Archive for the 'Environment' Category
Fukushima: Fuel Rods Dropped to the Bottom of Reactor 3, More Highly Radioactive Water Going Into Ocean
May 12th, 2011*shaking head* Via: AFP: THE operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant reported new problems yesterday, including a water leak from a reactor vessel and another spill of contaminated water into the ocean. The update by Tokyo Electric Power Company came as the government announced a cull of thousands of cattle and other livestock now […]
Homes Abandoned as Mississippi River Keeps Rising
May 9th, 2011Via: AJC: Getting the word out through TV and online isn’t enough for Memphis officials who were going door-to-door warning a couple hundred people that they should abandon their homes before they are swamped by waters from the rising Mississippi River.
Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant: “Unknown Amount” of Tritium Released Into Mississippi River
May 8th, 2011I guess the intertubes are so clogged with fake Bin Laden nonsense that this one wasn’t important enough to mention. There are only two references to this story on Google News at the moment and 60,900 for Bin Laden. Via: Natchez Democrat: An unknown amount of radioactive water was released accidentally into the Mississippi River […]
Massive Floods Extend Across Midwest, South
May 4th, 2011Via: CNN: An engorged Mississippi River spilled out onto huge swaths of farmland in the South and Midwest on Wednesday, prompting massive flooding from Minnesota to Louisiana. Heavy rains spawned flooding that meteorologists say is not expected to fully relent until early June. Areas along the Ohio River Basin also experienced heavy flooding, forcing residents […]
Japanese Government Raises ‘Safe’ Radiation Limits So Children Can Legally Attend Schools That Have Been Covered in Fallout from Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
May 4th, 2011Via: Guardian: Furious parents in Fukushima have delivered a bag of radioactive playground earth to education officials in protest at moves to weaken nuclear safety standards in schools. Children can now be exposed to 20 times more radiation than was previously permissible. The new regulations have prompted outcry. A senior adviser resigned and the prime […]
Japan: Kan, “Will Study the Possibility of Setting Up an Alternative Capital to Take Over Tokyo’s Role in an Emergency”
May 2nd, 2011Via: NHK: Kan said measures were not taken despite previous accidents and warnings, and that he must admit that the utility and the government failed to fully deal with the situation. He also suggested that he will study the possibility of setting up an alternative capital to take over Tokyo’s role in an emergency, saying […]
Japan: Radiation Leaks from Fuel Rods Suspected at Tsuruga Plant
May 2nd, 2011Via: Kyodo: Leaks of radioactive substances from fuel rods are suspected to have occurred at a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, the Fukui prefectural government said Monday, citing a rise in the level of radioactive substances in coolant water. The operator, Japan Atomic Power Co., will manually shut down the No. 2 reactor of the […]
The Plan to Contain the Chernobyl Disaster for the Next One Hundred Years
April 29th, 2011Via: Scientific American: French construction company Novarka is working on a replacement, the New Safe Confinement (NSC), which Schmieman helped to design. Because the reactor is still radioactive, architects designed the NSC with worker safety in mind. The arch will not be built over the sarcophagus but will be assembled nearby from prefabricated segments. Workers […]
Radiation Readings in Fukushima Reactor Rise to Highest Since Crisis Began
April 28th, 2011Update: Look At The URL On This One Reader TO mentioned this: www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-27/tokyo-water-radiation-falls-to-zero-for-first-time-since-crisis.html ??? —End Update— Via: Bloomberg: Radiation readings at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi station rose to the highest since an earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems, impeding efforts to contain the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. Two robots sent into the reactor No. […]
Honeybees ‘Entomb’ Pesticide Tainted Pollen
April 28th, 2011Via: Spectre Footnotes: Honeybees are taking emergency measures to protect their hives from pesticides, in an extraordinary example of the natural world adapting swiftly to our depredations, according to a prominent bee expert. Scientists have found numerous examples of a new phenomenon – bees “entombing” or sealing up hive cells full of pollen to put […]
