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Experts cast doubt on Japan nuclear plant tests
January 27, 2012
Guardian: Advisers to Japan's nuclear safety agency have said power plant stress tests do not prove that a nuclear plant is safe, as the country faces the prospect of a summer without a single nuclear reactor in operation. Last year, the Japanese government ordered the nuclear authorities to conduct tests on all Japan's reactors after the 11 March meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi raised questions about the safety of nuclear power, particularly in a country prone to earthquakes and tsunami. Earlier this...
Is Spent Nuclear Fuel Really Waste?
January 27, 2012
New York Times: When the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future was established two years ago, after the Obama administration killed a proposed repository for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, one of the items on its agenda was to determine whether spent nuclear fuel was in fact waste. Among advocates of nuclear power, considerable disagreement exists about whether the spent fuel can be considered waste, given that it contains unused uranium as well as plutonium, which is created in nuclear...
US wind installations grew 31 per cent in 2011
January 27, 2012
Business Green: The US installed nearly 7GW of new wind energy capacity in 2011, a 31 per cent increase on the previous year, according to industry figures. New figures from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) show the US installed 6,810MW of new capacity last year, 3,444MW of which came in the fourth quarter as developers scrambled to qualify for a federal tax grant that expired at the end of the year. California led the way for new installations, adding 921MW of capacity in 2011, followed by Illinois,...
Clean Energy Projects Face Waning Subsidies
January 27, 2012
New York Times: Assisted by technological innovation and years of subsidies, the cost of wind and solar power has fallen sharply — so much so that the two industries say that they can sometimes deliver cleaner electricity at prices competitive with power made from fossil fuels. At the same time, wind and solar companies are telling Congress that they cannot be truly competitive and keep creating jobs without a few more years of government support. Their efforts received a boost on Thursday from President Obama,...
Nuclear Waste Panel Urges ‘Consent Based’ Approach
January 27, 2012
New York Times: A commission appointed to find alternatives to a failed plan to store nuclear waste in the Nevada desert declared on Thursday that the United States would have to develop a “consent-based approach” for choosing a site because leaving the decision to Congress had failed. By securing local consent, the panel said, the government might avoid the kind of conflicts that led to the cancellation of plans to create a repository at Yucca Mountain, a site 100 miles from Las Vegas, in 2010. It noted that local...
In Northeast Greenhouse Gas Group, Many Unsold Allowances
January 27, 2012
New York Times: Adjusting to shifts in the economy, states in the cap-and-trade system known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative have slashed the number of allowances that electric power companies can buy to offset their emissions. The decision, made last week, was intended to shore up the pioneering program as it undergoes its first comprehensive review this year. While the program has been judged a success by most of the participating states, in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, an oversupply of the allowances...
Nuclear Contamination Cleanup Near Stricken Plant to Start in Spring
January 27, 2012
New York Times: Japan said Thursday that it would begin a cleanup this spring of radioactive contamination near the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, with the goal of cutting radiation levels in half within two years. The Environment Ministry said the cleanup would cover about two-thirds of the 100-square-mile zone around the plant that was evacuated after last March’s accident. The ministry says radiation levels in these areas are low enough that the cleanup, along with the natural decay of radioactive...
Why we're no longer so keen on being green
January 27, 2012
Daily Mail: Public concern about climate change is on the wane. The number of people willing to alter the way they live in the hope of making a difference to global warming fell by around 10 per cent last year. There was also a sharp drop in those who regarded themselves as 'fairly concerned` about climate change. Green living: The number of people willing to alter the way they live in the hope of making a difference to global warming fell by around 10 per cent last year The figures, released by...
Singapore raises sea defences against tide of climate change
January 27, 2012
Reuters: A 15-km (10 mile) stretch of crisp white beach is one of the key battlegrounds in Singapore's campaign to defend its hard-won territory against rising sea levels linked to climate change. Stone breakwaters are being enlarged on the low-lying island state's man-made east coast and their heights raised. Barges carrying imported sand top up the beach, which is regularly breached by high tides. Singapore, the world's second most densely populated country after Monaco, covers 715 square km (276...
The 'wind rush': Green energy blows trouble into Mexico
January 27, 2012
Christian Science Monitor: The Isthmus of Tehuantapec, Mexico's narrowest point, is a powerful wind tunnel of air currents whipping through the mountains that separate the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Here, on the Pacific side, the wind shapes everything from the miles-long sandspits of Laguna Superior to the landscapes of the indigenous people's hearts. Howling constantly through thatched roofs, the wind is powerful enough at times to support a grown man leaning back as if in a chair. Gales average 19 miles per hour, slapping...
