• IBM helps Sensus secure the smart grid

    In a move that could help bolster U.S. smart grids against cyberattacks, Sensus recently announced that it will incorporate IBM’s encryption and key management technologies into its smart grids; the company will use IBM’s cyber security solutions in its FlexNet communications system for electric, gas, and water utility smart grid endpoints including meters and automated distribution devices

  • U.K. awards 160 million Pound nuclear decommissioning contracts

    The decommissioning of one of U.K. oldest nuclear plants — Sellafield, located close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England — has taken a giant step forward thanks to the awarding of three waste retrieval contracts worth more than 160 million Pounds

  • Fire retardant shows promise -- if given space

    Scientists have demonstrated that the more widely and uniformly dispersed nanoscale plates of clay are in a polymer, the more fire protection the nanocomposite material provides; when polymer — a type of polystyrene, used in packaging, insulation, plastic cutlery, and many other products — is imbued with nanometer scale plates of montmorillonite, the combination can create a material with unique properties or properties superior to those achievable by each component — clay or polymer — on its own

  • Montana floods exacerbate Exxon oil spill

    Flooding in Montana has exacerbated the effects of an oil spill and made clean up more difficult for Exxon Mobil; it is estimated that roughly 750 top 1,000 barrels of crude oil have leaked into the Yellowstone River near Billings, Montana; the pipeline has been shut down, but flooding in the area has made it difficult for clean-up crews to find the source of the leak

  • Nuclear safety journal launched

    Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima: for the third time in twenty-five years a nuclear power plant suffered a serious accident, precipitating a global review of the way to govern nuclear safety and security; a publisher of scientific journal is launching a new journal — International Journal of Nuclear Safety and Security (IJNSS) — which will offer a forum for the serious discussion of nuclear power plants’ safety

  • 45 percent of children in Fukushima exposed to thyroid radiation

    A survey revealed that 45 percent of children living near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been exposed to thyroid radiation; following the nuclear disaster and the revelation that radiation was leaking from reactor no. 1, researchers tested more than 1,000 children from newborns to age fifteen in the Fukushima Prefecture; children were found to have been exposed to 0.04 microsievert per hour or less in most cases

  • Quake-resistant superelastic alloy developed

    Japanese scientists added a small amount of nickel to an iron-based alloy, and found that the new material can recover its original shape at any temperature from -196 to 240 degrees Celsius; the material may be used in environments that are constantly exposed to extreme temperatures, such as joints and controls in cars, planes, and spacecraft; it may also help buildings cushion stress and violent movement in earthquakes

  • New York governor determined to close Indian Point nuclear plant

    The Indian Point nuclear power plant, located thirty-five miles north of New York City, is facing increasing pressure from Governor Andrew Cuomo and senior officials say the governor is determined to shut it down; the governor’s hand has been strengthened by new legislation that streamlines the approval process for siting new power plants in New York, a move that would make it easier to replace Indian Point; closing the nuclear plant would be a major step toward reshaping the state’s energy policy as the plant produces 2,000 megawatts and provides New York City and Westchester with 25 percent of their power — but the nuclear disaster in Japan caused by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami raised fresh concerns about the plant, which is located near a fault line

  • Power grid experiment could throw clocks off

    Beginning in July, electronic clocks in the United States could begin running as much as twenty minutes ahead; the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency in charge of the U.S. electrical grid is considering an experiment that would alter the frequency of the energy current in an effort to make the power supply more reliable and save money

  • Senate committee passes chemical security bill

    This week, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs voted 8-2 for Senator Susan Collins’s bill (S. 473) to renew the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS), which is designed to regulate the chemical industry to ensure that they are keeping their facilities safe from terrorist attack; a similar bill has already been approved by a House committee; so far DHS has reviewed 39,000 chemical facilities in the United States and has determined that more than 4,755 are high risk and need to develop detailed security plans

  • Sharp divisions over chemical plant security measure

    Those who opposed the original Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) continue to oppose it — and for the very same reasons: they argue it does not go far enough to assure the security of chemical plants in the United States; they point out the versions of the bill approved by House and Senate committees prevent DHS from requiring specific security measures; fail to require safer and more secure chemical processes; exempts thousands of potentially high risk chemical and port facilities, including approximately 2,400 water treatment facilities and 400-600 port facilities, including 125 of 150 U.S. refineries; and prevents plant employees from participating in assessing vulnerabilities and developing security plans

  • Los Alamos nuclear waste safe from wildfire

    A wildfire is raging near the Los Alamos national Lab; the fire, in some places, is only yards away from the lab’s outside perimeter — and it is eight miles from the so-called Area G; the Area G site is a 63-acre storage facility where thousands of drums of nuclear waste sit, many of which are outdoors started; the good news is that there is no danger that the fire will reach Area G because in 2000, an even more intense fire burned 90 percent of the forest that covered the area between the current fire and the nuclear waste disposal site, making it impossible for the current wild fire to reach the nuclear material on storage

  • Germany approves plan to shutdown nuke plants

    On Thursday Germany’s parliament overwhelmingly voted in favor of approving the country’s plans to end its nuclear program by 2022; Germany’s eight oldest reactors, which were closed shortly after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, will remain off while the country’s nine other nuclear plants will be shut down in stages

  • Flights increase rain and snow near airports

    Areas near commercial airports experience a measurable increase in rain and snow when aircraft take off and land under certain atmospheric conditions; when planes fly through certain mid-level clouds, they force nearby air rapidly to expand and cool; this causes water droplets to freeze to ice and then turn to snow as they fall toward the ground, often leaving behind odd-shaped gaps in the clouds