Unlimited Nuclear Disaster Updates

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Fukushima review – a devastating account of disaster and denial in 2011 nuclear catastrophe
A tense return to the disaster foregrounds the heroism of the 'Fukushima 50' while raising questions about corporate secrecy and nuclear safety

The terrifying story of Japan's Fukushima nuclear accident of 2011, caused by a cataclysmic earthquake and tsunami, is retold by British film-maker James Jones and Japanese co-director Megumi Inman. The natural disaster left 20,000 dead, and 164,000 people were displaced from the area around the nuclear plant, some with no prospect of return. The earthquake damaged the cooling systems that prevent meltdowns and caused three near-apocalyptic explosions, bringing the nation close to a catastrophe that would have threatened its very existence. Incredibly, the ultimate calamity was finally staved off by nothing more hi-tech than a committed fire brigade spraying thousands of tons of water on the exposed fuel rods.

The film plunges us into the awful story moment-by-moment, accompanied by interviews with the chief players of the time – prominently nuclear plant employee Ikuo Izawa, a shift supervisor and de facto leader of the "Fukushima 50" (actually 69 people) who became legendary in Japan and beyond for their self-sacrificial courage, staying in a nightmarish reactor when everyone else had been evacuated.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/feb/18/fukushima-review-2011-nuclear-disaster-japan

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Tell Congress: No Funding for Nuclear Testing

For the first time in decades, a U.S. president is threatening to restart nuclear weapons testing — a dangerous and unnecessary move that would put countless lives, communities, and even our planet at risk.

Past U.S. nuclear tests — including above-ground tests conducted decades ago from Nevada to New Mexico to the Marshall Islands — spread radioactive fallout that poisoned entire communities and ecosystems, leaving a legacy of cancer and contamination that continues today. And while testing methods have changed, restarting any type of explosive tests today would knowingly recreate that suffering and shatter the global taboo that has helped keep our world safe for more than 30 years.

Experts agree that there is no military or technical justification for explosive nuclear weapons testing, but there are potentially devastating consequences if we test again. Other countries have already signaled that if the U.S. resumes nuclear weapons testing, they will follow suit, further fueling the global nuclear arms race now underway.

Congress has the power to stop this — they can block any funding that would allow explosive nuclear weapons testing to resume. This issue is too important to our future for our elected officials to stay silent.


Email your Rep today: Let your representative know that we cannot allow Trump to drag us further into a disastrous global arms race. Your voice matters.

https://www.armscontrol.org/2026-02/tell-congress-no-funding-nuclear-testing

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Just found out about this one

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Japan drags its feet on nuclear energy recovery, 15 years after Fukushima accident
Just 15 of the country's 54 reactors have been reactivated due to expert skepticism and citizen mistrust

Nuclear energy, long stigmatized in Japan following the accident that took place on March 11, 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant — which forced thousands to leave their homes and the shutdown of 54 reactors providing 30% of the country's energy — has come back to the country's energy portfolio. But its return is taking place amid civilian distrust and expert skepticism, 15 years after the world held its breath during one of history's worst nuclear accidents, second only to that of Chernobyl, Ukraine in 1986.

After the nuclear shutoff, which was caused by a brutal earthquake and subsequent tsunami, Japan founded the Nuclear Regulation Authority, and tightened regulations. As a result, 24 of the country's 54 reactors were deactivated and are now in the process of being dismantled. Of the 30 that remain, only 15 have been authorized to resume operations, and currently supply nearly 9% of the nation's electricity.

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https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-12/japan-drags-its-feet-on-nuclear-energy-recovery-15-years-after-fukushima-accident.html

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Full restoration of Chernobyl shelter's function targeted for 2030

An interim report on options for the full restoration of the New Safe Confinement's protective functions is due to be presented later this month. Serhii Tarakanov, Director General of SSE Chornobyl NPP, says the aim is for the repair work to be completed by 2030.

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Workers on the roof of the shelter after the drone strike (Image: State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

Ahead of the presentation of the report to the 31 March meeting of the International Chernobyl Cooperation Account, the plant, the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, Bouygues and Vinci discussed the proposals for the restoration work.

The repair work is required because of the damage caused by a drone strike last February on the giant arch-shaped New Safe Confinement (NSC) shelter, which covers the ruins of Chernobyl's unit 4. Temporary repair work was carried out before the winter to prevent weather damage.

Tarakanov said: "Now it is necessary to undertake comprehensive repairs and full restoration of the NSC functionality. In our opinion, no one will be able to handle this task better than the companies that designed and built the Confinement. These are the French companies Bouygues and Vinci."

He said that it would be a joint effort between the French experts and SSE Chornobyl NPP staff to ensure the work is carried out as soon as possible.

"It is very important to restore the function of containing radioactive substances within the NSC, as well as active anti-corrosion protection to ensure the functioning of the Confinement for the designed 100 years. After completing the comprehensive repair work within the specified time frame (by 2030), we will be able to move on to the implementation of the main task for which the New Safe Confinement was built - dismantling the unstable structures of the Shelter Object and transforming it into an environmentally safe system," he said.

https://world-nuclear-news.org/articles/full-restoration-of-chernobyl-shelter--function-targeted-for-2030

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Fukushima 15 Years On — and the Nuclear Disasters to Come
War isn't the only risk of nuclear catastrophe.

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Nine countries now possess nuclear weapons and we have just seen the start of a new war in the Middle East over one more nation supposedly trying to acquire them. While we consider the dangers of such weapons and their capacity to cause massive destruction, we often overlook the risks associated with what still passes for "peaceful" nuclear power. With that in mind, let me revisit a moment when that reality should have become far clearer.

I had crawled into bed on March 10, 2011, opened my phone, and scrolled through my Instagram feed. The app was still fairly new then, and I was only following a dozen or so accounts, several from Japan. One amateur photographer there had posted photos minutes earlier of a fractured sidewalk and a toppled bookshelf. A massive earthquake had just rattled Tokyo.

A news article confirmed that a magnitude 7.9 quake had indeed struck 80 miles off the coast of Japan. Later, it was upgraded to 9.0, 1,000 times more powerful in terms of energy released. Holy shit, I thought. That's huge! Worried, I emailed my old college friend Ichiro, who lived in Tokyo, to make sure his family was safe. A short while later, he replied that they were fine, but that a massive tsunami had indeed flooded the Tohoku region north of Tokyo. Many were dead.

"It's horrible. It's chaos," he wrote me.

"It's been 15 years since Fukushima's reactors experienced those meltdowns and we still don't fully understand their long-term repercussions."

https://inkstickmedia.com/fukushima-15-years-on-and-the-nuclear-disasters-to-come/

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Fukushima surprises us once again, 15 years after the accident, with a strange hybrid of escaped pigs and wild boars, right in the middle of the exclusion zone

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What happens when farm animals escape into a place people can no longer live? A new study published 15 years after the March 11, 2011, Fukushima nuclear disaster shows that domestic pigs that got loose after the evacuation bred with wild boar and left behind a genetic legacy that spread quickly through the local population.

This does not mean scientists discovered a separate species in the formal sense. What they documented is a hybrid population, and the bigger surprise was that pig mothers seem to have passed on a faster breeding pattern that helped the population move from one generation to the next more quickly.

https://www.ecoticias.com/en/fukushima-surprises-us-once-again-15-years-after-the-accident-with-a-strange-hybrid-of-escaped-pigs-and-wild-boars-right-in-the-middle-of-the-exclusion-zone/29548/

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Drone reveals Fukushima 3 debris
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings says the data retrieved will support debris removal planning, with large-scale extraction expected after 2037.

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hole was discovered in the lower part of the third reactor of the Japan's Fukushima Daiichi NPP. The results of an inspection of the using a miniature drone were published on the website of the station operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco).

The steel reactor vessel has a diameter of 5.5 metres with a bottom thickness is 14 cm. The bottom is believed to have melted due to the high temperature during the accident following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that resulted in the melt-down of three reactors. Video footage released by Tepco shows deposits of that appear to be melted nuclear fuel.

As a result of the survey, one of the possible methods for removing debris mixed with molten nuclear fuel using special equipment was confirmed. According to preliminary estimates, there are about 880 tonnes of such debris on the station premises. Full-scale extraction of molten nuclear fuel from unit 3 can begin only after 2037.

https://www.neimagazine.com/news/drone-reveals-fukushima-3-debris/?cf-view

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G7 Weighs $575 Million Chernobyl Repair As France Insists Ukraine Not Overshadowed

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) are discussing a major effort to repair damage to the protective shelter at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant, with costs estimated at around $575 million, a sign that Kyiv remains at the center of high-level talks despite competing global crises.

Speaking to RFE/RL on March 27, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux rejected concerns voiced by some countries that escalating tensions in the Middle East are diverting attention away from Ukraine.

"It could be a risk, but it's not a reality," he said.

Confavreux stressed Ukraine is a core focus of the ongoing G7 meeting, noting ministers are holding a dedicated session on support to Kyiv, with Ukraine's foreign minister set to join discussions.

"This G7 was created to allow leaders to discuss in trust the most important international issues," he said. "Among them, of course, there will be Iran and the Middle East -- but also Ukraine."

https://www.rferl.org/amp/g7-chernobyl-dome-repair-france-ukraine/33717924.html