Washington, D.C.—(ENEWSPF)—March 16, 2011.  Under the guidelines for public safety that would be used in the United States under similar circumstances, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) believes it is appropriate for U.S. residents within 50 miles of the Fukushima reactors to evacuate. Among other things, in the United States protective[Read More…]

Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–March 16, 2011.  News reports that high radiation levels led to the evacuation of all workers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station are not accurate. Workers were evacuated for about an hour but returned to the site to continue efforts to restore safe conditions at the plant. Restoration[Read More…]

Vienna, Austria–(ENEWSPF)–16 March 2011.  The International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano announced the following today in Vienna: “I plan to fly to Japan as soon as possible, hopefully tomorrow, to see the situation for myself and learn from our Japanese counterparts how best the IAEA can help. I[Read More…]

Vienna, Austria–(ENEWSPF)–March 15, 2011.  Japanese authorities have reported concerns about the condition of the spent nuclear fuel pool at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 and Unit 4. Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa announced Wednesday that Special Defence Forces helicopters planned to drop water onto Unit 3, and officials are also preparing[Read More…]

Vienna, Austria–(ENEWSPF)–16 March 2011.  Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA that a fire in the reactor building of Unit 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was visually observed at 20:45 UTC of 15 March. As of 21:15 UTC of the same day, the fire could no longer be[Read More…]

Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–March 15, 2011.   At today’s meeting, the President and his national security team reviewed the situation in Libya and options to increase pressure on Gaddafi. In particular, the conversation focused on efforts at the United Nations and potential UN Security Council actions, as well as ongoing consultations with[Read More…]

Cairo, Egypt–(ENEWSPF)–March 15, 2011.   FOREIGN MINISTER AL-ARABY: I’d like to speak in English first so that I would welcome the Secretary of State. We have had bilateral talks and multilateral talks. We discussed everything in Egypt, the Middle East in general, specifically Libya. We did discuss matters related to[Read More…]

Vienna, Austria–(ENEWSPF)–15 March 2011 (22:30 UTC).  Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA that the evacuation of the population from the 20-kilometre zone around Fukushima Daiichi has been successfully completed. The Japanese authorities have also advised that people within a 30-km radius to take cover indoors. Iodine tablets have been distributed[Read More…]

Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–March 15, 2011 – 2:18 P.M. EDT MR. CARNEY:  Good afternoon.  I apologize for the fact that we’re running a little late here today.  Before I get started, I’d just like to give you a short update on the response to the situation in Japan. The United States is[Read More…]

NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–15 March 2011 – The United Nations agency that coordinates global nuclear safety is sending an environmental monitoring team to Japan after the partial meltdown at reactors there, as its chief said today the situation differed from the world’s worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl 25 years ago. “I continue[Read More…]