On Thursday, 2 June 2011, the IAEA provided the following information on the status of nuclear safety in Japan:

Overall, the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains very serious.

The IAEA receives information from various official sources in Japan through the Japanese national competent authority, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). This Update Brief is based on information issued by the IAEA Incident and Emergency Centre up to 16:00 UTC on 31 May 2011.

On 13 May TEPCO commenced the preparatory work for the installation of a cover for the reactor building of Unit 1. The reactor building cover will be installed as an emergency measure to prevent the dispersion of radioactive substances until mid- to long term measures, including radiation shielding, are implemented.

TEPCO has reported that information obtained after calibration of the reactor water level gauges of Unit 1 shows that the actual water level in the Unit 1 reactor pressure vessel was lower than was indicated, showing that the fuel was completely uncovered. The results of provisional analysis show that fuel pellets melted and fell to the bottom of reactor pressure vessel at a relatively early stage in the accident.

TEPCO reported that “most part of the fuel is considered to be submerged in the bottom of reactor pressure vessel and some part exposed.” TEPCO also reported that leakage of cooling water from the reactor pressure vessel is likely to have occurred. However, TEPCO considers that the actual damage to the reactor pressure vessel is limited, on the basis of the temperatures now being measured around the reactor pressure vessel.

The results of the analysis are provisional; TEPCO will continue to conduct investigations. Similar analyses will be conducted for Units 2 and 3 when radiation levels allow calibration of the instrumentation.

The daily monitoring of the deposition of caesium and iodine radionuclides for 47 prefectures is continuing. Since 17 May, deposition of I-131 has not been observed. Low levels of Cs-137 deposition were reported in a few prefectures on a few days since 18 May; the reported values range of from 2.2 to 91 Bq/ m2 for Cs-137.

Gamma dose rates values for all 47 prefectures are reported daily by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. On 31 May the gamma dose rate reported for Fukushima prefecture was 1.5 µSv/h. In all other prefectures, reported gamma dose rates were below 0.1 µSv/h; with a general decreasing trend. Meanwhile, the decrease of the gamma dose rate has slowed down, since the short-lived radionuclides have decayed away.

Gamma dose rates reported specifically for the monitoring points in the eastern part of Fukushima prefecture, for distances of more than 30 km from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, showed a general decreasing trend, ranging from 0.1 µSv/h to 17 µSv/h, as reported for 31 May.

On-site measurements at the west gate of the Fukushima Daiichi plant indicate the presence of I-131 and Cs-137 in the air in the close vicinity of the plant (within approximately 1 km). The concentrations in air reported for 29 May were about 3 Bq/m3 for I-131 and about 9 Bq/m3 for Cs-137. The values observed in the previous days show daily fluctuations with an overall decreasing tendency.

NEW YORK – hunger in the Horn of Africa is still expanding and will soon spread to a further six regions in Somalia, said Valerie Amos, head of humanitarian operations the United Nations.

She said that the assistance is urgently needed by 12.4 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti, and explained that the situation is constantly deteriorating.

UN declared a state of hunger in the two regions in southern Somalia, where 3.7 million people affected. Residents of Somalia are coming to the north of Kenya, mainly to take refuge from violence in recent months and to find food.

“Today we issue a warning that hunger will extend for another five or six regions, if the humanitarian response does not become significantly more massive,” said Amos.

She pointed out that tens of thousands of Somalis have died and that hundreds of thousands are hungry, which may have consequences for the entire region. Amos said it is urgent to collect 1.4 billion dollars to save lives.

She recalled that the African soil was hit by the biggest drought in 60 years, given the amount of rainfall, number of affected people and countries, and the number of dead cattle.

As many as six major hurricanes could form in the Atlantic Basin during a busy 2011 summer storm season, forecasters announced today.

Twelve to 18 named tropical storms with winds of at least 39 miles (63 kilometers) an hour could form in the Atlantic Basin, which includes the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) head Jane Lubchenco.

Six to ten of those named storms could intensify into hurricanes—meaning they’d have winds of at least 74 miles (119 kilometers) an hour, Lubchenco said during a press briefing.

Tepco sticks to timetable for ‘cold shutdown’, despite revelations plant suffered greater damaged than previously thought

The firm at the centre of Japan’s worst nuclear accident insisted on Tuesday it would bring stricken reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant under control by January 2012, despite evidence that the complex is more seriously damaged than previously thought.

Getting involved in astronomy doesn’t always require a telescope. In fact, there’s a whole class of space researchers who get more mileage out of microscopes: They’re called astrobiologists.

According to NASA, astrobiology is:

“the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. This multidisciplinary field encompasses the search for habitable environments in our Solar System and habitable planets outside our Solar System, the search for evidence of prebiotic chemistry and life on Mars and other bodies in our Solar System, laboratory and field research into the origins and early evolution of life on Earth, and studies of the potential for life to adapt to challenges on Earth and in space.”

That means many an astrobiologist gets to spend time visiting some of the most beautiful places on Earth, searching for extremely odd bacteria, ancient fossils, and other signs of life that may offer clues to what aliens could be like and how life might have evolved on other planets.

Week in Wildlife part 2

A bumblebee collects pollen from a dog rose in Germany. Bumblebees transport the pollen with the aid of hairs on their legs and use it to feed their young.

Is nuclear power the answer to the energy crisis? Ian Sample explains how it works – and how we get the awful side-effects of bombs and waste

Nuclear power

The world’s first large-scale nuclear power plant opened at Calder Hall in Cumbria, England, in 1956 and produced electricity for 47 years.

Police evacuate residents as Mississippi river spreads to six times its usual span, threatening the city’s blues district

The city of Memphis, Tennesee has been put on alert for record flooding as the waters of the Mississippi river reached a historic peak.

Police went door-to-door to evacuate people from low-lying neighbourhoods after forecasters said the river could reach its peak of 14.6 metres (48ft) by Monday evening.

Hamaoka nuclear plant, which sits near a major fault line, to be made more resistant to earthquakes and tsunamis

The operator of Japan’s “most dangerous” nuclear plant has said it will comply with a government request to temporarily close the facility and carry out work to improve its ability to withstand earthquakes and tsunamis.

Tungurahua Volcano

Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano (satellite map)—seen here from the town of Cotalo—shot truck-size boulders nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) away Friday, prompting the evacuation of at least 300 people, according to the Associated Press.

Tungurahua—”throat of fire” in the indigenous Quechua language—sits high in the Andes mountains, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Quito, Ecuador’s densely populated capital.

Eruptions are nothing new for the 16,500-foot (5,000-meter) volcano, which roared back to life in 1999 after nearly 80 years of dormancy.