 people; and critically disabled three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. By March 12, the U.S

By Eileen O'Grady (Reuters) - As the first anniversary of Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster approaches, U.S.

As Japanese officials consider whether and when to reactivate most of the country's 54 nuclear plants, a year after the Fukushima reactor disaster, they continue to face challenges to public confidence in the nuclear industry and its regulator.

By Quirin Schiermeier of Nature magazine The tsunami that crippled Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant almost a year ago was as formidable as initial estimates suggested, according to the first scientific assessment of its impact on the locale. Surveys along 2,000 kilometers of coast have already generated the largest tsunami data set in the world. [More]