Fukushima News 3/30/15: A Spent Fuel Pool From HELL-Unit 3 Dam(ned) Gates Damaged

TV: Dam gates ‘shifted’ in Fukushima Unit 3 fuel pool — Damaged by massive piece of falling debris — Concern it could trigger drainage from pool — Tepco: It does not ‘appear’ to be leaking http://bit.ly/1BFYVNi Times: 200-year wait faced at Fukushima — Plant Chief: “No idea” how to decommission reactors… “the technology does not exist”; “No viable method” to deal with melted fuel; “So many uncertainties… we don’t have accurate information” — Engineers declared problems ‘insurmountable’ http://bit.ly/1a91IsK Expert: Plutonium-241 from Fukushima nearly 70,000 times more than atomic bomb fallout in Japan — Gov’t Labs: Large areas of oceans contaminated by plutonium from events such as Fukushima; Build-up in biosphere expected; Considerable hazard to humans — Officials: Molten fuel now ‘particle-like’, contains ‘special’ nuclear materials http://bit.ly/1CWeqWL Pre-restart nuclear reactor check begins Nuclear & Energy Mar. 30, 2015 - Updated 04:32 UTC-4 Nuclear regulators in Japan have begun examining a power plant in southwestern Japan. They want to see whether it can return online under new regulations introduced after the 2011 Fukushima accident. The Nuclear Regulation Authority began inspections of the No.1 reactor at the Sendai plant in Kagoshima Prefecture on Monday. All nuclear reactors in the country are currently offline. The reactor became the first to clear the new, tougher regulations last year together with another reactor at the plant. The regulators will check whether facilities and equipment newly introduced to improve safety have been installed as planned and function properly. The regulators plan to focus on about 500 of the new items that are designed to withstand a severe nuclear accident. Nuclear compensation recovery could take 30 years Nuclear & Energy Mar. 23, 2015 - Updated 06:14 UTC-4 Japan's Board of Audit says it could take the government up to 30 years to recoup the funds it provided to help compensate victims of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The government issued bonds worth nine trillion yen, or about 75 billion dollars, to help the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, pay compensation. The money is mainly intended to help those who have been forced to evacuate and to cover the costs of decontamination work. Report: Fault under Tsuruga reactor may be active Nuclear & Energy Mar. 25, 2015 - Updated 02:39 UTC-4 An expert panel of Japan's nuclear regulator has maintained its assessment that a fault just below a nuclear reactor in central Japan could move. The panel submitted a report to the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday, concluding its 3-year study of the fault under the No. 2 reactor at the Tsuruga plant in Fukui Prefecture. The report follows 2 others that said the fault may move. After the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Japan adopted tougher regulations that ban construction of reactor buildings and other key structures above such faults. NHK reporters say the idled reactor may be scrapped. But the plant's operator, Japan Atomic Power Company, is disputing the experts' assessment and plans to apply for a restart. Business leaders says 20% nuclear power needed Nuclear & Energy Mar. 25, 2015 - Updated 01:12 UTC-4 A group of business leaders in Japan is proposing that nuclear power supply at least 20 percent of the country's energy needs by 2030. The nuclear accident at Fukushima four years ago has prompted Japan to reconsider how it produces electricity. JP PM Abe “My saying Under-control was only to reassure the world to let Japan host 2020 Olympics” http://bit.ly/1bN6M6o Sen. Murray: DOE appears to be pulling plug on some Hanford cleanup http://bit.ly/1NDVor3 Senators, Energy Department Float Nuclear Waste Proposals A bipartisan group and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz are exploring alternatives to a permanent storage facility in Nevada. http://bit.ly/1NDVor5