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Chemical plant securityGrowing demand for chemical plants to switch to IST
A 2008 analysis estimated that seven of Clorox’s bleach plants placed a total of nearly ten million people in the United States at risk from chlorine gas release; Clorox announced last year that it was phasing out processing chlorine gas into sodium hypochlorite in its plants; trouble is, Clorox consumes only about 1 percent of the chlorine gas used each year in the United States, thus, the overall impact of Clorox's positive move on the country’s risk is minimal
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Chemical plant securityNew survey shows many water, wastewater plants improve chemical security
New study says 554 drinking water and wastewater plants in 47 states have replaced extremely hazardous substances with safer and more secure chemicals or processes; at least 2,600 additional water and wastewater facilities still use large amounts of chlorine gas
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Top concern at RSA 2010: security of cloud computing
Cloud computing offers efficiency and cost reduction, but it also offer new opportunities to hackers and cybercriminals; Melissa Hathaway, former senior director for cyberspace for the National Security Council, said the migration toward the cloud is gaining momentum without having satisfactorily addressed several pressing concerns; former National Security Agency technical director Brian Snow said he does not trust the cloud
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Engineering earthquake-resistant buildings
Chile's 8.8-magnitude earthquake was much more powerful that Haiti's 7.0-magnitude tremor; yet, Haiti's quake claimed an estimated 300,000 dead, while Chile's quake claimed around 800; the reason: Chile enforced building codes for earthquake-resistant structures after the 1960 9.0-magnitude earthquake; the corrupt, indifferent, and ineffective governments of Haiti never bothered to develop a meaningful building code, let alone enforce one
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CybersecurityFBI: Cyber-terrorism a real and growing threat to U.S.
FBI director Robert Mueller: "The risks are right at our doorsteps and in some cases they are in the house"; Richard Clarke, former White House terrorism czar: "Every major company in the U.S. and Europe has been penetrated -- it's industrial warfare"
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CybersecurityU.S. unveils cybersecurity strategy
The Obama administration on Tuesday declassifies part of the secret cybersecurity plan aiming to bolster U.S. cyberdefenses; the plan has twelve directives that cover the government’s strategy to protect U.S. networks -- including military, civilian, government networks, and critical infrastructure systems -- as well as the government’s offensive strategy to combat cyberwarfare
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A bridge ready for the Big One
On 17 October 1989, a 7.1 earthquake nearly caused the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to collapse; scientists say that just one or two seconds more of shaking and the whole bridge would have come down; the seismic innovations being incorporated into the construction of the new Bay Bridge will make the bridge secure enough to survive a massive level earthquake -- the largest we would see in 1,500 years
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Nuclear mattersU.S. reluctant to adopt new nuclear reactor technology
Generation IV -- or "pebble bed" -- reactor is powered by fuel in the form of spheres rather than rods; the reactor runs far hotter than existing reactors, and produce 30 percent more electricity from a given amount of fuel; the drawback: weapons proliferation; to burn spent fuel in fast reactors, it has to be reprocessed to extract plutonium, which can also be used in weapons
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Smart grid attack likely
The smart grid’s distributed approach exposes these networks and systems, especially in the early phases of deployment; the communication among these networks and systems will be predominantly wireless and it is assumed they will be sniffed, penetrated, hacked, and service will be denied
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Designing terror-proof buildings
Terrorists attack high-profile building for the symbolism such attacks carry; students at Purdue University test methods to make buildings terror-proof, and the research results could be used in high-profile construction projects
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NIST request for input on Smart Grid Interface
NIST launches a blog seeking public comment and discussion on three aspects of Smart Grid implementation; considers further online discussions in the future.
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Nuclear mattersOperator of shut-down Monju fast reactor seeks resumption of operations
Japan's only breeder reactor was shut down in 1995 after sodium coolant leak; the reactor's operator now seeks to restart the reactor, saying that a vast remodeling effort would prevent a similar accident in the fufutre; critics are no so sure, pointing to glitches affecting the reactor's leak detector and other defects which have caused its restart to be put off four times since the coolant was infused again in May 2007
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Nuclear mattersFederal loans notwithstanding, Georgia nuclear power plant faces hurdles
The Obama administration has signaled its interest in expanding the U.S. domestic nuclear power industry by giving $8.3 billion in loan guarantees for a Georgia nuclear power plant expansion; critics say that the American tax-payer is at risk; that the original nuclear reactor design has been rejected by the NRC, and that there is no solution for the nuclear waste problem
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How real is the threat of cyberattack on the United States?
Some experts compare the economic impact of a major cyberincident to the 2003 Northeast blackout, which cut service to fifty million people in the United States and Canada for up to four days; economists place the cost of that event between $4.5 [billion] and $10 billion -- which they regard as a blip in the $14.2 trillion U.S. economy
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U.S. cyberattack drill exposes unsettling vulnerabilities
Experts, including current and former officials, conduct a cyberattack-on-the-U.S. drill; the results show that the peril is real and growing; no grand plan emerged, but the group did agree to advise the president to federalize the National Guard, even if governors objected, and deploy the troops -- perhaps backed by the U.S. military -- to guard power lines and prevent unrest
The Long View
Nuclear fusionCold fusion is enjoying a rebirth
Researchers presented new evidence for the existence of this promising -- and controversial -- energy source' papers discussed last week at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society
Planetary securityNew ideas for deflecting Earth-threatening asteroids
As scientists use better equipment to make more accurate observations of space, they find more Earth-threatening objects loitering in Near Earth Orbit; a debate is growing as to the best method to deal with this threat
Dire climate scenario: Mass migrations and war
Lord Nicholas Stern, the eminent economist, says severe climate shifts and sea-level rises would "transform where people can live": "People would move on a massive scale. Hundreds of millions, probably billions of people would have to move if you talk about 4-, 5-, 6-degree increases" (7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit)
Expert says deterring a cyber attack on U.S. is impossible
Michael Tanji: "The idea that anyone is in a position to deter a cyber attack is about as absurd as banning happy hour because it leads to drinking"
Nuclear mattersHow long will the world's uranium deposits last?
At current consumption rates, the planet's economically accessible uranium resources could fuel reactors for more than 200 years; further exploration and improvements in extraction technology are likely to at least double this estimate over time; if we extract uranium from seawater, and build breeder reactors, then supplies will last 30,000 to 60,000 years
The cyber security agenda of the new administration
U.S. national leaders do grasp the importance of network security and information assurance -- but seeing the problem is not the same thing as solving it
TrendFBI: U.S. facing "cybergeddon"
FBI experts say that cyber attacks pose the greatest threat to the United States after nuclear war and weapons of mass destruction -- and these attacks are increasingly hard to prevent
