Unlimited Nuclear Disaster Updates

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'Lessons of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands are lessons for the world' - UNOHCHR



The UN Human Rights Council has held a dialogue meeting to examine the nuclear testing legacy in the Marshall Islands.

UN News reports that OHCHR has found radiation exposure from nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958 caused the "proliferation of cancers, of painful memories of miscarriages, [and] stillbirths".

The report recommends the Marshall Islands, the US Government, the UN and other actors consider establishing truth and non-repetition mechanisms, as well as adopting and supporting a transitional justice-driven approach.

"The lessons of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands are lessons for the whole world, as there are other areas, communities and countries that were and continue to be affected by nuclear testing," UN Deputy High Commissioner, Nada Al-Nashif, said in a statement at an Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on the matter in Geneva.

"When it comes to human rights and environmental crises, we must stand together to prevent them, and to promote accountability, truth and reparations for them; protecting and empowering those most at-risk from their impacts."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/530064/lessons-of-nuclear-testing-in-the-marshall-islands-are-lessons-for-the-world-unohchr

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They still don't know how they are going to clean up this disaster.


Fukushima Daiichi: How is the decommissioning process going to work?


The decommissioning process for the Fukushima Daiichi site and surroundings is scheduled to be completed by 2051. It will require many innovations, and careful planning. Here are some of the details outlined at an event at the International Atomic Energy Agency's General Conference in Vienna.

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/fukushima

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Decommissioning Update: A Visit to Fukushima Daiichi

Changing Shape of the Nuclear Reactor Building�
I visited Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in late October 2024. Soon after the 2011 nuclear accident, I was the head of a Japanese newspaper team reporting on the situation, but this was the first time I had entered the grounds of the facility. Measures are in place at the site to prevent the dispersal of radioactive material. The building and parts of the site are still designated as red or yellow zones, where full-face masks and full-body protective clothing� are required due to high radiation levels. But most of the site is a green zone, where protective clothing is unnecessary�. For reporting, we were only required to wear helmets, regular masks, and work gloves.



Workers at Fukushima Daiichi wearing full-body protective clothing on October 21, 2024. Such measures are still mandatory for entering areas with high radiation levels. (© Hashino Yukinori)

According to Tokyo Electric Power Company, the site had received 7,594 external observers in fiscal 2024 by the end of August, not counting members of the media. This compares with 18,516 in fiscal 2023, and is around 20 times more than the 913 visitors in fiscal 2011. Visitor numbers declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, but are on the rise once more. Immediately after the accident, TEPCO restricted entry to the site due to the risks posed by high levels of radiation and debris, but now they are encouraging observer visits to better inform people about the progress of the decommissioning work, including the release of treated water into the ocean. There is no record of the number of media visitors received, but a TEPCO official advised us that it is increasing, including members of foreign media organizations.

From a nearby hilltop, we could view the reactor building from above, and it was easy to see that the work on units one to four of the power plant is at different stages. The hydrogen explosion at Unit One tore apart its steel frame, and it still is the clearest indication of the severity of the accident. Its internal spent fuel pool still contains 392 nuclear fuel units, but the structural debris and large crane still remain, impeding cleanup work. Construction of covers enclosing the buildings to prevent dispersal of radioactive material� during the operation is progressing in other areas.


https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g01241/decommissioning-update-a-visit-to-fukushima-daiichi.html

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Species In Chernobyl Is Mutating To 'Feed' On Nuclear Radiation

A species of black fungus, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, found at the Chernobyl disaster site, has adapted to "feed" on nuclear radiation. The fungus was observed growing on the walls of Reactor 4, and uses radiation as an energy source, similar to how plants use sunlight, according to The Daily Mail.

The fungus's ability to harness radiation is due to melanin, the pigment that gives human skin its color. In this fungus, melanin absorbs gamma radiation and converts it into chemical energy through a process called radiosynthesis. This adaptation allows the fungus to thrive in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a highly radioactive area since the 1986 nuclear meltdown.

Scientists are exploring the potential of using this fungus to develop radiation shields for astronauts during deep space missions. The harsh radioactive environment of space poses a significant challenge for long-duration missions, with astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) exposed to radiation levels equivalent to one year's exposure on Earth in just one week. Research on the ISS has shown that the fungus can block and absorb 84 percent of space radiation, suggesting its radiosynthesis ability could be beneficial in space environments.

https://www.iheart.com/content/2024-12-17-species-in-chernobyl-is-mutating-to-feed-on-nuclear-radiation/

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Worms and Dogs Thrive in Chernobyl's Radioactive Zone — and Scientists are Intrigued
In the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, worms show no genetic damage despite living in highly radioactive soil, and free-ranging dogs persist despite contamination.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster of 1986 transformed a once-thriving region of Ukraine into a radioactive wasteland. Decades later, the 2,600 square kilometer Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) is largely abandoned by humans. But wildlife remains — and adapts. Recent studies show that creatures as different as worms and free-ranging dogs thrive in Chernobyl, and it's not exactly clear how.

https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/chornobyl-wildlife-radiation-adaptation-worm-dog/

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Uranium, fuel rod casing found in Fukushima nuclear debris

Fuel debris retrieved from the No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant (Provided by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency)

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency on Dec. 26 released images of nuclear fuel debris retrieved from the No. 2 reactor at the disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The analysis revealed that the first piece of debris contained uranium and zirconium, a metal used in the cladding that encases fuel rods.

JAEA said the debris was formed from melted nuclear fuel and reactor components that solidified.

In November, Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the plant, extracted a sample of radioactive rubble from the bottom of the containment vessel of the No. 2 reactor. It was there that the core melted down following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

JAEA has been analyzing the sample at a facility in Ibaraki Prefecture.

According to the agency, radioactive materials, such as europium and americium, which are produced by the fission reaction of uranium, were also found.

next spring.

As with the first removal of the sample, a fishing rod-shaped device will be used.

You cannot view this attachment.

The debris measures around 9 millimeters by 7 mm and weighs 0.69 gram. It has a rough texture and is mostly reddish-brown, with some black or glossy areas.

Radiation levels measured about 1 to 2 centimeters from the debris were roughly 8 millisieverts per hour.

TEPCO said on Dec. 26 that it would conduct additional retrieval of melted fuel debris from the No. 2 reactor

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15568356


I'm beginning to realize that the cleanup won't be completed it my lifetime...

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Russia Opposes Updated WHO Assessment of Health Effects of Nuclear Weapons

Russia has rejected a World Health Organization initiative to update its assessment of the health effects of nuclear weapons use, breaking with nations still grappling with the devastating legacy of Cold War-era explosions. The opposition comes as Russia has threatened to resume nuclear testing amid its war in Ukraine.

In regions known as "sacrifice zones," where thousands of nuclear tests have left the soil poisoned and communities ravaged, residents continue to face elevated rates of cancer and birth defects decades after the last Soviet-era detonations.

"The Russian delegation is not in favour of discussing this topic," Russia's representative told the WHO Executive Board on Saturday, arguing that "the negative impact of the destructive factors of nuclear explosions on humans and the environment, on which we have sufficient scientific data, is already obvious."

The proposed initiative, which needs to be approved by the EB in order to go before the entire World Health Assembly in May, would update WHO's guidance on the "Health effects of nuclear weapons and nuclear war on health and health services", last revised in 1993. It is co-sponsored by the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and three other Pacific island states, as well as Iraq and Kazakhstan – regions where fall out from nuclear testing continues to have devastating health consequences generations after test explosions by either Russia or the United States.

"Nuclear weapons do not discriminate and have catastrophic consequences on health and the environment," Samoa's delegate said. "In the interest of health and in the interest of humanity, we need to ensure that nuclear weapons and nuclear war are fully understood.

>>>The two nations opposing the WHO health study — Russia and North Korea — come as both face international scrutiny over their nuclear threats.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly threatened nuclear weapon use during his invasion of Ukraine. Russia has lowered its threshold for nuclear weapon use, placed its arsenal on heightened alert, and deployed tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus – the first time since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.

Putin's threats to resume nuclear testing carry particular weight for nations like Kazakhstan that still bear the scars of Soviet-era explosions. These threats followed Russia's withdrawal from the New START treaty — the last remaining agreement limiting nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia.

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/russia-opposes-new-who-study-of-health-effects-of-nuclear-weapons-tests/

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'So many people have cancer' — living with the French nuclear legacy in the Pacific

For 30 years, France exploded nuclear bombs in Mā'ohi Nui/French Polynesia, as part of its weapons testing programme. 

The last one was detonated in 1996, when Hinamoeura Morgant-Cross was seven and living in Tahiti with her family. Years later, like thousands of other locals, she developed a cancer that she believes is linked to the radiation from France's nuclear weapons experimentation. 

Here, Hina talks to Teuila Fuatai about confronting the French nuclear legacy in her home islands, and how it's spurred her anti-nuclear work and path as a politician.

I was 30 years old and working as a lawyer in Papeete when I learned that France had detonated 193 nuclear bombs in my home islands for its weapons experiments.

It was 2018, and there was a newspaper report about Oscar Temaru, the former president of French Polynesia. He'd laid a complaint against France at the International Criminal Court in the Hague for crimes against humanity. Temaru wanted any French presidents still alive from the 30 years of nuclear bomb experiments in Mā'ohi Nui to be held accountable for the harm they caused to our people and environment. France detonated its nuclear bombs on our islands between 1966 and 1996.

When I read about Temaru's complaint, I thought it was ridiculous.

The "crimes against humanity" I'd learned about at school were extreme cases of harm, mostly linked to colonisation and genocide in Africa. They always occurred in wartime, and many people were killed.

How could France's nuclear tests in Mā'ohi Nui be compared to those horrors?

Still, I wanted to know what Temaru was talking about, so I did my research.

Even now, it's hard to describe the devastation and hurt that came with learning the reality of France's nuclear bomb experiments on our islands.

All 193 nuclear bombs were detonated at Moruroa and Fangataufa ato

lls, about 1200 kilometres southeast of Tahiti.

One of the most notorious was the Canopus bomb, detonated in August 1968 at Fangataufa. Canopus was 150 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

https://e-tangata.co.nz/nzoa-pijf/so-many-people-have-cancer-living-with-the-french-nuclear-legacy-in-the-pacific/

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2025 Virtual Film Festival: The Untold Stories of Nuclear Weapons



https://actionnetwork.org/ticketed_events/2025filmfest?clear_id=true

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Russian Drone Damages Radiation Shield at Chernobyl, Ukraine Says

Russia's military used a drone with a high-explosive warhead to hit the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine overnight, damaging the protective shelter that prevents radiation leaks, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Friday.

In a post on social media, Mr. Zelensky called the damage "significant" but said that there were no signs of increased radiation at the plant, the site of the worst nuclear accident in history. Denys Shmyhal, the Ukrainian prime minister, said Friday morning that emergency crews had extinguished a fire at the site. A Kremlin spokesman denied that Russia had attacked the plant.

https://dnyuz.com/2025/02/14/russian-drone-damages-radiation-shield-at-chernobyl-ukraine-says/

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More powerful than Hiroshima: How the largest nuclear weapons test ever built a nation of leaders in the Marshall Islands


71 years ago, on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, a nuclear bomb with the codename "Castle Bravo", exploded with an energy of 15 megatons.

The mushroom cloud reached 40 kilometres into the atmosphere, resulting in thousands of square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean being contaminated by radioactivity. Its explosive yield was 1000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb; and within four hours of the explosion, radioactive fallout made up of crushed coral, water, and radioactive particles, rained down over inhabited atolls, including Rongelap Atoll, which was 150 kilometres away.

A fine white ash landed on the heads and bare arms of people standing in the open, dissolving into water supplies and drifting into houses. Witnesses of the Bravo nuclear fireball described seeing a second sun rising in the west, just before the terrifying shock waves hit them.

For the people of the Marshall Islands, that day on March 1 1954, will forever be known as Remembrance Day – the anniversary of Castle Bravo, the largest ever nuclear weapons 'test' conducted by the United States military.


https://www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/story/more-powerful-than-hiroshima-how-the-largest-nuclear-weapons-test-ever-built-a-nation-of-leaders-in-the-marshall-islands/

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Chernobyl shelter fire still smouldering two weeks after drone strike
Friday, 28 February 2025
More than 400 people have been working in shifts since the damage was caused to the giant shelter structure covering the area of Chernobyl's unit 4. International Atomic Energy Agency experts report that radiation levels remain normal.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, in his latest update on the situation, said that since the strike on 14 February Ukrainian experts had used thermal imaging and surveillance drones to locate "smouldering fires in the insulation between the layers of the arch-shaped New Safe Confinement structure, injecting water to put them out".



"The firefighters and other responders are working very hard in difficult circumstances to manage the impact and consequences of the drone strike. It was clearly a serious incident in terms of nuclear safety, even though it could have been much worse. As I have stated repeatedly during this devastating war, attacking a nuclear facility must never happen," he said.

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/chernobyl-shelter-fire-still-smouldering-two-weeks-after-drone-strike

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Rainbow Warrior arrives in Marshall Islands to call for nuclear and climate justice on 40th anniversary of Rongelap evacuation

Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands – Greenpeace flagship vessel the Rainbow Warrior was welcomed back to the Marshall Islands today, marking the start of a six-week mission around the Pacific nation to elevate calls for nuclear and climate justice; and support independent scientific research into the impacts of decades-long nuclear weapons testing by the US government.[1]

Escorted by traditional canoes, and welcomed by Marshallese singing and dancing, the arrival of the Rainbow Warrior marks a significant moment in the shared history of Greenpeace and the Marshall Islands — 40 years since Greenpeace crew evacuated over 300 people from the Rongelap atoll to Mejatto island, after toxic nuclear fallout from the Castle Bravo test rendered their ancestral lands uninhabitable.[2] The ship was given a blessing by the Council of Iroij, the traditional chiefs of the Islands; with speeches from Senator Hilton Kendall (Rongelap atoll); Honorable Boaz Lamdik on behalf of the Mayor of Majuro; Farrend Zackious, Vice Chairman Council of Iroij; and keynote address from Minister Bremity Lakjohn, Minister Assistant to the President.

Shiva Gounden, Head of Pacific at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said:

"We're extremely grateful and humbled to be welcomed back by the Marshallese government and community with such kindness and generosity of spirit. Over the coming weeks, we'll travel around this beautiful country, bearing witness to the impacts of nuclear weapons testing and the climate crisis, and listening to the lived experiences of Marshallese communities fighting for justice.

"For decades, Marshallese communities have been sacrificing their lands, health, and cultures for the greed of those seeking profits and power. But at the same time, the Marshallese people have been some of the loudest voices calling for justice, accountability, and ambitious solutions to some of the greatest issues facing the world. Greenpeace is proud to stand alongside the Marshallese people in their demands for nuclear justice and reparations, and the fight against colonial exploitation which continues to this day. Justice – Jimwe im Maron"

https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/73392/rainbow-warrior-arrives-in-marshall-islands-to-call-for-nuclear-and-climate-justice-on-40th-anniversary-of-rongelap-evacuation/

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Fukushima cleanup exposes workers to radiation risks and stress

Fourteen years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, workers face hazardous radiation levels and immense psychological strain as they begin the long process of removing melted fuel from the damaged reactors.

In short:

[] Crews must remove 880 tons of melted nuclear fuel mixed with reactor debris, a process expected to last over a century.

[] Workers in high-radiation areas wear heavy protective gear that limits visibility, mobility, and breathing while working in brief, high-stress shifts.

[] Robots assist in fuel retrieval, but technical failures and extreme radiation exposure slow progress, with full-scale removal set to begin in the 2030s.

Key quote:

"Working under high levels of radiation (during a short) time limit made us feel nervous and rushed. It was a difficult assignment."

— Yasunobu Yokokawa, Fuel Debris Retrieval Program Department

https://www.ehn.org/fukushima-cleanup-exposes-workers-to-radiation-risks-and-stress-2671306324.html