The risk that an earthquake would cause a severe accident at a U.S. nuclear plant is greater than previously thought, 24 times as high in one case, according to an Associated Press analysis of preliminary government data. The nation's nuclear regulator believes a quarter of America's reactors may need modifications to make them safer.
The threat came into sharp focus last week, when shaking from the largest earthquake to hit Virginia in 117 years appeared to exceed what the North Anna nuclear power plant northwest of Richmond was built to sustain.
Quake risk to U.S. reactors greater than thought
Japanese breakthrough will make wind power cheaper than nuclear
The International Clean Energy Analysis (ICEA) gateway estimates that the U.S. possesses 2.2 million km2 of high wind potential (Class 3-7 winds) — about 850,000 square miles of land that could yield high levels of wind energy. This makes the U.S. something of a Saudi Arabia for wind energy, ranked third in the world for total wind energy potential.
Let's say we developed just 20 percent of those wind resources — 170,000 square miles (440,000 km2) or an area roughly 1/4 the size of Alaska — we could produce a whopping 8.7 billion megawatt hours of electricity each year (based on a theoretical conversion of six 1.5 MW turbines per km2 and an average output of 25 percent. (1.5 MW x 365 days x 24 hrs x 25% = 3,285 MWh's).
Quake risk to U.S. reactors greater than thought
The risk that an earthquake would cause a severe accident at a U.S. nuclear plant is greater than previously thought, 24 times as high in one case, according to an Associated Press analysis of preliminary government data. The nation's nuclear regulator believes a quarter of America's reactors may need modifications to make them safer.
The threat came into sharp focus last week, when shaking from the largest earthquake to hit Virginia in 117 years appeared to exceed what the North Anna nuclear power plant northwest of Richmond was built to sustain.
National Energy Policy: The Cheney Law Massacre
The US National Energy Policy of 2005 was created under Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force in secret meetings; evidence shows that the energy industry influences foreign policy and may have led us into the Iraq War. Cheney's National Energy Policy is also responsible for electricity deregulation scams, corporate welfare for energy producers and many other problems that we are still suffering from today. Deregulated electricity problems in Texas and other states are a direct result of Cheney's National Energy Policy.
Cheney's Energy Task Force
In January of 2001, President Bush Jr. appointed Dick Cheney as head of the secret Energy Task Force that created the National Energy Policy. Dick Cheney's National Energy Policy was developed in secret meetings with petroleum, coal, nuclear, natural gas, and electricity industry representatives and lobbyists including executives from Enron, Exxon-Mobile, Conoco, Royal Dutch Shell and BP Oil.
Virginia earthquake shifted nuclear storage casks
The Aug. 23 earthquake that rattled the East Coast apparently shifted massive storage casks containing spent nuclear fuel at the North Anna nuclear power plant in central Virginia.
None of the metal cylinders were damaged and no radiation was released, Dominion Virginia Power told the Virginia Times-Dispatch.
Fourteen fault lines found near Japanese nuclear plants
There are 14 potentially active fault lines in areas near the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and other nuclear-related facilities, the Japanese government has announced.
Five of the 14 fault lines are near Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants.
Fracking's water use draws attention, concerns
The Marcellus Shale natural gas industry has a huge thirst for water - to hydraulically fracture a single gas well requires upward of a thousand tanker-trucks of water.
And so during the summer, when some streams here in gas-rich northern Pennsylvania naturally turn into trickles, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission pays close attention to ensure that drilling interests don't suck the state's creeks dry.
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