Trial operation to remove radioactive debris from Fukushima nuclear plant successful

Trial operation to remove radioactive debris from Fukushima nuclear plant successful
Workers rearrange push pipes in their correct order at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture in an operation to remove a small amount of radioactive debris in this handout photo taken between Sept. 7 and 8, 2024. (TEPCO/AFP)
Short Url
Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

Trial operation to remove radioactive debris from Fukushima nuclear plant successful

Trial operation to remove radioactive debris from Fukushima nuclear plant successful
  • Extracting the estimated 880 tonnes of highly radioactive fuel and debris from Fukushima remains the most challenging part of the decades-long decommissioning process

TOKYO: A difficult operation to remove a small piece of radioactive debris from Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant using a robotic device was completed successfully, the plant operator said Thursday, after technical issues halted earlier attempts.
Extracting the estimated 880 tonnes of highly radioactive fuel and debris from Fukushima remains the most challenging part of the decades-long decommissioning process.
But radioactivity levels inside the former power station, which went into meltdown in 2011 after being hit by a catastrophic tsunami, are too high for humans to enter.
So engineers used a specially developed extendible robotic device to remove a sample with a diameter of five millimeters (0.2 inches), aiming to study it for clues about conditions inside the stricken reactors.
The trial debris removal began in September, after an initial attempt in August was suspended at an early stage over a problem with the equipment’s installation.
Another technical snag related to cameras on the apparatus caused a pause of over a month before the procedure resumed in late October.
On Thursday, plant operator TEPCO said it had “completed the trial removal of fuel debris,” declaring the operation a success after several complex steps.
Over the weekend, the robot managed to remove a piece of debris from a containment vessel surrounding a damaged reactor for the first time.
Technicians then tested the radiation level of the sample on Tuesday and put it in a special container.
It will be sent to research institutes in Ibaraki north of Tokyo for analysis, a TEPCO spokeswoman said, adding that the company is still studying when it will be able to start the full-fledged removal of the radioactive debris.
Three of Fukushima’s six reactors were operating when the tsunami hit on March 11, 2011, triggering the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Japan last year began releasing into the Pacific Ocean some of the 540 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of treated reactor cooling water amassed since the disaster.
The step sparked a diplomatic row with China and Russia, both of which banned seafood imports, although Japan insists the discharge is safe, a view backed by the UN atomic agency.
Beijing, however, said in September it would “gradually resume” importing seafood from Japan after imposing the blanket ban.


Philippine police checking reports that a kidnapped American has died after being shot

Philippine police checking reports that a kidnapped American has died after being shot
Updated 40 sec ago
Follow

Philippine police checking reports that a kidnapped American has died after being shot

Philippine police checking reports that a kidnapped American has died after being shot
MANILA, Philippines: Philippine police officials said Thursday they are checking reports that a kidnapped American died after being shot twice while resisting his Oct. 17 abduction by gunmen in the country’s south.
Elliot Onil Eastman, 26, from Vermont, was shot twice with an M16 rifle while trying to fight off his four kidnappers, who posed as police officers, in the coastal town of Sibuco in Zamboanga del Norte province, police said.
The kidnappers dragged him to a motorboat and sped off, according to earlier police reports.
A massive search for Eastman and his abductors led to the arrest of a number of suspects, but he has not been found. Three suspects were killed in a gunbattle with police in the south last month.
Regional police spokesperson Lt. Col. Ramoncelio Sawan said investigators received information from a relative of one of the suspects that Eastman died due to gunshot wounds in the thigh and abdomen while being taken away by his abductors.
The kidnappers decided to throw his body into the sea after he died, the relative said. The information about Eastman’s death was later corroborated by a key suspect in the kidnapping who was arrested recently, and his sworn statement has been submitted to government prosecutors, Sawan said.
Criminal complaints of kidnapping have been filed against several suspects, he said.
“We are constrained to believe that he has died. All of the information that we have points to that,” Sawan said. But he added that without the victim’s body, “we’re still leaving a little bit of hope that it may not be the case” and police would continue their investigation.
Philippine police have informed Eastman’s Filipino wife and the US Embassy in Manila about his reported death, Sawan said.
The embassy said it’s aware of the police report and is coordinating with Philippine authorities, but did not comment further due to privacy considerations.
Eastman traveled out of the Philippines and returned to Sibuco to attend his wife’s graduation when he was kidnapped. He had been posting Facebook videos of his life in Sibuco, a poor, remote coastal town, where the suspects spotted him, police earlier said.
They said the suspects appeared to be common criminals who did not belong to any Muslim rebel groups which have been accused of ransom kidnappings in the past.
Security problems have long hounded the southern Philippines, the homeland of a Muslim minority in the largely Roman Catholic nation.
The southern third of the Philippines has bountiful resources but has long been hamstrung by poverty, insurgencies and outlaws.
A 2014 peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest of several Muslim separatist groups, has considerably eased widespread fighting in the south. Relentless military offensives have weakened smaller armed groups such as the Abu Sayyaf, reducing kidnappings, bombings and other violence.
The Abu Sayyaf has targeted Americans and other Western tourists and missionaries, most of whom were freed after ransoms were paid. A few were killed, including American Guillermo Sobero, who was beheaded on the southern island of Basilan, and a US missionary, Martin Burnham, who was killed while Philippine army forces were trying to rescue him and his wife, Gracia Burnham, in 2002 in a rainforest near Sibuco.

French PM meets Macron to resign after no-confidence vote

French PM meets Macron to resign after no-confidence vote
Updated 1 min 49 sec ago
Follow

French PM meets Macron to resign after no-confidence vote

French PM meets Macron to resign after no-confidence vote

PARIS: French Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Thursday was meeting Emmanuel Macron to submit his resignation after losing a vote of no confidence in parliament, with the president urgently seeking ways to halt growing political and financial chaos.
Poised to be contemporary France’s shortest-serving premier, Barnier arrived at the Elysee Palace just after 0900 GMT for the resignation formality, with the outgoing premier and government constitutionally obliged to step down after the defeat in parliament.
A majority of lawmakers on Wednesday supported the no-confidence vote proposed by the hard left and backed by the far right headed by Marine Le Pen.
Barnier’s record-quick ejection comes after snap parliamentary elections this summer, which resulted in a hung parliament with no political force able to form an overall majority and the far right holding the key to the government’s survival.
The trigger for Barnier’s ouster was his 2025 budget plan including austerity measures that were unacceptable to a majority in parliament, but that he argued were necessary to stabilize France’s finances.
On Monday he had forced through a social security financing bill without a vote.
The successful no-confidence motion canceled the government’s entire financing plan, leading to an automatic renewal of the current budget into next year, unless any new government can somehow rush through approval of a new budget by Christmas — an unlikely scenario.


“France probably won’t have a 2025 budget,” said ING Economics in a note, predicting that the country “is entering a new era of political instability.”
Moody’s, a ratings agency, warned that Barnier’s fall “deepens the country’s political stalemate” and “reduces the probability of a consolidation of public finances.”
The Paris stock exchange fell at the opening on Thursday before recovering to show small gains, while the yields on French government bonds were again under upward pressure in debt markets.
Macron now has the unenviable task of picking a viable successor.
The president will address the nation at 8:00 p.m. (1900 GMT), his office said.
Macron has more than two years of his presidential term left, but some opponents are calling on him to resign.


National Assembly Speaker Yael Braun-Pivet on Thursday urged Macron to waste no time in choosing a new premier, saying that France could not be allowed to “drift” for any length of time.
There was no indication early on Thursday of how quickly Macron would appoint Barnier’s successor, nor what their political leanings might be.
Loyalist Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu and Macron’s centrist ally Francois Bayrou have been touted as possible contenders, as has former Socialist premier and interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
With the support of the far right, a majority of 331 MPs in the 577-member chamber voted to oust the government on Wednesday night.
It was the first successful no-confidence vote since a defeat for Georges Pompidou’s government in 1962, when Charles de Gaulle was president.
Macron flew back into Paris just ahead of the vote after wrapping up a three-day state visit to Saudi Arabia, an apparent world away from the domestic crisis.



“We are now calling on Macron to go,” Mathilde Panot, head of the parliamentary faction of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, told reporters.
She urged “early presidential elections” to solve the deepening political crisis.
But taking care not to crow over the government’s fall, Le Pen said in a television interview that her party — once a new premier is appointed — “would let them work” and help create a “budget that is acceptable for everyone.”
Laurent Wauquiez, the head of right-wing deputies in parliament, said the far right and hard left bore the responsibility for a no-confidence vote.
Barnier is the fifth prime minister to serve under Macron since he came to power in 2017, with every premier serving a successively shorter period.
Given the composition of the National Assembly, there is no guarantee that Barnier’s successor would last any longer.
Strike calls across transport, education and other public sector services were kept in place on Thursday despite the disappearance of the austerity budget that has prompted anger.
The plunge into more uncertainty comes ahead of the reopening of the Notre-Dame cathedral on Saturday after a 2019 fire, a major international event hosted by Macron.
Guests include Donald Trump on his first foreign trip since he was elected US president.


US’s Blinken, Russia’s Lavrov to face off at OSCE meeting in Malta

US’s Blinken, Russia’s Lavrov to face off at OSCE meeting in Malta
Updated 05 December 2024
Follow

US’s Blinken, Russia’s Lavrov to face off at OSCE meeting in Malta

US’s Blinken, Russia’s Lavrov to face off at OSCE meeting in Malta

VIENNA: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his outgoing US counterpart Antony Blinken are due to face off over the war in Ukraine on Thursday at an annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Malta.
While Ukraine will be the dominant political issue, the meeting is due to formally approve last-minute agreements reached on issues including senior staff positions at the security and rights body where Western powers often accuse Russia of flouting human rights and other international norms.
The gathering of foreign ministers and other officials from 57 participating states in North America, Europe and Central Asia is overshadowed this year by the return of US President-elect Donald Trump, whose advisers are floating proposals to end the war that would cede large parts of Ukraine to Russia.
With Trump due to take office in just over a month, Western powers plan to reiterate their support for Ukraine while Russia is likely to renew its criticism of the organization. Lavrov said last year the OSCE was “essentially being turned into an appendage of NATO and the European Union.”
It is Lavrov’s first trip to the European Union since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The OSCE is the successor to a body set up during the Cold War for the east and west to engage with each other. In recent years, however, and especially since it invaded Ukraine, Russia has used what is effectively a veto each country has to block many key decisions, often crippling the organization.
This year, however, the countries blocking agreement on the OSCE budget are Armenia and Azerbaijan rather than Russia, diplomats say, over issues related to their conflict in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Diplomats say a deal was reached this week to fill four senior OSCE positions including that of secretary general, which will be taken up by Turkiye’s Feridun Sinirlioglu, who was foreign minister in a caretaker government in 2015.
The most important annual decision at the OSCE — which country will next hold its annually rotating chairmanship — has long been settled, since Finland will hold it for the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act that lay the foundation for the current OSCE.


Taiwan official says China trying to set a ‘red line’ for incoming Trump government

Taiwan official says China trying to set a ‘red line’ for incoming Trump government
Updated 05 December 2024
Follow

Taiwan official says China trying to set a ‘red line’ for incoming Trump government

Taiwan official says China trying to set a ‘red line’ for incoming Trump government

TAIPEI: China is trying to set a “red line” for the incoming Trump administration and US allies by stepping up military activities in the region, a senior Taiwan security official said, including likely war games this weekend around the island.
China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory over Taipei’s rejection, has held two rounds of war games around the island so far this year, and its forces operate nearby on a daily basis.
The official confirmed concerns expressed by other security officials in the region who have previously told Reuters that China could launch new drills to coincide with Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s trip to the Pacific this week which included visits to Hawaii and the US territory of Guam.
“They want to clearly establish that the First Island Chain is China’s red line and its sphere of control before the new US government takes office on Jan. 20,” the official told a briefing in Taipei, offering the government’s assessment of China’s activities.
The First Island Chain is an area that runs from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing China’s coastal seas.
Neither China’s Taiwan Affairs Office nor its defense ministry responded to a request for comment.
The Taiwan official, briefing on condition of anonymity to be able to speak more freely, said China could launch new war games shortly before or after Lai’s return to Taipei from the Pacific on Friday.
“They want to tell the new US government that this area is controlled by China and that you must discuss with China everything that happens here,” the official said, pointing to recent Chinese military activities around Taiwan including joint maneuvers with Russia near the island’s east coast earlier this week.
“They want other countries — the United States or Europe — to know that this is their sphere of influence and that they should be taken seriously.”
China has deployed close to 40 vessels in the region this week, including a Chinese aircraft carrier group led by Liaoning in the East China Sea as well as other naval and coast guard boats in the South China Sea.
Reuters first reported that a north bound Russian naval fleet on Monday approached close to Taiwan’s contiguous zone 24 nautical miles (45 km) off its southeastern coasts and conducted joint simulated attacks on “foreign vessels and aircraft” with a Chinese destroyer nearby.
China urged the United States last week to exercise the “utmost caution” on relations with Taiwan, ahead of Lai’s Pacific tour. Beijing opposes any foreign interactions or visits by Taiwan leaders.
Lai and his government reject Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.


Film studio proposal in the spotlight as UK PM Starmer plots planning overhaul

Film studio proposal in the spotlight as UK PM Starmer plots planning overhaul
Updated 05 December 2024
Follow

Film studio proposal in the spotlight as UK PM Starmer plots planning overhaul

Film studio proposal in the spotlight as UK PM Starmer plots planning overhaul

MARLOW: A dispute over proposals for a film studio on a plot of grassland west of London could become a test case for Britain’s Labour government and its plans to get the country building again to drive economic growth.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to “bulldoze through restrictive planning laws” that investors blame for making it difficult and costly to build in Britain.
His government has also identified British film and TV production — which rivals Hollywood in capacity and has made blockbusters like “Barbie,” the Harry Potter series and “Deadpool & Wolverine” — as a sector that deserves support.
He is expected to reference it in a speech outlining his priorities for government on Thursday.
But any government intervention in local planning decisions to get things built, such as the proposed studio 30 miles from London, risks angering voters who might feel the biggest impact from such projects.
“Undoubtedly the current planning system is not fit for purpose,” said Anna Crabtree, a parish councillor for the picturesque village of Little Marlow.
“But I think the national government ignores local policies, local plans and local people at their peril.”
Marlow Film Studios, which lists directors James Cameron, Sam Mendes and Paul Greengrass among supporters, wants to build 470,000 square feet of soundstages across 56 acres on a disused landfill site next to a busy road.
But the project — which backers say would directly create around 2,000 jobs once operational — has run into opposition because of the plot’s location between the pretty market town of Marlow, on the banks of the River Thames, and Little Marlow.
The local council rejected the proposal earlier this year, in part because the area is formally classed as “green belt” land, a designation intended to limit development and prevent urban sprawl. Locals had envisaged it as a country park instead.
But the government elected in July has intervened in the appeal process that will give a final say, with culture minister Lisa Nandy saying much-needed economic growth would be “front of mind” when weighing the proposal.
The appeal will proceed to a planning inquiry before the government makes a final determination, expected next year.
GREEN OR GREY BELT
Labour, in trying to ease national planning restrictions, has proposed the notion of “grey belt” land. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who has responsibility for planning, said in April that “much of the green belt isn’t green rolling hills, but poor-quality scrub land” which should not be off-limits to developers.
More details of those proposals are expected by the end of the year.
In its appeal filings, Marlow Film Studios said that, based on the current drafting of government policy, the site should now be considered grey belt land suitable for development. Opponents reject that, saying the fields are green belt as they prevent urban sprawl and support wildlife.
If successful, the studio would join an area to London’s north-west that is home to many film studios, including Warner Brothers in Leavesden, where much of 2023 blockbuster “Barbie” was shot, and Pinewood Studios, where James Bond, Marvel and Star Wars films have been made.
Robert Laycock, chief executive of Marlow Film Studios, said the film industry was one of few “where the UK has the ability to really shine and out-compete.”
“If we don’t seize the ability to tell our stories on a global stage, other people will,” he said.
Britain provides tax credits for independent film and visual effects and the culture department said it believed there was “potential for further growth across the UK as we look to rival Hollywood as the best place in the world to make film.”
Creative industries are among priority sectors for next year’s new industrial strategy.
Some 4.2 billion pounds ($5.3 billion) was spent on film and high-end TV production in the UK in 2023, the British Film Institute said, 78 percent of which was inward investment or co-productions with international partners.
The British Film Commission (BFC) launched a program in 2020 to support expansion of UK soundstage space. Since then, capacity has doubled to around 6 million square feet, a figure which rivals Los Angeles.
In a further possible sign of its interest in the sector, the government has also intervened in the decision whether to approve a proposed studio at nearby Holyport, while Sky Studios are seeking to expand facilities in Elstree.
A Sky spokesperson said plans “to expand the site reflect the strength of our future project pipeline” and would help it attract an additional 2 billion pounds in investment there.
Campaign group Save Marlow’s Greenbelt has questioned whether Britain needs so much production space, however, arguing the jobs at Marlow might just come from nearby studios, and that Britain could end up with overcapacity given the recent US writers’ strike and a subsequent slowdown in the industry.
BFC Chief Executive Adrian Wootton said it had backed Marlow Film Studios as “a viable project with access to crew and infrastructure.”
“The demand to base productions and use our facilities and talent in the UK remains very strong,” he said, adding that the sector was “key to driving economic growth.”