The German government announced that they will end the use of nuclear power plants as soon as possible.
Germany is prepared to spend the money necessary to make renewable clean energy sources their main power supply by 2020. Germany will keep its coal and natural gas fire electrical plants in operation.
“Just pointing a measuring device at your food before dinner is pretty much meaningless.”-Katayama Atsushi, Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry.
The Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry says you should use scintillation counters to detect iodine-131 in milk and vegetables. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers should be used to trace uranium. Nitric acid and dehydrated samples are turned to ash over a 24-hour period in temperatures exceeding 400 degrees Celsius, in order to detect strontium.
“Just to know what the radiation levels are in your home, it’s relatively straightforward, but when you get to measuring it in food, milk and soil it gets much more complicated.”-Joseph Rotunda, Thermo Fisher Scientific
You could spend $400.00 on a Geiger counter just to measure radiation in and around your home, but lots of things can affect the reading. Things like concrete walls and driveways, granite counter tops and even cell phones.
To save some money, if you don’t think it’s safe to eat, don’t eat it.
Just as Japan’s rice production takes a hit from radiation, Sanyo makes a hit with its rice bread maker.
Sanyo is resuming production of its bread make that uses rice, called “Gopan”, because they are getting swamped with orders.
Sanyo didn’t stop production because of the March 11 disasters, they stopped because their factory just couldn’t keep up with demand. In just the first three weeks on introducing their Gopan, orders hit 10,000 per month. They’re now ready to meet those orders.
“Our scientists took action to supply fuel for the Tehran research reactor and this fuel which is the fruit of the efforts made by our country’s scientists will be loaded into the Tehran Research Reactor this year.”-Ali Baqeri, Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Undersecretary
Iran decided to provide its own nuclear fuel, after several deals to get fuel from Western countries fell through, due to complaints from the U.S. and France.
In April 2010, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the domestic production of nuclear fuel. They claim to have produced uranium fuel at 20% purity.
Nissan is investigating why its electric car, the Leaf, won’t start. Several customers, in Japan and United States, are complaining that their Leafs won’t start.
Nissan thinks it is related to the air conditioner sensor: “…it will illuminate a warning light on the instrument panel and may cause the vehicle to not restart once it has been turned off.”-Katherine Zachary, Nissan’s North American unit
Text: AAron Hutchins
Photo by: Alex Hutchins
Across a cold windswept east Idaho desert, people say you can hear the nuke train haulin’ its contaminated cargo. The short track rails start nowhere, and end nowhere. You might even see the sickly yellow locomotive yourself, if your lucky and don’t miss the turn off (for directions see earlier posting “Ancient Nuclear Powered Jet…”).
Lead-lined train in the Arco desert in Eastern Idaho.
OK, so there’s no ghost train, but, in the middle of nowhere, along side the world’s first nuclear powered jet engine, sits an odd shaped yellow locomotive. It’s not nuclear powered, but it is lead lined, to protect the crew from radiation exposure when hauling the huge HTRE units that make up the nuclear jet engine.
General Electric, who ran the nuke jet project, had rail lines built to haul the huge engine from one test area to the next. In a 2005 document, the Department of Energy explained that “shielding” of various equipment from radiation, like the lead-lined locomotive, were based on 1950s understandings of radiation.
Two sets of tracks were laid for the program. The locomotive rode on the inner rails of the two tracks, pulling, or pushing the HTRE units. The HTRE units rode on both sets of tracks, they were that wide. (More pics in the “Galleries” section, click on the “INL Nuclear Power Site” pic. Click on the pics to make them bigger.).
The nuke train had a top speed of 3.5 miles per hour, but, for safety reasons traveled at 2.5 mph. For a detailed (and boring) explanation you can go to this website: www.inl.gov/technicalpublications/Documents/3028280.pdf Supposedly there are period photos in the document, but they didn’t show up for me.
The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) used to be known as INEEL, before that INEL, before that ERDA and before that NRTS. The names changes coincide with changes in government agencies controlling the “site”, in the early days, and changes in contractors who now run the site.
Iran isn’t relying on their nuclear plant for providing lots of power. They’ve been developing other forms of power generation.
It includes hydroelectric, steam power and natural gas fired plants. At the end of 2009 they finished a solar powered plant. Now they are going to build more steam powered plants and even wind farms.
The goal is to add another 5,000 mega watts to their system. Officials claim that all the non-nuclear energy programs use 100% domestically produced materials. Gee, isn’t that kinda what President Obama talked about for the United States?
“We should not only be able to use all our capacities and potentials in the (civilian) nuclear technology, but also export nuclear know-how.”-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
During a speech for ‘National Day of Nuclear Technology’, President Ahmadinejad stated that Iran should master all nuclear technologies. He also said Iran should join other countries, like the U.S., in exporting its nuclear know how.
“The Russians have taken the existence of tectonic plates into consideration in designing the Bushehr nuclear plant.”-Nasser Rastkhah, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran
Recently Russia helped Iran with loading of nuclear fuel rods into their plant. The Bushehr nuke plant is scheduled to power up by May. ‘Sensitive phases of operation’ would be conducted between May 5 through May 10.
Russia just delivered two Mi-35P (P for Peru?) Hind E attack copters to Peru.
Officially Peru is using the helicopters in their drugs war.
In 2010 Peru signed a $108-million contract for six Mi-171 Hip H multi-role helicopters and two Mi-35 helicopters. The Mi-35 is an improved version of the infamous Mi-24 Hind, and the Mi-171 is an improved version of the Mi-17.