Fukushima

More than 12 years after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that cost Japan 20,000 lives, the IAEA has formally approved Japan's plan to release treated radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station into the sea.

As work continues to clean up the mess left by the meltdown of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, scientists are enlisting some local help in their efforts to survey the damage, in the form of rat snakes that frequent the area.

As reported by Tokyo-based newspaper Nikkei Asian Review, plans are afoot to transform Fukushima into a renewable energy hub, with 21 wind and solar plants to be built and the power to be fed into the national grid for use in the country’s capital.

Thorium reactors have long been proposed as a cleaner, safer alternative to nuclear energy. Now Russian scientists propose a new thorium reactor design that can burn weapons-grade plutonium, producing power and thermal energy while disposing of nuclear waste at the same time.

You probably remember earthquake movies where the ground cracks wide open, sending people tumbling in, before it snaps shut. It may seem exaggerated for the sake of a good visual, but a new study out of Caltech has demonstrated that this can actually happen, contrary to the beliefs of geologists.

Those monitoring the post-Fukushima situation have received some good news, with scientists reporting that after experiencing the largest ever release of radioactive material into the world's oceans, radiation levels across the Pacific are fast returning to normal. ​