Archive for the 'Energy' Category
Fukushima: Tepco Admits That Stabilizing Reactors by Year’s End May Be Impossible
May 30th, 2011Via: Japan Times / Kyodo: Stabilizing the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant by the end of the year may be impossible, senior officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday, throwing a monkey wrench into plans to let evacuees return to their homes near the plant. The confirmation of core meltdowns hitting […]
Angry Parents in Japan Confront Government Over Radiation Levels
May 26th, 2011Via: New York Times: The accusations flew on Wednesday at the local school board meeting, packed with parents worried and angry about radiation levels in this city at the heart of Japan’s nuclear crisis. “Do you really care about our children’s health?” one parent shouted. “Why have you acted so late?” said another. Among other […]
China: Yangtze River Drought Crisis Forces Government to Release Five Billion Cubic Meters of Water from Three Gorges Reservoir
May 26th, 2011More iPads! *BOOM* *CRASH* Via: Guardian: The Yangtze – Asia’s biggest river – is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years, forcing an unprecedented release of water from the Three Gorges reservoir. The drought is damaging crops, threatening wildlife and raising doubts about the viability of China’s massive water diversion ambitions. Between now and 10 […]
Demand for Personal Geiger Counters Soars in Japan
May 26th, 2011Via: Reuters: With a nuclear plant just 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo still leaking radiation, demand for personal Geiger counters has skyrocketed in the Japanese capital and manufacturers are struggling to keep up with the demand. Engineers are battling to plug radiation leaks and bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control more […]
Soil Contamination from Fukushima Crisis Comparable to Chernobyl
May 25th, 2011Via: Japan Today: Radiation released by the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has caused soil contamination matching the levels seen in the Chernobyl disaster in some areas, a researcher told the government’s nuclear policy-setting body Tuesday. ‘‘A massive soil decontamination project will be indispensable before residents in those areas can return,’’ said Tomio Kawata, […]
Risk From Spent Nuclear Reactor Fuel Is Greater in U.S. Than in Japan
May 25th, 2011Via: New York Times: The threat of a catastrophic release of radioactive materials from a spent fuel pool at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant is dwarfed by the risk posed by such pools in the United States, which are typically filled with far more radioactive material, according to a study released on Tuesday by a nonprofit […]
Fukushima: Workers Suffer from Internal Radiation Exposure
May 23rd, 2011Via: Mainichi: The government has discovered thousands of cases of workers at nuclear power plants outside Fukushima Prefecture suffering from internal exposure to radiation after they visited the prefecture, the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. Most of the workers who had internal exposure to radiation visited Fukushima after the nuclear crisis […]
The World’s Largest Man-Made Floating Object
May 23rd, 2011Via: Popular Science: Shell is making good on its promise to build the largest object ever to float on water, announcing Friday it would build the Prelude FLNG Project to harvest offshore natural gas fields. The gargantuan ship will suck up the equivalent of 110,000 barrels of oil per day. The floating liquified natural gas […]
Researchers Cancel SCADA Hacking Presentation After Department of Homeland Security’s ICS-CERT and Siemens Raise Concerns
May 19th, 2011Via: NSS Labs Press Release: Dillon Beresford, security researcher at NSS Labs, who was scheduled to present at TakedownCon 2011 on SCADA vulnerabilities chose to withdraw his presentation at the 11th hour after collaborative discussions with ICS-CERT and Siemens regarding the serious consequences it may have to human lives and the world at large. The […]
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 […]
