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Details Emerge About Failures at Fukushima

January 2, 2012 by Dan Yurman
with 1,226 views
0

Interim Fukushima report lists lapses 27 Dec 2011 (NucNet): Japan’s response to the crisis at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant was flawed by poor communication and delays in releasing data on dangerous radiation leaks at the facility, a government-appointed investigative committee has found. A 507-page interim report released... [read more]

Predictions, Speculations, & Random Ideas for 2012

December 27, 2011 by Dan Yurman
with 1,219 views
0

Another fearless look ahead Each year this blog posts its fearless outlook for the coming year.  For 2012 I will add the caveat that while no one can predict the future, there are plenty of pointers to how things might work themselves out over time.  That's what this blog is reporting here.  Japan    A... [read more]

Report Forecasts 130% Growth in Asia-Pacific Solar Market for 2011

November 30, 2011 by Nathanael Baker
with 325 views
0

Once an after-thought in solar development, the latest data shows the Asia-Pacific region is becoming the industry's biggest market for photovoltaic solar power. According the research performed by Solarbuzz, and presented in its Asia Pacific Major PV Markets report, Asia's PV market is forecast to increase 39% in the final quarter of 2011. Looking at the numbers annually, between Q4 2010 and Q4 2011, the region's market will have grown 130%. [read more]

The Discussion Continues: Nuclear Power in Japan

November 29, 2011 by Karen Street
with 499 views
21

This began as an answer to one letter writer in Friends Journal, and grew. The information that surprised me most is the answer to this question: How does the danger from the Fukushima Daiichi reactors compare to other health dangers, such as Tokyo pollution? ************** There were a number of responses to Earthquake, Tsunami, and... [read more]

All Is Not Quiet on the Nuclear Front

November 4, 2011 by Dan Yurman
with 385 views
0

NY Times OP ED asks if nuclear power has a future? An interesting question is posed by a guest opinion piece published in the New York Times on October 10. Stephanie Cooke, a respected nuclear industry analyst and book author, asks whether there is a future for nuclear energy in the post-Fukushima era. Ms. Cooke, who is an editor at... [read more]

Japan Sets New Feed-In Tariffs For Renewables; 50¢ per kWh For Solar

October 4, 2011 by Jim Pierobon
with 657 views
4

Pinning its hopes on a sustainable recovery from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan’s Upper House of the Diet has enacted feed-in tariffs that take effect July 1, 2012 requiring utilities to purchase electricity generated by commercially available sources of renewable energy for a set price and period. Reuters reports a ruling party... [read more]

15,000 Terabecquerels And Counting

September 14, 2011 by Jonathan Smith
with 321 views
0

Image via Wikipedia Greenpeace provided an update for August 26th-29th on the Fukushima Nuclear Crisis and this blog extracted the section of the report on contamination (including human exposure). Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said that the amount of radioactive cesium-137 released into the air as a result of the... [read more]

Japan Searches For Nuclear Export Deals

September 1, 2011 by Dan Yurman
with 518 views
0

The hunt is on in Vietnam, Turkey, and elsewhereYoshihiko Noda, new prime minister of Japan (Photo: Wikipedia) The Japanese government, in close cooperation with some of the nation’s largest heavy industrial manufacturers, is seeking to export Japan’s nuclear technologies, products, and services despite the loss of six reactors on... [read more]

Nuclear Power Still The Energy of The Future After Fukushima

August 24, 2011 by Rod Adams
with 1,272 views
7

Does nuclear energy have a future, in light of the events at Fukushima? Fukushima Daiichi is the six-unit nuclear-power station on the northeast coast of Japan that was hit by a powerful tsunami, preceded by one of the strongest earthquakes on record. The extent of the damage is considerable: The three reactors that were operating at the... [read more]

Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Power in Japan

August 16, 2011 by Karen Street
with 422 views
1

Grief was our first reaction when a civilized nation so prepared for earthquakes was devastated. Those of us who live in earthquake country found it hard to tamp down the fear that we can't protect ourselves from nature. Japan, so much better prepared than the West Coast, actually did quite well with the once-in-a-millennium earthquake (the previous largest in that area was M8.3, in 869 CE), but the tsunami killed thousands, left hundreds of thousands homeless, and may have a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. [read more]

Turmoil at Nuclear Regulatory Agencies

August 4, 2011 by Dan Yurman
with 485 views
0

Life in the post-Fukushima era for nuclear regulatory agencies in Japan and the United States is not easy. In Japan, the Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) is in hot water over revelations that it stacked the deck at public meetings with employees of the nuclear utilities it is supposed to regulate. Two utilities told the... [read more]

Japan: TEPCO Using Realtime Feedback To Help Customers Reduce Energy Consumption

July 29, 2011 by Tom Raftery
with 237 views
0

    TEPCO, the Japanese power company who own the Fukushima nuclear power plant, are in an unenviable position. Their Fukushima nuclear power plant is the site of one of the world’s worst industrial accidents, they have been accused of not just incompetence but of falsifying safety records and yet they have to continue to... [read more]

Were the Japanese Engineers Who Built Fukushima Incompetent?

July 26, 2011 by Charles Barton
with 736 views
17

This is a guest post by NNadir.David Mabb, British, 2002.(Cross posted from Daily Kos, along with an amusing poll and with references to diaries therein. Link to the Kos Diary.)A news item in the June 2, 2011 issue of Nature, (page 10) which may be the most prestigious scientific journal in the world, reports that 2010 carbon emissions... [read more]

NRC Near Term Report on Fukushima Safety Issues

July 13, 2011 by Dan Yurman
with 540 views
0

Meltdowns in Japan drive an ambitious agenda in the U.S.The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has released a "Near Term Report" ( full text ) this week that calls for a wide range of safety improvements for the U.S. fleet of 104 nuclear reactors.The report ominously calls for "redefining the level of protection that is regarded as... [read more]

Nukes: Can't Live With Them, Can't Live Without Them

June 28, 2011 by Marc Gunther
with 437 views
5

I hate to paraphrase a terrible sexist joke but when it comes to nuclear power, I sometimes feel like we can’t live with it and we can’t live without it. There are lots of reasons to worry about nuclear power. No. 1 may be cost. As I noted last week,  a recent report from the Union of Concerned Scientists tallied up the costs of... [read more]