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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]

When he retired after 26 years as an investigator with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Office of the Inspector General, George Mulley thought his final report was one of his best. Mulley had spent months looking into why a pipe carrying cooling water at the Byron nuclear plant in Illinois had rusted so badly that it burst. His report cited lapses by a parade of NRC inspectors over six years and systemic weaknesses in the way the NRC monitors corrosion.

A fire in an electrical switch room on Tuesday briefly knocked out cooling for a pool holding spent nuclear fuel at the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant outside Omaha, Neb., plant officials said. The safety of deep pools used to store used radioactive fuel at nuclear plants has been an issue since the accident at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant in March.

On April 26, Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff did a safety "walkdown" of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on southern California's coast, part of NRC inspections of all U.S. reactors that were triggered by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster in Japan. The NRC's inspection report, released Friday, did not flag the plant's owner, Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

By Chikako Mogi and Risa Maeda NAGOYA/TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) - Japanese power firm Chubu Electric Monday agreed to shut a nuclear plant until it can be better defended against the type of massive tsunami that in March triggered the worst atomic crisis in 25 years. [More]

Japan's nuclear plant crisis with the radioactivity contamination from spent fuel pools is likely to put an overdue spotlight on stalemated U.S. policies for managing reactor fuel, authors of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology report on the nuclear fuel cycle said yesterday.

On March 11, a powerful earthquake set off a tsunam i that swamped the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant , cutting off power and causing nuclear fuel rods to overheat and melt.

By Quirin Schiermeier of Nature magazine As radioisotopes pour into the sea from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, one reassuring message has been heard over and over again: the Pacific Ocean is a big place. That the isotopes will be vastly diluted is not in question

TOKYO, April 12 (Reuters) - Japan raised the severity of itsnuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to a level [More]

The nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power station in Japan that were crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami are a lot like reactors in the U.S. They are a common, if not exactly modern, General Electric design that harnesses nuclear fission to boil water and drive steam turbines to generate electricity.

By Gwyneth Dickey Zakaib One thing is certain about the human costs of the radiation leaking from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan: they will pale in comparison to the catastrophic consequences of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the crisis. [More]

In the days following Japan's March 11 earthquake, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant there suffered increasing damage as its cooling systems failed, probably causing a build-up of hydrogen gas that led to explosions at three of its reactor units. [More]

Infinitesimal radioactive isotopes can be carried along on the breeze, landing unseen on the ground, clothes and skin. These tiny products of nuclear reactions are capable of causing large-scale damage in the body if they make it inside through inhalation, ingestion or even a cut. And many fear that such isotopes spewed from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are traveling inter-continentally--and in higher quantities than Japanese officials are reporting

The hydrogen explosions, melting fuel rods and radiation leaks at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are having an immediate impact on perceptions of nuclear power worldwide, at a time when many countries are earnestly searching for alternatives to fossil fuels. Safety will be a major concern, particularly as emergency workers in Japan continue to battle to keep spent fuel rods stored on site at Fukushima Daiichi from melting down. [More]

In the wake of radioactive releases from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, critics are saying a California nuclear plant's susceptibility to earthquakes and tsunamis could affect its chances of renewing its operating license. While the federal licenses for Pacific Gas & Electric's Diablo Canyon plant, near San Luis Obispo, and Southern California Edison's San Onofre plant are valid for at least another decade, both utilities have begun the renewal process ahead of time.