Afraid to emit any radiation whatsoever into the atmosphere, Tepco let too much pressure build up at Fukushima.
Fear of Fukushima Radiation Only Led to More Radiation
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Energy
Obama’s Dirty Energy Fixation
As radioactivity levels continue to spike in Fukushima, Obama’s support for nuclear power is unwavering.
Back From the Brink: A City in Ruins Looks to the Future
As Japan’s government gets set to expand a nuclear evacuation area, the mayor of a city inside the radioactive zone speaks about his fears.
Impact of Fukushima Continues to Inch up to Chernobyl Levels
Like Chernobyl, the economic effects of Fukushima will ricochet around the world.
Gambling in Japan
The great kabuki actor Mitsugoro Bando VIII was a fan of fugu, or blowfish. Fugu is a rather bland, unremarkable fish except for one thing: its internal organs, particularly the liver, are highly toxic. Japanese chefs have to acquire a special certificate to prove that they know how to remove all traces of toxin before preparing the dish. Nevertheless, a couple of people die every year from eating it, which gives the fish an exotic reputation. Diners enjoy the slight tingle that fugu sushi imparts to the tongue and lips. Bando, however, wasn’t satisfied with this slight tingle. A daredevil eater, he relished bowls of soup made from fugu liver and in this way built up a certain resistance to the toxin. But on January 16, 1975, Bando ate not only one bowl of this liver soup for dinner but also the three bowls that his friend wisely declined. That night he suffered respiratory failure and died.
Little Silver Riding Hoods
Following the terrible earthquakes and tsunami in northeastern Japan on March 11, schoolchildren as far away as Tokyo have been going to school wearing pointy silver hats to protect them from potential fires and debris during ensuing aftershocks. For some, too, the shiny hoods function as ineffectual radiation shields, a poignant sign of Japan’s deepening unease over the ongoing meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The Earthquake in Japanese Energy Policy
Japan is at present menaced by several concurrent, concatenating crises. But with smart and responsible energy policies and politics, it could pioneer approaches that help lead us all out of our increasing dire, energy-centred dilemmas.
Libya Intervention Making a Mockery of Political Correctness
Energy concerns may underlie U.S. involvement in the intervention in Libya, to the exclusion of Bahrain and Yemen.
Oh, for Those Halcyon Days When Nuclear Weapons Were Scarier Than Reactors
We shouldn’t let the much greater danger of nuclear weapons obscure the risks of nuclear energy.
Is the Libya Intervention Directed at China?
The Chinese know why the U.S. is bombing Libya but not challenging Bahrain and Yemen: Bahrain hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, and Yemen’s port of Aden provides access to the Red Sea.