Blogging the End of the World™
By Yoko Kubota, with additional reporting by Yuko Takeo; Editing by Ed Lane25 August 2011 TOKYO (Reuters) – Nearly six months after the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan faces the task of cleaning up a sprawling area of radioactivity that could cost tens of billions of dollars, […]
Relative sea level trends (millimeters/year) along the U.S. East Coast. The rate of annual sea level rise measured at Sewells Point in Norfolk is the highest of all stations along the U.S. East Coast at nearly 4.5 millimeters per year. Trends are shown for Key West, Florida; Mayport, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Sewells Point, Virginia; […]
August 24 (Xinhua) – Biological samples taken from waters in the Western Pacific region east of Fukushima, Japan show excessive radiation levels, said a statement from China’s State Oceanic Administration on Wednesday. The administration suggested that government agencies intensify radiation testing of marine products from the targeted waters to protect public health in China. According […]
By Ben Raines, Press-Register 24 August 2011 MOBILE, Alabama – Oil is once again fouling the Gulf of Mexico around the Deepwater Horizon well, which was capped a little over a year ago. Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of small, circular patches of oily sheen dotted the surface within a mile of the wellhead. With just a […]
August 25 (AFP) – Police on Tanzania’s Zanzibar archipelago seized 1041 elephant tusks apparently being smuggled en route to Malaysia hidden in a container of anchovies. Police and customs officers at the port in Stone Town, the capital of the semi-autonomous island, seized the shipment of ivory late Tuesday. “We are still investigating,” said Martin […]
By Tsuyoshi Inajima and Yuji Okada23 August 2011 Japan will more than triple the number of regions it checks for airborne radiation as more contaminated “hot spots” are discovered far from Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power station. The government said it will increase radiation monitoring by helicopter to 22 prefectures from the […]
By Tom Fowler24 August 2011 A number of Texas power plants may need to cut back operations or shut down completely if the state’s severe drought continues into the fall, an official with Texas’ main transmission manager told FuelFix. At least one North Texas power plant has had to reduce how much it generates because the […]
By Erico Guizzo 23 August 2011 Editor’s Note: This is part of IEEE Spectrum’s ongoing coverage of Japan’s earthquake and nuclear emergency. An anonymous worker at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has written dozens of blog posts describing the ups and downs of his experience as one of the lead robot operators at the […]
By Ed Ballard 19 August 2011 Emma Summerfield returned home on a rainy November evening in 2009 to find her vacuum cleaner afloat on a rising tide in her cellar. Hours later, her 18th century mill-house in Cumbria, northern England, was six feet deep in water. When the water receded, it left rooms wrecked, walls […]
By Kristina Cooke, with additional reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago; editing by Martin Howell in New York22 August 2011 NEW YORK (Reuters) – Genna Saucedo supervises cashiers at a Wal-Mart in Pico Rivera, California, but her wages aren’t enough to feed herself and her 12-year-old son. Saucedo, who earns $9.70 an hour for about […]
