AmiMoJo - Slashdot User

Japan's last nuclear reactor shuts down-> 0

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AmiMoJo

on Saturday May 05, @02:27PM

AmiMoJo writes "Japan's last active reactor is shutting down today, leaving the country without nuclear energy for the first time since 1970. All 50 commercial reactors in the country are now offline. 19 have been completed stress tests but there is little prospect of them being restarted due to heavy opposition from local governments. Meanwhile activists in Tokyo celebrated the shutdown and asked the government to admit that nuclear power was no longer needed in Japan and to concentrate on safety. If this summer turns out to be as hot as 2010 some areas could be asked to make 15% power savings to avoid shortages, while other areas will be unaffected due to savings already made."
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Fracking does cause earthquakes but will continue-> 0

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AmiMoJo

on Tuesday April 17, @03:58AM

AmiMoJo writes "Fracking, a controversial method of extracting gas, did cause earthquakes near Blackpool in the UK, but will continue. Test fracking by the Cuadrilla company near Blackpool stopped in 2011 when two earthquakes were felt at the surface. A government-appointed panel believes there will probably be more quakes but that they will be too small to do structural damage above ground, and recommends more monitoring."
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Japan may shut down all reactors by May-> 0

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AmiMoJo

on Monday March 26, @03:26AM

AmiMoJo writes "All Japan's nuclear reactors face a possible shutdown if none are allowed to resume operations before the last working reactor in northern Japan, is turned off in May. At the time of the Fukushima nuclear accident last March, 37 out of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors were operating. The results of stress tests of 16 reactors checked since last October are now in. The tests are designed to see how well the reactors can withstand earthquakes and tsunami, but further tests are needed that take into account whether reactors are prepared for severe accidents such as a nuclear meltdown.

The report from the government's investigative panel probing the Fukushima accident is expected to be released in July. Some experts say the inspection of the accident is not enough at the present stage. The main focus of the issue is how the government will judge the safety of a nuclear plant and how it can convince the local governments."
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Thyroid screenings detect relatively high exposure around Fukushima-> 0

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AmiMoJo

on Friday March 09, @04:21AM

AmiMoJo writes "Experts have detected radioactive iodine in the thyroid glands of 80 percent of the people who used to live near the Fukushima nuclear plant. Five of them had dosages of more than 50 millisieverts. Hirosaki University Professor Shinji Tokonami says the levels of radioactive iodine were relatively low compared to the scale of the accident, but that some residents face potential health risks from the exposure, and they should have continue to have regular health checkups by professional researchers."
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Apple deception alleged in Proview iPad trademark row-> 0

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AmiMoJo

on Tuesday February 28, @04:32AM

" rel="nofollow">AmiMoJo writes "Proview has accused Apple of "deception" in the way it acquired rights to the iPad name. Proview claims Apple created a UK-registered "special purpose company", IP Application Development Ltd (IPADL). The court papers allege that IPADL said the trademark was needed because "it is an abbreviation for the company name". A month after that deal Apple launched the iPad."
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80% of Japan's reactors offline, TEPCO admits conf-> 0

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AmiMoJo

on Friday December 02, @11:44AM

AmiMoJo writes "Kyushu Electric Power Company has halted the No.1 reactor at the Genkai nuclear power plant, meaning 80% of Japans reactors are now offline. It remains unclear when or if any of them will be restarted. Separately TEPCO has announced that Fukushima Daiichi's chief did not know for several hours that the only backup cooling system for the Number 1 reactor was manually shut down on the day of the tsunami. Workers in the reactor's control room stopped an emergency cooling system shortly after 6 PM, but this information was not relayed to the plant office."
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Malware Signed With a Governmental Signing Key-> 0

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AmiMoJo

on Tuesday November 15 2011, @02:26PM

AmiMoJo writes "Mikko Hypponen of F-Secure tweets: "We found a malware sample. Which was signed. With a valid certificate. Belonging to the Government of Malaysia." A blog post explains the seriousness of the situation: "This is problematic, as an unsigned Windows application will produce a warning to the end user if he downloads it from the web — signed applications won't do this. Also some security systems might trust signed code more than unsigned code.""
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Fukushima soil contamination probed-> 0

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AmiMoJo

on Tuesday November 15 2011, @04:20AM

AmiMoJo writes "New research has found that radioactive material in parts of north-eastern Japan exceeds levels considered safe for farming. The findings provide the first comprehensive estimates of contamination across Japan following the nuclear accident in 2011. An international team of researchers took measurements of the radioactive element caesium-137 in soil and grass from all but one of Japan's 47 regions. The researchers estimate that caesium-137 levels close to the nuclear plant were eight times the safety limit, while neighbouring regions were just under this limit."
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Belgium to abolish nuclear power-> 0

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AmiMoJo

on Tuesday November 01 2011, @04:25AM

AmiMoJo writes "Belgium's political parties have reached a conditional agreement to shut down the country's two remaining nuclear power stations. Older reactors will be decommissioned by 2015, with the final closures happening before 2025. The exit is conditional on alternatives being available. "If it turns out we won't face shortages and prices would not skyrocket, we intend to stick to the nuclear exit law of 2003," a spokeswoman for Belgium's energy and climate ministry said."
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Japan joins list of countries abandoning nuclear-> 0

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AmiMoJo

on Sunday August 07 2011, @05:30AM

AmiMoJo writes "Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan used his speech at the 66th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima to announce his government's intention to make Japan less reliant on nuclear power. "Before the March 11 nuclear crisis, I thought that we should utilize nuclear power plants while securing their safety," Kan said. "I have realized that nuclear accidents cannot be prevented completely with the conventional safety measures we have at present," he added.

The announcement is a complete turnaround of the government's basic energy plan, which focuses on constructing at least 14 new nuclear reactors by 2030."
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