Japan regulator to re-investigate Fukushima nuclear disaster

123rf

Japan plans to reinvestigate the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster that forced 160,000 people to flee.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) will look into how radiation leaked from damaged reactor containment vessels and other factors.

It will also look at cooling systems set up to keep the melted fuel in the reactors from overheating.

Authorities said radiation levels gradually fall enough in reactor buildings to allow closer examination.

In 2011, three reactors of the power plant melted after it was struck by an earthquake and tsunami. 

The disaster, which was termed as the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, led to the eventual shutdown of all Japan's reactors.

More from International

  • Strong earthquake strikes central Peru

    An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 hit central Peru on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey said, although authorities reported no immediate casualties or damage.

  • Overloaded boat capsizes in Nigeria, at least 40 bodies recovered

    At least 40 bodies, mostly of children, have been recovered after an overloaded boat capsized in Nigeria's northwest Sokoto state, local officials and residents said on Thursday.

  • Bangladesh elects ruling party veteran Alamgir as president

    Bangladeshi lawmakers elected veteran Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the country's new president on Thursday, making the longtime opposition figure the head of state after his party came to power in a major political transition.

  • Russian strikes kill 16 in Ukraine's Kyiv

    Russian strikes have killed 16 people and injured more than 40 in Kyiv and the surrounding region on Thursday as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a failure by Ukraine's allies to replenish its stock of air defence missiles was costing lives.

  • Prince Harry and Meghan to move back to Britain

    Prince Harry and his wife Meghan plan to move back to Britain this month, six years after they stepped down from their royal duties and relocated to the US, a source close to the couple said.