Environment

A radioactive water leak has halted plans to re-start a reactor at a the Takahama nuclear power plant in western Japan. The leak comes amid a push to restart reactors after the catastrophic meltdown at Fukushima five years ago and would would have been the fourth to come online after a nationwide shutdown. Yahoo News reports: Kansai Electric Power said some 34 litres (8.8 gallons) of cooling water containing radioactive substances leaked out from the reactor at its Takahama plant 380 kilometres (236 miles) west of Tokyo.

Japanese citizens have been kept in dark about the Fukushima disaster and the extremely high levels of radiation currently destroying their health – claims nuclear expert, Linda Pentz Gunter.  Gunter says that the government in Japan are deliberately covering-up the magnitude of radiation poisoning in the country – which she says are twenty times above ‘safe levels’. Theecologist.org reports: Soon, many Fukushima refugees will be forced to return home to endure damaging levels of radiation. Dr.

A city in Michigan has been hit by a downpour of black rain – after a tar-like substance covered cars, porches, and houses this week.  The black substance began appearing in Harrison Township on Sunday, and residents and officials are baffled as to what the mysterious material is. Dailymail.co.uk reports: Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials collected samples of the substance on Wednesday. The city’s fire chief sad that it is not bird droppings and is not flammable, according to WXYZ.

A magnitude 5.1  earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima on Friday according to the US Geological Survey. The quake struck about 105 km from the Fukushima Dai-Ni power plant, 112 km from Namie The Japan Meteorological Agency said there was no danger of a tsunami. The epicenter of the quake was 20 kilometers deep in the sea off the Fukushima coastline. There have been no immediate reports of damage or injury. 5.1 magnitude #earthquake. 112 km from Namie, #Fukushima, Japan https://t.co/g02ZMLHQFg — Japan Earthquakes (@QuakesJapan) February 19, 2016  

NASA have said that a ‘small’ asteroid currently heading towards Earth is likely to be a “close shave”, and have expressed concern over the mysterious nature of this unusual piece of rock.  Asteroid 2013 TX68 will pass the Earth on March 5, and although scientists are convinced it is ‘unlikely’ to hit us, they say that any potential impact would be catastrophic. Nationalgeographic.com reports: It could pass at a distance of 9 million miles (14 million km), which is a comfortable 35 times farther than the moon. Or it could come as close as 11,000 miles (17,000 km).