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Removing Fuel Rods Poses New Risks at Crippled Nuclear Plant in Japan

      

Members of the media inside the Fukushima Daiichi plant on Thursday. The plant’s operator plans to start moving radioactive fuel to safer storage.  Pool photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi

nytimes.com - by Hiroko Tabuchi - November 10, 2013

TOKYO — It was the part of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that spooked American officials the most, as the complex spiraled out of control two and a half years ago: the spent fuel pool at Reactor No. 4, with more than 1,500 radioactive fuel assemblies left exposed when a hydrogen explosion blew the roof off the building.

In the next 10 days, the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, is set to start the delicate and risky task of using a crane to remove the fuel assemblies from the pool, a critical step in a long decommissioning process that has already had serious setbacks.

Just 36 men will carry out the tense operation to move the fuel to safer storage; they will work in groups of six in two-hour shifts throughout the day for months.

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Federal Study Warns of Sudden Climate Change Woes

(CLICK HERE - STUDY - ABRUPT IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE - Anticipating Surprises)

National Academy of Sciences

ap.org - by Seth Borenstein - December 3, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hard-to-predict sudden changes to Earth's environment are more worrisome than climate change's bigger but more gradual impacts, a panel of scientists advising the federal government concluded Tuesday.

The 200-page report by the National Academy of Sciences looked at warming problems that can occur in years instead of centuries. The report repeatedly warns of potential "tipping points" where the climate passes thresholds, beyond which "major and rapid changes occur." And some of these quick changes are happening now, said study chairman James White of the University of Colorado.

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2012 State of the Future

millennium-project.org - Release date: August 1, 2012

by Jerome C. Glenn, Theodore J. Gordon,
and Elizabeth Florescu

ISBN: 978-0-9818941-9-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 98-646672

The 2012 State of the Future is a concise, readable overview of the global situation, problems, solutions, and prospects for the future.  It covers the global landscape with two-page overviews with regional considerations of 15 global challenges such as energy, food, science & technology, ethics, development, water, organized crime, health, decisionmaking, gender relations, demographics, war & peace, and others. These together with the executive summary are ideal for busy executives, thought leaders, corporate strategic planners, public policy experts, policy advisors, non-profit issues organizations, teachers and professors of world issues, and anyone interested in a global overview of our prospects for the future – with discussions of problems and potential solutions.

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Japan asks for world's help on Fukushima leaks

Workers at leaking water tanks at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Japan Pool/ AFP/ Getty Images

Image: Workers at leaking water tanks at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Japan Pool/ AFP/ Getty Images

america.aljazeera.com - October 6th, 2013

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday that Japan is open to receiving overseas help to contain widening disaster at the crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima, where radioactive water leaks and other mishaps are now reported almost daily.

"We are wide open to receive the most advanced knowledge from overseas to contain the problem," Abe said in his English speech to open the conference on energy and environment at an international science forum in Kyoto in western Japan.

"My country needs your knowledge and expertise," he said.

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Global Earthquake Model (GEM)

globalquakemodel.org

GEM’s collaborative efforts will build a heightened public understanding and awareness of seismic risk, leading to increased earthquake resilience worldwide, as the GEM community:

> shares data, models, and knowledge through the OpenQuake platform

> applies GEM tools and software to inform decision-making for risk mitigation and management

> expands the science and understanding of earthquakes

GEM - News

GEM - December 2013 Newsletter

 

 

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The impacts of mineral exploitation on the environment and people in Thai Nguyen

Case study: Khanh Hoa coal mine, Thai Nguyen, Viet Nam

Introduction

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Voltaic Systems - Solar Chargers

voltaicsystems.com

Voltaic Systems makes products that produce and store their own power to run your electronics anywhere. We are based in New York City and ship directly to customers and our partners worldwide from warehouses in New Jersey and the Netherlands.

http://www.voltaicsystems.com/

About - Voltaic Systems

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WHO - Poliovirus Detected From Environmental Samples in Israel

who.int

Global Alert and Response (GAR)

In Israel, wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) was isolated from sewage samples collected on 9 April 2013 in Rahat, southern Israel. The virus has been detected in sewage only; no case of paralytic polio has been reported. Genetic sequencing and epidemiological investigations are ongoing to determine its origin. Preliminary analyses indicate the strain is not related to the virus currently affecting the Horn of Africa. The virus isolate was detected through routine environmental surveillance in Israel that involves regular testing of sewage water. Israel has been free of indigenous WPV transmission since 1988. In the past, wild poliovirus has been detected in environmental samples collected in this region between 1991 and 2002 without occurrence of cases of paralytic polio in the area.

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Natural Disasters, Armed Conflict, and Public Health

nejm.org - Jennifer Leaning, M.D., and Debarati Guha-Sapir, Ph.D.
N Engl J Med 2013; 369:1836-1842 - November 7, 2013 - DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1109877

Natural disasters and armed conflict have marked human existence throughout history and have always caused peaks in mortality and morbidity. But in recent times, the scale and scope of these events have increased markedly. Since 1990, natural disasters have affected about 217 million people every year, and about 300 million people now live amidst violent insecurity around the world. The immediate and longer-term effects of these disruptions on large populations constitute humanitarian crises. In recent decades, public health interventions in the humanitarian response have made gains in the equity and quality of emergency assistance.

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YALE/TULANE ESF-8 PLANNING AND RESPONSE PROGRAM SPECIAL REPORT TYPHOON HAIYAN (YOLANDA PH) – THE PHILIPPINES

http://www.slideshare.net/YALE-ESF8--VMOC

In light of Typhoon Haiyan, the Yale-Tulane ESF #8 Planning and Response Program has produced special reports for current efforts. To access these reports, click here.

The Yale-Tulane ESF #8 Program is a multi-disciplinary, multi-center, graduate-level program designed to produce ESF #8 planners and responders with standardized skill sets that are consistent with evolving public policy, technologies, and best practices. The group that produced this summary and analysis of the current situation are graduate students from Yale and Tulane Universities. It was compiled entirely from open source materials.

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