Author Archives: mitnse

News updates, April 1

Posted on April 1, 2011 2:01 pm UTC

News Brief, 4/1/11 Status of Reactors Efforts are still underway to pump water from the turbine buildings of the reactors. Water in the turbine buildings is being pumped directly into the reactors’ condensers. The IAEA reported yesterday that the condenser … Continue reading →

Posted in Fukushima

News Updates, March 30

Posted on March 30, 2011 3:13 pm UTC

News Brief, 3/30/11 Plutonium Found in Soil Soil samples collected from five locations around the Fukushima Daiichi site were found to contain trace amounts of plutonium. These trace amounts are in roughly the same quantities as the amounts left behind … Continue reading →

Posted in Fukushima

message from mitnse

Posted on March 29, 2011 12:54 pm UTC

Many thanks to everyone who has been visiting our blog and sending us questions and comments since we started up a little over two weeks ago. Now that information on the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is becoming … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

News Updates, March 26

Posted on March 26, 2011 2:38 pm UTC

Plant Status The IAEA has shared that as of 05:15 UTC, Japanese authorities reported the following about the conditions of the six reactors: Unit 1: Workers have restored lighting in the control room, and recovered the ability to use some … Continue reading →

Posted in Fukushima

Status Update as of 3/22/2011

Posted on March 23, 2011 2:17 pm UTC

Heightened discharges as pump truck arrives 22 March 2011 Researched and written by World Nuclear News ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 1.08pm GMT UPDATE 1: 4.01pm GMT, Connection of power to unit 3 Discharges to sea from Fukushima Daiichi have shown increased levels of … Continue reading →

Posted in Fukushima

Fission Products and Radiation

Posted on March 20, 2011 9:37 pm UTC

When a heavy atom (such as uranium or plutonium) undergoes fission, it splits into two lighter fission products. This splitting process also yields two or three neutrons, which can cause other heavy atoms to fission, as well as a huge … Continue reading →

Posted in Basics

Status Update – 3/20/11 at 3:30 pm EDT

Posted on March 20, 2011 7:47 pm UTC

Stabilisation at Fukushima Daiichi 20 March 2011 FIRST PUBLISHED 2.05pm GMT UPDATE 1: 2.56pm GMT Units 5 and 6 in cold shutdown, tsunami heights UPDATE 2: 3.30pm GMT IAEA graph of fuel pond temperatures Workers on site have succeeded in … Continue reading →

Posted in Fukushima

Status Update – 3/19/2011 at 10:00 am EDT

Posted on March 19, 2011 6:36 pm UTC

UPDATE AS OF 10 A.M. EDT, SATURDAY, MARCH 19 (per NEI): At a March 19 news conference, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that sea water injection is continuing at reactors 1, 2 and 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi … Continue reading →

Posted in Fukushima

What is criticality?

Posted on March 18, 2011 9:52 pm UTC

The words “criticality” and “re-criticality” have been used extensively in the media coverage.  Criticality is a nuclear term that refers to the balance of neutrons in the system. “Subcritical” refers to a system where the loss rate of neutrons is … Continue reading →

Posted in Basics

Plutonium in the Environment

Posted on March 18, 2011 10:19 am UTC

Much recent news and many questions directed at the blog have centered around the detection of plutonium in soil and water surrounding the Fukushima reactors. This post will outline our current knowledge of the situation, as well as potential impacts … Continue reading →

Posted in Radiation Protection