Radioactive Leak

The NDRF has decided to observe 2024 as the year of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) preparedness and response and will undertake training and exercises to attain better capability to deal with such disasters, Director General of the force Atul Karwal said Friday. He was speaking at the Vigyan Bhawan here during the 19th raising day of the federal contingency force. The DG said the Union home ministry, under which the force functions, has sanctioned fresh equipments to it for CBRN combat. The force has procured seven HAZMAT (hazardous material) vehicles during the recently concluded G20 Summit in the national capital for tackling CBRN accidents and disasters. The force, Karwal said, also has trained three teams for tackling forest fires and new equipment for this task are being procured, a job entrusted to the NDRF in 2023. He said the ministry of home affairs has also sanctioned eight new regional response centres (RRCs) for stationing its rescuers in various

The release of a third batch of treated radioactive wastewater from Japan's damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean ended safely as planned, its operator said on Monday, as the country's seafood producers continue to suffer from a Chinese import ban imposed after the discharges began. Large amounts of radioactive wastewater have accumulated at the nuclear plant since it was damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. It began discharging treated and diluted wastewater into the ocean on August 24 and finished releasing the third 7,800-ton batch on Monday. The process is expected to take decades. The discharges have been strongly opposed by fishing groups and neighbouring countries including China, which banned all imports of Japanese seafood, badly hurting Japanese producers and exporters of scallops and other seafood. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, said the third release, like the two previous ones, went smoothly and marine sampl

Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant said it began releasing a second batch of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea on Thursday after the first round of discharges ended smoothly. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said workers activated pumps to dilute the treated water with large amounts of seawater, slowly sending the mixture into the ocean through an undersea tunnel for an offshore release. The wastewater discharges, which are expected to continue for decades, have been strongly opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries including South Korea, where hundreds of people staged protest rallies. China banned all imports of Japanese seafood, badly hurting Japanese seafood producers and exporters. The plant's first wastewater release began on August 24 and ended on September 11. During that release, TEPCO said it discharged 7,800 tons of treated water from 10 tanks. In the second discharge, TEPCO plans to release another 7,800 tons of treated

Seoul office worker Kim Mijeong says she intends to stop eating seafood, as she deeply mistrusts the safety of Japan's release of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea from its crippled nuclear power plant. We should absolutely cut back on our consumption of seafood. Actually, we can't eat it, Kim said. I can't accept the Japanese plan because it's too unilateral and is proceeding without countermeasures. The International Atomic Energy Agency and many foreign experts already assessed the water discharge will cause negligible impact on the environment and human health. But ahead of the discharge of the wastewater starting Thursday, public fears and frustrations were being shared in its Asian neighbors, where many still bear strong resentment against Japan's wartime aggression. China summoned Japan's ambassador in Beijing earlier this week to register its complaints, and a government spokesperson called the discharge plan extremely selfish and irresponsible. Hong Kong and Macau

Japan has said the radioactive wastewater release is safe, which has been backed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Compared with existing reactors, small modular reactors would generate up to 5.5 times more spent nuclear fuel per unit of power

Russian troops moved into the radiation-contaminated Chernobyl exclusion zone in February on their way toward the Ukrainian capital

The source of the pollution was probably an accident somewhere between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains

Atomic Energy Regulatory Board has rushed its team to the spot; the equipment has come from Air France plane