Archive for the 'Environment' Category
Texas: Alpha Radiation in Harris County Drinking Water
May 22nd, 2011Via: KHOU: Newly-released e-mails from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality show the agency’s top commissioners directed staff to continue lowering radiation test results, in defiance of federal EPA rules. The e-mails and documents, released under order from the Texas Attorney General to KHOU-TV, also show the agency was attempting to help water systems get […]
Homes Saved from Flooding Mississippi River with DIY Levees
May 20th, 2011Must see pictures. Via: Daily Mail: We’ve all undertaken home improvements but these residents in flood-stricken Mississippi have had to embark on major construction projects just to protect their houses and livelihoods. These homes in Vicksburg are all situated along the Yazoo River, a tributary of the overflowing Mississippi River, and their owners have surrounded […]
The Strange Case of Solar Flares Changing Rates of Radioactive Decay
May 18th, 2011Via: Standford University News: No one knows how neutrinos could interact with radioactive materials to change their rate of decay. “It doesn’t make sense according to conventional ideas,” Fischbach said. Jenkins whimsically added, “What we’re suggesting is that something that doesn’t really interact with anything is changing something that can’t be changed.”
NATO in Libya: Besides the Oil, Is It Also a Gold Robbery?
May 17th, 2011Pookie let me know about issue #5 of The Gold Standard (.pdf), which includes an interesting comment from this Wall Street Journal piece about Gaddafi’s vast gold holdings. The comment is no longer posted at the Wall Street Journal: PvC from Belgium comments on Wall Street Journal Blog: “It seems to me that the war […]
Was Fukushima a China Syndrome?
May 16th, 2011Via: Time: The China Syndrome refers to a scenario in which a molten nuclear reactor core could could fission its way through its containment vessel, melt through the basement of the power plant and down into the earth. While a molten reactor core wouldn’t burn “all the way through to China” it could enter the […]
Fukushima: Highly Radioactive Sewer Sludge [???]
May 15th, 2011Wha?? How?? I… *mumble* *sputter* What is happening here? Is this from fallout coming down in rainwater and then getting into the sewage infrastructure? Via: Mainichi: Highly radioactive sludge found at sewage plants in Fukushima Prefecture will be temporarily kept at those plants, the central government has announced. The move came after high levels of […]
Morganza Spillway Will Be Opened for First Time in 38 Years
May 15th, 2011Via: Weather Channel / AP: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says federal officials have been given approval to open a Louisiana spillway as early as Saturday to avert a Mississippi River disaster in places like Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Jindal said Friday that the Army Corps of Engineers had received permission to open the Morganza […]
And Now… Polyester Covers Will Be Built Around Melting Down Fukushima Reactors
May 13th, 2011Via: Wall Street Journal / Dow Jones: Giant polyester covers will soon be placed around the damaged reactor buildings at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex to help contain the release of radioactive substances into the atmosphere, the plant operator said Friday. Tokyo Electric Power Co. will install the first cover at the No. 1 reactor, […]
Norwegian Institute for Air Research: Radiation Forecasts on the ‘Zardoz’ Subdomain
May 13th, 2011Via: Dutchsinse YouTube Channel: Research Credit: dale
FUKUSHIMA REACTOR 1: FULL MELTDOWN, REACTOR VESSEL BREACHED
May 13th, 2011Via: Reuters: One of the reactors at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has a hole in its main vessel following a meltdown of fuel rods, leading to a leakage of radioactive water, its operator said on Thursday. The disclosure by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) is the latest indication that the disaster was worse […]
