Early in the new documentary Pandora’s Promise, which opens nationwide today, British environmental writer Mark Lynas …
Chernobyl
EcocentricEnergy
Fukushima: Twice As Bad As Thought
One recurring theme that has emerged after Fukushima is the tendency of nuclear experts to underestimate (publicly at least) the severity of the disaster. Today we received further proof of this when the Japanese government more than doubled the estimate for the amount of radiation released from the plant in the immediate aftermath of …
EcocentricUncategorized
Germany Bans Nuclear Power
As I’ve traveled around Europe, I’ve learned that nuclear energy is seen very much through cultural lenses. The French jealously guard their force de frappe nuclear weapons and slurp up nuclear power with no heartburn or concern. Next door in Germany, where fear of the atomkraft helped form the country’s powerful Green party in the …
EcocentricUncategorized
How many did Chernobyl kill? More than 4,000….
April 26 will mark the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. I’ll be publishing a story on the day that, with the help of TIME’s Kiev-based stringer James Marson, will show how the effects of the meltdown continue to be felt in the region. Nuclear accidents require the work of generations to clean-up. That’s a troubling …
EcocentricUncategorized
Challenges Mount at Fukushima, but Threat to Human Health Remains Low
Each day seems to bring more news of the huge challenges facing the emergency workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. As if adding insult to injury, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake hit the region on Thursday. Though Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) reported no serious incidents as a result of the quake, the tremor was a reminder …
EcocentricUncategorized
Fukushima: Sick Workers and Cracked Vessels. What’s true?
Each day at the stricken Fukushima power plant seems to bring a new piece of troubling news—today, reports surfaced that three workers at the Fukushima plant had been hospitalized after radiation levels reported at the plant spiked to “10,000 times above normal.” There were also reports that the No. 3 reactor vessel had been damaged, …
EcocentricUncategorized
Fukushima: The Salt Problem
It’s worth remembering, as the battle to prevent a massive radioactive release at the Fukushima power plant approaches the end of its second week, what a best-case scenario might now look like. In the best-case, emergency crews will restore cooling to the reactor cores and spent fuel pools and thus prevent the further release of …
EcocentricUncategorized
As Japan’s Nuclear Crisis Continues, Radioactive Food Raises Concerns
It’s worth stating at the outset: while more than 10,000 people have almost certainly died in the March 11 quake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, not a single person has been killed in the ongoing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. As Abrahm Lustgarten reported in ProPublica yesterday, most experts believe that even in the …
EcocentricEcocentric
Can Japan Bury Its Nuclear Disaster?
From the beginning, the Japanese response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has been a constant improvisation. After the double blow of a quake and a tsunami knocked out power to the plant, officials have desperately tried to keep nuclear material at active reactors and spent fuel pools cool, to prevent overheating and more …
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Butterfly Wings and Nuclear Disasters, Part 2: The Missed Warnings
On Monday, my colleague Jeffrey Kluger wrote an insightful post, “Butterfly Wings and Nuclear Disasters,” about how—with all respect to the Greek dramatists— there really is no such thing as a single “tragic flaw”; rather, tragedy results most often in the real world from the accumulation of small but significant mishaps. While that …