Tokyo Electric Power Co has warned some toxic liquid may have flowed into the ocean, according to an AFP article by Shingo Ito. Around 300 tons of toxic liquid was believed to have escaped from one of the tanks that hold water used to cool the broken reactors. TEPCO workers are scrambling to check for […]
The Bank of Japan, the country’s central bank governed by Haruhiko Kuroda, said the economy is showing signs of recovery after three months of inflationary policies, according to a New York Times article. The statement released Thursday was the first time the central bank has used the word “recovery” since the March 2011 quake/tsunami/nuclear […]
Taking lessons from the Fukushima nuclear incident in March 2011, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will review standard evacuation procedures in the event of a threat to a US nuclear plant, an NRC official said at a think tank event Thursday (March 22nd). Although current NRC standards require a 10-mile evacuation buffer and […]
Siemens, the German industrial giant, is, like the installation they created, picture above, a superstar. Peter Löscher, recently reappointed as CEO, has been driving the renewables end of their business relentlessly, seeing nothing but upside. Siemens has made a big move in announcing its total withdrawal from the nuclear power business. Siemens Abandoning Nuclear Power […]
You don’t have to tell me it’s the tenth anniversary of the Al Qaeda attacks on the US. I was there, thank you. There is plenty to be said on the subject, and politicians, pundits and the population at large are saying it. My only comment today on this is to consider the cost. According […]
The bad news keeps rolling in for the “nuclear renaissance” that has been much touted in recent years. The relentless, heedless proponents of more nuclear have tried to bull their way forward, even in the aftermath of Fukushima. Well, thankfully, and perhaps predictably, the democracies, at least, are saying no more, thank you, it’s well […]
That’s how I imagine Variety would have headlined last week’s very big news that Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan, is abandoning any push for new nuclear power and will make a concerted effort to promote renewables. I lauded Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, when she made essentially the same decision in March. A panel of experts […]
Just a quick update on the situation in Japan relative to the nuclear facility at Fukushima: The rating for the accident has risen to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s highest level. As people have been at pains to point out, it is not – as yet – as bad as Chernobyl. It is, nevertheless, now […]
The events of the past several days in Japan are in many ways beyond the scope of the mind to comprehend. Thousands of lives were swept away in an instant. I walked around the World Trade Center on September 12, 2001 and had a very hard time then being able to grasp the enormity of […]