Earthquake

TOKYO--The world's largest maker of automotive microcontrollers--the electronic brains that control millions of vehicles built by major automakers--is shifting production from a key crippled plant to two other plants, but it will take months before shipments can start.

The move by Renesas Electronics, which controls 41 percent of the global automotive chip market, signals months of shortages of the highly specialized parts, already in tight supply before the March 11 earthquake in Japan. Japanese and North American automakers could face production shutdowns if the pipeline runs dry.

Renesas will move production from its Naka plant, which built 25 percent … Read more

TOKYO--Japanese authorities are planning to use a Honeywell T-Hawk micro air vehicle to check radiation levels at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, while unmanned drone helicopters from France are also joining the effort.

Small enough to fit in a backpack, Honeywell's T-Hawk can do vertical takeoffs and landings and hover in place while monitoring a target. The U.S. government apparently proposed it for checking radiation levels at spent nuclear fuel pools at the plant, according to a Kyodo News report.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has been trying to cool the spent fuel in the pools with water. Radiation around the pools is believed to be very high, hindering workers' efforts to restart cooling systems. There are over 10,000 spent fuel rods at the site.

The 17-pound T-Hawk can fly to 10,000 feet and work in 20-knot winds, with a top speed of 46 mph and operating time of 56 minutes. It can operate autonomously or by remote control. Check out the vid below for details. … Read more

PlayStation users worldwide have raised nearly $1.32 million so far to aid relief efforts in Japan, Sony said today.

Tokyo-based Sony raised the money through sales of custom PlayStation 3 themes in its PlayStation Store through the end of March. The fundraiser started March 19 in North America and Europe, and March 24 in Japan and Asia. All told, 40 countries are participating in the effort.

"We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake," Kazuo Hirai, Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, said in a statement. "While … Read more

Panasonic is slowly but surely getting its operations in Japan back on track.

The company's manufacturing efforts were hit hard by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that spawned a devastating tsunami in northern Japan three weeks ago.

Japan-based Panasonic provided an update today on the status of its production efforts. A few days after the quake, the company had reported some "minor injuries" among employees. Today, the company noted that all of its employees have been accounted for and that all are safe.

On the production side, Panasonic said that as of late March, it had fully … Read more

AT&T gets bigger, a whole lot bigger with its purchase of T-Mobile. Trust us, mobile plans won't be getting any cheaper. Sprint gets a few consolation prizes, Twitter is 5 years old and we feature the "Morning-After" App.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to do a "systematic and methodical" review of U.S. nuclear facilities following the onset of the crisis earlier this month in Japan.

The NRC said today that it will study information from the situation in Japan--where a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunamis provoked a dangerous situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility--and conduct an assessment of nuclear power plants in the U.S. There will be a rapid, 90-day review and a longer review which could include regulatory action, according to reports.

"We have a high … Read more

Sony plans to restart a lithium-ion battery plant that it closed following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan earlier this month, Reuters is reporting.

According to the report, Sony will open its plant, which is located in the Tochigi prefecture, tomorrow. However, six other plants that Sony closed after the earthquake and tsunami will remain closed for the time being.

This could be bad news for several markets in which Sony competes. The factories that remain closed are used to produce lasers for Blu-ray players, Blu-ray discs, and Blu-ray players, among other products.

Japan was hit by a … Read more

Americans' concerns over nuclear power have spiked in the wake of Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis, but how the events will affect the long-term discussion over sources of energy is still unclear.

In a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted with 1,004 adults last week, about 70 percent of American's said that they are now more concerned with a nuclear disaster occurring in the U.S. In that same poll, 47 percent of respondents said they oppose construction of nuclear power plants in the U.S, compared to 44 percent who favor it.

A survey done before the Japanese … Read more

Six workers were exposed to excessive radiation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Saturday as a mile-long power line was connected to Reactor No. 2 in an effort to restore power to its cooling system. Crews hope to restart the system Sunday, The New York Times reported, but meanwhile observers have been speculating how many robots authorities have deployed to keep people out of harm's way.

The answer, apparently, is zero.

"I don't know that we have any such devices," said Hiro Hasegawa, a spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), when asked whether robots were being used at Daiichi, which was struck by a tsunami following the 9.0-magnitude earthquake March 11.

It's surprising that Japan, long considered a technological powerhouse, has had to resort to such rudimentary methods of cooling the plant's reactors as water-bombing them with lead-lined helicopters.

Tepco apparently never imagined a situation in which the main and backup power to the coastal plant would be knocked out, despite the fact that Japan is one of the most quake-prone countries in the world, sitting atop a number of shifting tectonic plates. … Read more