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U.S. faces water shortage crisis
Government projects at least 36 states will face shortages within five years; “The last century was the century of water engineering. The next century is going to have to be the century of water efficiency,” one experts says
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NRC seeks public comments on reactor oversight
As interest in nuclear power is revived, more application for building reactors come in — after a lull of more than two decades nearly; the NRC wants the public to comment on reactor oversight
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Worldwide Nuclear Power
For the last twenty years, nuclear power has provided about 16% of the world’s power needs; renewed interest in nuclear energy — energy
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Investigation into Italian mafia's trafficking of nuclear waste
Italian authorities are investigating charges that the Mafia was paid by the national nuclear research center to dispose of nuclear waste; informer says Mafia bought plutonium from the center and sold it to Iraq in the 1980s
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Satellite images show early stages of Syrian nuclear reactor
On 6 September Israel stealthily destroyed a target deep inside Syria; examination of satellite images taken of the site before it was destroyed leads independent experts to conclude that Syria might have been building a gas-graphite reactor of about 20 to 25 megawatts, similar to the reactor North Korea built at Yongbyon
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Innovative self-contained water recycling system for megacities
German researchers develop a self-contained water treatment system which purifies waste water and collects rain to help cities with inadequate water supplies
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Massive sensor network to monitor Hudson River
The Hudson to become the world’s largest environmental-monitoring system; system may be used to monitor cities’ water systems
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DPW IPO could kickstart new Dubai bourse
Dubai Ports World made news last year when it became the operator of several major U.S. ports; DPW is floating $20 billion on fledgling Dubai stock exchange
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U.S. power grid is increasingly vulnerable to attack
U.S. power system is worth more than $1 trillion, comprising more than 200,000 miles of transmission lines and more than 800,000 megawatts of generating capability; it serves more than 300 million; Congressional panel, describing industry-developed security standards as “woefully inadequate, “examines how well operators have implemented security measures developed by DHS, DOE
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Manhole security and U.S. critical infrastructure
Manholes are small, inconspicuous, and unattended; they offer easy access to vital underground infrastructure, so we had better think of ways to make them more secure, and do so quickly
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Topoff 4 Exercise underway
DHS-coordinated excercise involves 22,000 participants in Guam, Oregon, and Arizona from all levels of government, nationally and internationally, as well as the private sector in a full-scale simulated response to radiological dispersal device
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Michigan neighborhood, schools evacuated in wake of chmeical spill
About 500 gallons of hydrochloric acid leaked into a containment area at a metal finishing services plant; 3,000 residents, two schools, trailer park evacuated; rain could complicate clean-up efforts
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U.S. worried about proposed Yemen-Djibouti bridge
An engineering company owned by Osama bin-Laden’s half-brother announced it was planning to build the world’s longest bridge: A 17-mile span connecting Yemen and Djibouti; U.S. worries it will faciliate terrorist activity in the Horn of Africa
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SCADA protection should remain in private hands
Critics say that DHS’s plan to join with NSA to take the lead in protecting SCADA not only raises privacy concerns, but would be ineffective
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DHS bulletin delivery mishap causes consternation
A DHS contractor pushes “Reply All” button and flood government and business mail servers with more than two million messages; personal information compromised
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The long view
Faster-Developing, Wetter Hurricanes to Come
Climate change sets the stage for hurricanes to rapidly intensify faster, bringing wetter storms to the U.S. Atlantic Coast and other coastlines. A warmer world heightens the risk of flooding.
It Is Double Trouble When Two Disasters Strike the Electrical Transmission Infrastructure
One natural disaster can knock out electric service to millions. A new study suggests that back-to-back disasters could cause catastrophic damage, but the research also identifies new ways to monitor and maintain power grids. The study, using AI, highlights the fragility of power grid networks.
The “Cassandra of the Subways” on Hurricane Sandy, Ten Years Later
Starting in the 1990s, geophysicist Klaus Jacob started warning publicly that New York could eventually see a catastrophic storm abetted by climate change. From 2008 to 2019, he served on the New York City Panel on Climate Change, a scientific body that informs the city’s efforts to adapt infrastructure to changing climate. Most famously, he produced eearily precise projectionof where the subways would flood.