LONDON/OSLO (Reuters) – Political support may be holding for nuclear power and offshore oil, despite the Fukushima and Macondo disasters, as decision-makers confront climate change and dwindling domestic energy reserves.

A theory of “Peak Everything” suggests we are running short of vital assets such as clean water, carbon-free air, some minerals, fish stocks or the cheap fossil fuels which have powered the world economy and helped curb the price of food.

LONDON/OSLO (Reuters) – Political support may be holding for nuclear power and offshore oil, despite the Fukushima and Macondo disasters, as decision-makers confront climate change and dwindling domestic energy reserves.

A theory of “Peak Everything” suggests we are running short of vital assets such as clean water, carbon-free air, some minerals, fish stocks or the cheap fossil fuels which have powered the world economy and helped curb the price of food.

LONDON (Reuters) – Higher radiation in water seeping from Japan’s stricken nuclear reactor is not likely to be a sign of damage to the central container of uranium fuel, experts said Friday.

Damage to a central pressure vessel has always been the most feared development since the crisis caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, as these vessels contain the hottest, most radioactive fuel in the power plant’s reactors.

LONDON/MADRID (Reuters) – Japan is still far from solving its nuclear crisis despite some signs of progress on Friday and restoring power to the Fukushima plant is its best hope, European experts said.

Getting mains power back in to the plant might enable pumping of water to cool crippled reactors and spent fuel stores, they reasoned, saying it was too early to consider burying the complex in concrete or sand.

LONDON/MADRID (Reuters) – Japan is still far from solving its nuclear crisis despite some signs of progress on Friday and restoring power to the Fukushima plant is its best hope, European experts said.

Getting mains power back in to the plant might enable pumping of water to cool crippled reactors and spent fuel stores, they reasoned, saying it was too early to consider burying the complex in concrete or sand.

LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) – The risk of a major radiation
leak in Japan is subsiding as stricken nuclear reactors cool,
but there will be major clean-up costs and three reactors will
probably be written off, experts said on Monday.

A massive earthquake and tsunami on Friday knocked out
cooling systems at a nuclear plant in Fukushima, eastern Japan,
triggering a race to flood reactor cores with seawater and stop
radioactive uranium fuel from melting and leaking out.

LONDON (Reuters) – Frantic efforts in Japan to cool three nuclear reactors may avert a collapse of the radioactive cores and a more costly clean-up, but there is no risk of an extensive radiation leak, a top UK academic said.

Engineers fought on Sunday to avert a meltdown at earthquake-crippled nuclear reactors by pumping in cooling seawater after Tokyo said it was assuming partial damage had already happened.

LONDON (Reuters) – The radiation leak in Japan immediately recalls memories of accidents at the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island power stations, and how it unfolds will be a critical test for international acceptance of nuclear energy.

The Fukushima incident, brought on by the biggest earthquake ever recorded in Japan, took a turn for the worse on Saturday after a blast blew the roof off the facility.

LONDON/DETROIT (Reuters) – The growing risk of a significant radiation leak at two Japanese nuclear power plants following Friday’s earthquake and tsunami threatens to hurt an industry that has enjoyed a rebirth since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

On Friday, nuclear power advocates and environmentalists staked out familiar ground over the incident. But a wider public debate may be ignited if a major radiation leak occurs in Japan, said Paul Patterson, an energy analyst with consultants Glenrock Associates in New York.

LONDON/DETROIT (Reuters) – The growing risk of a significant radiation leak at two Japanese nuclear power plants following Friday’s earthquake and tsunami threatens to hurt an industry that has enjoyed a rebirth since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

On Friday, nuclear power advocates and environmentalists staked out familiar ground over the incident. But a wider public debate may be ignited if a major radiation leak occurs in Japan, said Paul Patterson, an energy analyst with consultants Glenrock Associates in New York.