‘A female worker at the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) plant wrote a blog post about the battle to keep the reactors from overheating, saying the brave workers at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant were risking their lives to keep the situation under control.’

via Worker at Japanese nuclear plant: We’re putting our lives on the line – Yahoo! News.

‘Japan has raised the alert level at a stricken nuclear plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale for atomic accidents.’

via BBC News – Japan earthquake: Fukushima nuclear alert level raised.

‘Fire has again broken out at the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northern Japan.

The blaze has struck reactor four, where spent fuel rods are kept. The plant has already been hit by four explosions, triggering radiation leaks and sparking health concerns.’

via BBC News – Japan earthquake: New fire at Fukushima nuclear plant.

‘Japan’s government and nuclear industry, with assistance from the U.S. military, is in a desperate race to stave off multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns — as well as potential fires in pools of spent fuel.’

via Robert Alvarez: Meltdowns Grow More Likely at the Fukushima Reactors.

‘Technicians have been battling to control the pressure and temperature in the reactors for days, pumping in seawater and releasing vapour containing radioactive elements.’

via BBC News – Japan quake: Fukushima plant alarming, says Naoto Kan.

‘TOKYO — Japanese officials took the extraordinary step on Saturday of flooding a crippled nuclear reactor with seawater in a last-ditch effort to avoid a nuclear meltdown, as the nation grappled simultaneously with its worst nuclear accident and the aftermath of its largest recorded earthquake.’

via Japan Floods Nuclear Reactor Crippled by Quake in Effort to Avert Meltdown – NYTimes.com.

‘The explosion was caused by hydrogen interacting with oxygen outside the reactor. The hydrogen was formed when the superheated fuel rods came in contact with water being poured over it to prevent a meltdown.

“They are working furiously to find a solution to cool the core, and this afternoon in Europe we heard that they have begun to inject sea water into the core,” said Mark Hibbs, a senior associate at the Nuclear Policy Program for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “That is an indication of how serious the problem is and how the Japanese had to resort to unusual and improvised solutions to cool the reactor core.”‘

via Explosion at Japan nuke plant, disaster toll rises – Yahoo! News.

‘Reuters – Republicans in both chambers of Congress introduced bills on Thursday that would permanently stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating emissions blamed for warming the planet.’

via Republicans launch bill to axe EPA carbon rules | Reuters.

‘(Reuters) – U.S. environmental regulators issued rules on Wednesday that will halve the cost for industrial polluters to cut toxic air emissions, a sign the Obama administration is willing to compromise on cutting pollution.’

via U.S. rules slash costs to cut industrial pollution | Reuters.

‘LOS ANGELES, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) — Climate change could prolong toxic algal outbreaks by 2040 or sooner, posing a health threat to humans, a new study suggests.’

via U.S. study predicts prolonged toxic algal outbreaks due to climate change.