Eben Harrell

Articles from Contributor

Ecocentric Ecocentric

Fukushima: Twice As Bad As Thought

One recurring theme that has emerged after Fukushima is the tendency of nuclear experts to underestimate (publicly at least) the severity of the disaster. Today we received further proof of this when the Japanese government more than doubled the estimate for the amount of radiation released from the plant in the immediate aftermath of …

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Lessons from Fukushima

In the wake of Fukushima, there have been widespread calls for the safety of nuclear power plants to be enhanced. But how precisely? And, more specifically, what role can the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) play in improving nuclear safety and security? 

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Germany Bans Nuclear Power

As I’ve traveled around Europe, I’ve learned that nuclear energy is seen very much through cultural lenses. The French jealously guard their force de frappe nuclear weapons and slurp up nuclear power with no heartburn or concern. Next door in Germany, where fear of the atomkraft helped form the country’s powerful Green party in the …

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Fukushima: Are Faulty Vents a Global Danger?

Of all the crucial decisions that Tepco engineers faced at the Fukushima Power Plant in the frenzied hours after the March 11 earthquake, none was more agonizing or difficult than this: should the company intentionally vent gas from the overheating reactors even though doing so would release radioactivity into the atmosphere?

The …

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Was Fukushima a China Syndrome?

The China Syndrome refers to a scenario in which a molten nuclear reactor core could could fission its way through its containment vessel, melt through the basement of the power plant and down into the earth. While a molten reactor core wouldn’t burn “all the way through to China” it could enter the soil and water table and cause huge …

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This Stinks: Italy Sends Troops to Handle Trash Crisis

The Italian Army arrived in Naples today to help the city deal with some 2,000 tons of uncollected garbage. About 170 troops have been deployed, with around 70 trucks, in a long-running trash crisis that began in 1994 when Italy declared a state of emergency after illegal dumping by the local mafia overflowed the region’s landfills.

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