The IAEA has released a preliminary report of its review of Japan’s handling of its nuclear crisis, concluding that regulators and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) underestimated the risk a severe tsunami posed to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The UN agency also noted that the plant’s backup power systems were not …
Oh Greenpeace. Only PETA outshines you in the shameless publicity stunt department, and yet here I am, falling for your tricks, because this week your eco-warriors have attached themselves — literally — to a topic I can’t resist: the quest to find oil in the Arctic.
At 3AM on May 29, a Greenpeace team left the Esperanza, the …
In a way, it’s a sign that things are returning to normal. Even the March tsunami that swept away much of the small town of Otsuchi was not powerful enough to wipe out tensions between locals and the Western activists who have been monitoring dolphin hunting in the fishing hamlet on the Japan’s northeast coast.
Activists from the …
Two weeks after announcing the meltdown of fuel inside Fukushima’s No. 1 reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has said there have very likely been partial meltdowns at the other two reactors that were operating when the crisis began on March 11 as well. A spokesman for TEPCO, Japan’s largest power company that has come …
The Japanese press had an interesting report out over the weekend: Prime Minister Naoto Kan is considering a plan to require all new buildings in Japan to install solar paneling by 2030. The plan, which would cover all new homes and commercial buildings, is expected to be announced at the end of the week at the two-day G8 summit in …
Processing Indian and foreign electronic waste has become a crucial source of income for thousands of Indians working in the nations’ sprawling scrap markets, but at what cost? Despite laws that prohibit e-waste dumping, India is only growing as a repository for the rest of the world’s electronic waste, and the workers who dismantle …
On Saturday, the leaders of the world’s second, third and 15th largest economies got together in Fukushima City and ate veggies to demonstrate how safe it is to do just that. I think it’s always a little embarrassing to observe politicians in orchestrated eating and/or drinking events (see Obama’s three-guys-just-having-a-beer moment …
Tokyo Electric Power Company’s head honcho stepped down today as the company announced $15 billion losses for the fiscal year that ended in March. Here’s my post over at Global Spin on how — and if — Tepco can survive.
For all its remoteness, the North Pole generates a lot of controversy. In 1909, the American admiral Robert Peary reported that he successfully reached the geographic North Pole, a feat of navigation that is now widely disputed. Nearly a century later, another expedition to the remote top of the globe caused a stir when Russian …
Just a quick note on a couple of interesting articles that surfaced today about the five-month drought in central China. The AP reports that Chinese businesses and residents are facing the largest energy crisis in years, as hydroelectric capacity is now at a low. Elaine Kurtenbach reports about the worst-affected areas:
The worst will
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