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Anti-Nuclear Protest Uses Bikes, Boats and a Mock Evacuation of NYC (Photos)

2:39 pm in activism, bike, boats, clean energy, nuclear power, Take Action by TreeHugger

bike-protest-indian-point-nyc-2.jpg Photo Courtesy of Michael Natale, GammaBlog At 7:45 yesterday morning, a group of cyclists rode from Manhattan's Lower East Side to Grand Central Terminal. They were activists, wearing white jumpsuits painted with anti-nuclear slogans and pinwheels tacked on the hoods to represent clean energy. This ride was the first stage in a day of events that included a mock evacuation and a boat ride up the Hudson, calling for the shut down Indian Point, the aging nuclear power plant just 35 miles from New York City....Read the full story on TreeHugger

Man Arrested for Attempting to Split the Atom in his Kitchen

1:54 pm in Business & Politics, nuclear power by TreeHugger

meltdown-kitchen-nuclear-power.jpg A photo of a 'meltdown' on nuclear experimenter Richard Handl's kitchen stove. Photos: Handl via Richard's Reactor People take up some crazy hobbies out there: building elaborate model trains, collecting dusty old stamps, attempting to split the atom in their kitchen in order to solve the world's energy crisis. Yes, it appears that an intrepid young Swedish man obtained a supply of uranium, radium, and other radioactive elements, and had proceeded to build a small nuclear fission reactor in his kitchen. He was conducting experiments ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

A Nuclear Engineer on Fukushima And The Future Of The Industry

3:09 pm in canada, fukushima, japan, nuclear power, Science & Technology by TreeHugger

fukushima blowup photo Radiation At Fukushima Twice As High As Reported Immediately After Disaster I was sitting on the deck talking to a young nuclear engineer, J, who suggested that the Fukushima disaster may actually be good for the nuclear industry. He remembers reading about an staunch anti-nuke environmentalist's conversion to being pro-nuke, and paraphrases:
Here you've got forty year old technology that wasn't maintained properly, beyond design basis accident, beyond design basis earthquake, beyond design basis tsunami, and it still managed to shut ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Far Lower Cancer Risk In US Nuclear Power Plant Meltdown Than Previously Assumed, Regulators Say

1:40 pm in Business & Politics, Food & Health, nuclear power, united states by TreeHugger

via internet business politics A new assessment by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of the potential consequences of a nuclear power plant meltdown (the details of which have come to light pre-publication via the Union of Concerned Scientists and the New York Times) finds far lower numbers of people can expect to get cancer in the event of a disaster than previously estimated....Read the full story on TreeHugger

Monbiot is "Part of the Problem": Jonathan Porritt on the Folly of Nuclear Power

8:36 am in activism, alternative energy, nuclear power, renewable energy, Science & Technology, united kingdom by TreeHugger

solar power photo Image credit: Solarcentury, used under Creative Commons license. When feed-in tariffs for renewables were introduced in the UK, George Monbiot denounced them as a rip-off subsidy for the better off. Despite tumbling solar prices and rising installations, Monbiot has stuck by his guns—argu...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Japanese Cattle Fed Radioactive Hay From Fukushima Double Initial Estimates

11:03 am in animals, Food & Health, japan, nuclear power by TreeHugger

via internet food health Take this as another indicator that the Fukushima nuclear disaster will continue to have greater impacts than is readily admitted: As the San Francisco Chronicle reports, the amount of cattle fed with hay contaminated by radiation from the Fukushima disaster is now double initial estimates, rising to 1,256 potentially contaminated cows....Read the full story on TreeHugger

Army of Tiny Robots to Monitor Underground Pipes for Radioactive Leaks

1:25 pm in electronics, gadgets, nuclear power, Science & Technology, technology by TreeHugger

robot sphere image A spherical robot equipped with a camera may navigate underground pipes of a nuclear reactor by propelling itself with an internal network of valves and pumps. Image: Harry Asada/d'Arbeloff Laboratory According to a recent study released in June, about 75% of the US's nuclear reactors have sprung a leak in the past, often with a result of contaminating groundwater. The little ball pictured above could be one of many let loose in underground pipes at nuclear r...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Jellyfish Invasion Keeps UK Nuclear Power Plant Shut Down

10:10 am in alternative energy, animals, nuclear power, oceans, Science & Technology by TreeHugger

bunch of jellies photo Photo by Jaymi Heimbuch Doing an even better job than activist environmentalists might have done, a bloom of jellies has caused a UK nuclear plant to stay offline, since the jellies would clog up the intake of water for cooling. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

German Parliament Accepts 2022 Nuke Shutdown Proposal

12:05 pm in germany, News, nuclear power, Science & Technology by TreeHugger

nuclear-power-germany-photo Photo: Flickr, CC 513 Yays, 79 Nays Here's a quick update on the situation regarding nuclear power in Germany. About a month ago, Brian wrote about a proposal by Chancellor Angela Merkel to phase out nuclear power by 2022. We also covered the resulting (sad) corollary: Merkel Says Germany Needs 20GW of Fossil...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Most US Nuclear Plant Neighbors Pleased With Safety

10:43 pm in Business & Politics, community development, electricity, government policy, nuclear power by TreeHugger

unsurveyed nuclear neighborhood photo Un-surveyed nuclear neighborhood. Image credit:NASA Earth Observatory The US nuclear industry recently commissioned a nationwide survey of adults living within 10 miles of 64 U.S. nuclear power plants. A total of 1,152 full-time residents were surveyed, excluding households where someone worked at a power plant. Of those surveyed "86 percent have a favorable impression of the nearby nuclear power plant " and two-thirds said it would be "...acceptable to add a new reactor at the site of the nearest nuclear power plant..." ...Read the full story on TreeHugger