Fukushima nuclear crisis

PROMETHEUS TRAP/ 'Shadow units' (12): Should SDF...
A written directive issued by the prime minister’s office (Hiroyoshi Itabashi)
Editor's note: This is the 12th part of a new series that has run in the past under the title of The Prometheus Trap. This series deals with the secret missions assigned to the ...
Google adds street views inside Japan nuclear zone
In this screenshot made from the Google Maps website provided on March 27 by Google, a collapsed house is seen, top, in March this year with its location pinpointed on a map below, in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, a nuclear no-go zone where former residents have been unable to live since they fled a radiation spewing from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant two years ago. (AP Photo/Google)
Concrete rubble litters streets lined with shuttered shops and dark windows. A collapsed roof juts from the ground. A ship sits stranded on a stretch of dirt flattened when the ...
Japanese regulators to investigate nuclear crisis
Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Japanese government regulators said on March 27 that for the first time they will conduct their own investigation into the country's nuclear crisis to address key unanswered...
Rock shells disappearing on coast near Fukushima...
Rock shells (Tomoyuki Yamamoto)
TSUKUBA, Ibaraki Prefecture--A type of mollusk has disappeared from an area that stretches 30 kilometers along Fukushima Prefecture and includes the site of the crippled...
PROMETHEUS TRAP/ 'Shadow units' (11): You’re...
An SDF fire engine sprays water on the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. (Photo provided by the Ground Self-Defense Force)
Editor's note: This is the 11th part of a new series that has run in the past under the title of The Prometheus Trap. This series deals with the secret missions assigned to the ...
TEPCO concludes rat caused last week's Fukushima...
This rat, found dead March 20 beneath a charred terminal of a temporary switchboard at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, has been fingered as the cause of the recent blackout there. (Provided by Tokyo Electric Power Co.)
Tokyo Electric Power Co. concluded March 25 that a charred rat found electrocuted beneath a temporary switchboard was behind a recent extended blackout at the utility's...
Prime minister wants safety first before restarting ...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, and reconstruction minister Takumi Nemoto, center, visit a shopping district in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, on March 24 for an on-site inspection. Namie Mayor Tamotsu Baba, left, briefs them on the current situation there. (Pool)
NAMIE, Fukushima Prefecture--Visiting the prefecture that hosts the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on March 24 reiterated that...
PROMETHEUS TRAP/ 'Shadow units' (10): SDF general...
The off-site center for the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Nov. 16, 2011. (Hiroshi Kawai)
Editor's note: This is the 10th part of a new series that has run in the past under the title of The Prometheus Trap. This series deals with the secret missions assigned to the ...
Fukushima cleanup contractors told workers to lie...
This document, distributed by Maeda Corp. ahead of a "surprise" inspection by the labor ministry on Nov. 15, 2012, warns that radioactive cleanup workers would be asked if they were receiving hazard pay. (Miki Aoki)
Contractors were tipped off about “surprise” inspections of decontamination work around the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, giving them time to order workers to lie about ...
PROMETHEUS TRAP/ 'Shadow units' (9): SDF members...
A whiteboard at the off-site center for the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2012 (Ikuro Aiba)
Editor's note: This is the ninth part of a new series that has run in the past under the title of The Prometheus Trap. This series deals with the secret missions assigned to...
Fukushima blackout investigators examine dead rat
A temporary switchboard has been on duty at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant since the March 2011 accident. It arrived aboard a truck and has remained in use ever since. (Provided by TEPCO)
A dead rat was found lying near equipment that likely short-circuited this week and plunged critical cooling systems at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into crisis again.
ANALYSIS: Cooling failure brings renewed criticism...
An aerial view of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant on March 19, with the No. 1 reactor in the background and the No. 4 reactor in the foreground (Shiro Nishihata)
Tokyo Electric Power Co. is facing sharp criticism both for its delay in resolving the loss of cooling functions at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and for the lax...
Oi nuke reactors to stay online even when new...
The Oi nuclear power plant, with the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors in the foreground (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Japan's nuclear authority said March 19 it will not order two reactors at the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture to be shut for screening when new safety standards, yet ...
Another bent rod found in fuel assembly at...
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture. The No. 1 reactor building is shown in the foreground. Photo was taken  in May 2008. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said March 19 it has uncovered a second instance of fuel rods coming into contact with each other at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in...
PROMETHEUS TRAP/ 'Shadow units' (8): SDF unit...
Col. Shinji Iwakuma (Photo by Hidefumi Nogami)
Editor's note: This is the eighth part of a new series that has run in the past under the title of The Prometheus Trap. This series deals with the secret missions assigned to...
Power, cooling restored at Fukushima nuclear plant
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in October 2012 (Pool)
Cooling systems were restored for four fuel storage pools at Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear plant, more than a day after a power outage halted the supply of fresh cooling...
UPDATE: Cooling systems restart for 2 spent fuel...
Workers stand on the covering of the spent fuel pool at the No. 4 reactor building of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in July 2012. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The cooling systems restarted for spent fuel pools in the No. 1 and No. 4 reactor buildings at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant on March 19, although operations for other...
Crippled Japanese nuclear plant suffers blackout
From the back to front: The No. 1 to No. 4 reactor buildings at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are shown on Feb. 20. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
A power failure at Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear plant on March 18 night has left three fuel storage pools without fresh cooling water for hours, the plant's operator said.
PROMETHEUS TRAP/ 'Shadow units' (7): Reactor...
The Mitsubishi Motors Corp. SUV Pajero driven by Self-Defense Forces personnel was heavily damaged by an explosion at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on March 14, 2011. (Provided by the Ground Self-Defense Force)
Editor's note: This is the seventh part of a new series that has run in the past under the title of The Prometheus Trap. This series deals with the secret missions assigned to...
Weekly anti-nuke protests still going strong, but...
Protesters calling for the abolition of nuclear power plants on March 15, the first Friday after the 2nd anniversary of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture (Satoru Ogawa)
Anti-nuclear demonstrations that have been a fixture in front of the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Friday nights for nearly a year are still drawing sizable crowds, but...