Japan
Until the Fukushima accident, Japan had 55 operating nuclear reactors as well as enrichment and reprocessing plants which had suffered a series of deadly accidents at its nuclear facilities resulting in the deaths of workers and releases of radioactivity into the environment and surrounding communities. Since the Fukushima disaster, there is growing opposition against re-opening those reactors closed for maintenance.
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March 13, 2016 As reported by Asahi Shimbun, even five years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe began, it is still unclear what role Japan's Self Defense Forces (SDF), as well as firefighters and police, are to play in future nuclear power disasters. More.
March 11, 2016 
Thom Hartmann, The Big PictureThom Hartmann (photo, left) hosted Beyond Nuclear's Reactor Oversight Project Director, Paul Gunter, and Radioactive Waste Watchdog, Kevin Kamps, for an installment of "Conversations with Great Minds" on his "The Big Picture" television program. (Their interview goes from the 30-minute mark till the end of the program.) They discussed the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, five years on, in light of the bigger picture regarding nuclear power, across the U.S. and around the world.
(Clarifications and corrections: It is reported that there are now 750,000 tons, or more than 200 million gallons, of highly radioactive waste water stored at Fukushima Daiichi. Also, while the Japanese government's "permissible" level of radioactive cesium contamination in solid food was 500 Bq/kg for a short time after the Fukushima catastrophe began, it was then lowered, due to public pressure, to 100 Bq/kg several years ago. The U.S. standard, by way of comparison, is 1,200 Bq/kg -- twelve times weaker than Japan's, one of the weakest/worst such standards in the world. Canada's runs a close second, at 1,000 Bq/kg.)
March 11, 2016 Canadian television channel CTV interviewed Beyond Nuclear's Radioactive Waste Watchdog, Kevin Kamps, regarding the ongoing Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, including what it means for the Pacific coastline of North America. Every day, 300 tons (300,000 liters, or 80,000 gallons) of radioactively contaminated groundwater flows, uncontrolled, into the Pacific Ocean. About a year ago, this ongoing plume of radioactive contamination began lapping up on the shoreline of North America.
March 9, 2016 
As the video states: Japanese citizens celebrate the shutting down of an operating nuclear power plant. Citizens living up to 70 kilometers away (approximately 45 miles) sued Kansai Electric, and won! We want to protect Kyoto's cultural heritage from radioactive contamination. We want to protect the largest lake in Japan, Lake Biwa, the water for 14 million people.
The New York Times' Jonathon Soble has reported on this story.
See more updates about Japan's nuclear situation.
March 4, 2016 
A new Greenpeace report, written by Greenpeace Japan Senior Nuclear Campaigner, and Beyond Nuclear board member, Kendra Ulrich, examines the likely long-term ecological impacts of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and concludes they could last centuries.
"Radiation Reloaded: Ecological Impacts of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident 5 Years Later," drew on a large body of scientific research in Fukushima-impacted areas over the past five years to bring to light the current ecological situation as a result of the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
The report is described as an attempt to document what is currently known about the radioactive contamination of the forests, rivers, floodplains and estuaries of Fukushima prefecture. Given the long half-lives of some of the radionuclides released into the environment of Fukushima prefecture and wider Japan, understanding their ecological impacts is essential.
