Owner of Japanese Nuclear Plant Confirms Additional Meltdowns The owner of Japan’s damaged
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility has confirmed there were additional meltdowns of fuel rods at three of the plant’s reactors in the days following the tsunami and earthquake. Tokyo Electric Power Co. had previously acknowledged a meltdown at the Number One reactor, but now says meltdowns also occurred at Numbers Two and Three.
Thousands of Gallons of Toxic Fluid Released in Natural Gas Well Blowout
Thousands of gallons of toxic drilling fluid used in hydraulic fracturing spilled into a Pennsylvania waterway Tuesday night after a blowout at a natural gas well. The spill occurred in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, at a well operated by Chesapeake Energy. Local residents in LeRoy Township had to be evacuated from their homes. The blowout could heighten concerns about the safety of a controversial process to extract gas from shale rock known as fracking. House Democrats recently issued a report warning that 29 chemicals used in natural gas drilling are human carcinogens or considered hazardous under federal clean air and water rules. For years, companies—including Halliburton—have attempted to keep secret the list of chemicals used in fracking.
Japan Parents Deliver Radioactive Playground Dirt to Protest High Radiation Levels
Parents of young schoolchildren have staged an unusual protest to oppose the Japanese government’s decision to allow children to be exposed to 20 times more radiation than was previously permissible. Furious parents responded to the rule change by delivering a bag of radioactive playground dirt to school officials. Before the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility, the acceptable radiation level for children was set at one millisievert per year. After the disaster, the government raised the acceptable limit to 20 millisieverts per year. Officials said the move was needed because most of the schools near the plant were above the radiation original level.