A second hydrogen blast occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northern Japan at 11 a.m. local time March 13, but the explosion in the reactor building of Unit 3 left the primary containment vessel intact, says the the International Atomic Energy Agency. The unit’s control room remains operational, says the IAEA. A hydrogen gas blast at Unit 1 on Saturday destroyed that unit’s containment building’s outer shell but also did not damage the core reactor building, say Japanese officials. Late on March 13, officials of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) were attempting to reduce the concentration of
Officials of Tokyo Electric Power Company were flooding two nuclear reactors at its Fukushima Daiichi plant with corrosive seawater and boron and planning to pump seawater into a third in attempt to cool the reactor cores damaged after the earthquake Friday. + Image Image: NEI Photo: AP Photo/Kyodo News and Tokyo Power Electric Co. In this combination of photos, the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, is seen before, left, and after an explosion that blew out the walls of the unit, in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. Additionally, they are venting gas from at least
Crews at the U.S. Energy Dept.’s Hanford nuclear-waste cleanup complex in eastern Washington are reactivating a 45-year-old site crane to remove close to 200 waste tanks, each three to 22 ft long, that are contaminated with plutonium. DOE contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. opted to restore the crane as the safest approach to extract the so-called “pencil tanks,” thinly shaped to prevent uncontrolled plutonium releases during the site’s Cold War-era atomic weapons production. Photo: Courtesy of CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. Revamped crane will lift thin plutonium-tainted tanks to a yard where workers will decontaminate them safely. The 5-ton
A new guide from the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a Chicago-based think tank, seeks to shed some light on what has been a murky area: defining the value of using green infrastructure to manage stormwater and sewer systems versus traditional gray tunnels and reservoirs. “The Value of Green Infrastructure” guide, the culmination of a research effort that was funded in part by the Environmental Protection Agency and the non-profit clean-water advocacy group American Rivers, is designed to fill an information gap that some sources say has hampered the widespread adoption of green infrastructure practices in cities across the United States.
A new paper from the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling says the restoration effort in the gulf region could be hampered by the absence of an integrated strategy and sustained sources of funding. The “working paper,” penned by commission staff and released on Feb. 24, says a “lack of sustained and predictable funding, project coordination and long-term planning have resulted in incomplete and often ineffective efforts to restore the gulf” from last year’s spill. The paper says that establishing the Gulf Coast Restoration Task Force to coordinate the remediation effort is a good
A week after the devastating shallow earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand, on Feb. 22, structural engineers are surprised and relieved that damage to modern engineered buildings was not even more widespread. Recordings at several instrumented sites indicated that ground motion exceeded the maximum considered event. The MCE has a one in 2,500 chance of happening in any given year. Photo Courtesy Logan Mcmillan / www.gorillapictures.co.nz Low-rise devastation frames the 26-story landmark hotel, stabilized by construction crews after one corner dropped by a meter. + Image The magnitude-6.3 Canterbury quake, centered some 10 kilometers from downtown Christchurch and only 5
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s new rules on long-term on-site storage of spent nuclear fuel are facing legal challenges from three states and several environmental groups. The NRC determined in December 2010 that used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste can be safely stored in temporary facilities at nuclear powerplants for 60 years after the plant has gone out of service. Vermont, New York and Connecticut filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Feb. 15 challenging the NRC’s policy, saying the NRC has not fully evaluated the impact long-term storage at nuclear powerplants would
After more than an eight-month lull in deepwater oil and gas activity in the Gulf of Mexico, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement on Feb. 28 approved the first deepwater drilling permit in the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20, 2010. Photo: Courtesy of the Coast Guard Boats work to put out fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon on April 20. “This permit represents a significant milestone for us and for the offshore oil and gas industry, and is an important step towards safely developing deepwater energy supplies offshore,” said BOEMRE Director Michael
Engineers, working with the city, have devised a program of repairs to the 26-story Hotel Grand Chancellor, damaged but still standing in the magnitude-6.3 earthquake Feb. 22 in Christchurch, New Zealand. Landmark hotel is in precarious position following devastating earthquake. At least one engineer, visiting from the U.S., advised the city against the repair as too risky to workers. After the remediation, owner Grand Hotels International will decide whether the building can be salvaged, say city officials. The hotel, which dropped about one meter at one end, is considered stable. The repairs will take three weeks. Damage to the hotel
Four days after the magnitude-6.3 Canterbury quake that shook Christchurch, destroying significant areas of the city, rescue operations in the central business district are almost complete except for the zone around the 26-story Hotel Grand Chancellor, which is leaning and near collapse. Photo: Directrooms.com The Grand Chancellor Hotel, shown before the earthquake, is in danger of collapse. The city has cordoned off the area around the hotel, say Christchurch city officials. Built in 1986 and operated by Grand Hotels International, the concrete-framed building is 85 m tall, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. If the structure
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