Get ready to fade to black. Millions of people around the world are expected to turn off cold room their lights at 8:30 p.m. local time Saturday -- no matter what time zone they're in -- to observe Earth Hour.
Never heard of it? It was started in 2007 by the WWF conservation organization to make a statement about energy overuse and how it affects the planet.
Times Square, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Las Vegas Strip, Niagara Falls, the Opera House in Sydney, and many more landmarks around the world plan to douse the lights, according to Earth Hour's website.
In Southern California, the Queen Mary will blast its horn at 8:30 p.m. to electronic ballast indicate the beginning of Earth Hour. Then the Long Beach landmark will turn off lights on its smokestacks, the string of lights atop the ship and other areas as well as encourage guests staying in staterooms to do likewise.
The free event from 7 to 9 p.m. on the ship's Verandah Grill will include a mix of other activities, from an "Unplugged" musical performance to a video about some of the ship's uniforms made from recycled bottles.
Check out the Queen Mary's website to RSVP (even though it's free).
The nearby Hotel Maya at 700 Queensway Drive in Long Beach plans to dim its jaw crusher lights throughout the property and offer candlelight dining at its restaurant Fuego -- with special drinks created for the occasion.
Showing posts with label jaw crusher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jaw crusher. Show all posts
Friday, March 25, 2011
The U.S. stock profits, GDP growth progress
US stocks advanced, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index its biggest weekly rally since February, after Oracle Corp.’s profit forecast beat analyst estimates and the rate of economic growth was revised higher.
The Australian dollar advanced too, hitting a high of 102.94 US cents - a record since seamless steel pipe it began trading freely in 1983 - before easing back to 102.6 US cents. It was also buying 72.8 euro cents, 64 pence and 83.5 yen.
Oracle, the world’s top supplier of database software, climbed 1.6 per cent. US shares of Accenture Plc, the world’s second-largest technology-consulting firm, rallied 4.5 per cent after its sales forecast beat analyst’s projections. Bristol- Myers Squibb Co. advanced 3.3 per cent after the pharmaceutical company won US approval a melanoma drug.
The S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to 1,313.80 at 4 p.m. in New York. The gauge climbed 2.7 per cent this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 50.03 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 12,220.59 today, bringing the week’s advance to 3.1 per cent. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 6.64 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 2,743.06, extending the week’s gain to 3.8 per cent.
Australian shares were poised to open slightly lower when trading resumes on Monday. The SPI futures index was down 9 points at 4764. At the market close of Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 43 points, or 0.91 per cent, higher at 4742.6, capping its best weekly gain - 2.4 per cent - since November. The broader All Ordinaries index rose 46.1 points, or 0.96 per cent, to 4840.3.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, which bridge rectifier measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500, fell 0.5 per cent to 17.91, extending its retreat since March 16 to 39 per cent.
“Corporations are making money amid this pace of economic growth,” said Kevin Caron, a market strategist in Florham Park, New Jersey, at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., which has about $US90 billion in client assets.
“We saw a solid GDP number. The fact that Oracle reported a decent forecast would be consistent with that trend. As long as the data is supporting the recovery, the S&P 500 can get to $US100 a share of earnings over the next year and a half. That means the index rising to 1,500.”
Recouping losses
US stocks rose yesterday, recouping losses that followed Japan’s March 11 earthquake, as corporate profits beat estimates and a government report showed a decline in jobless claims. The S&P 500 has advanced 4.5 per cent in 2011, extending last year’s 13 per cent rally, amid government stimulus measures and an eighth straight quarter of higher-than-estimated earnings.
The US economy grew at a 3.1 per cent annual rate in the fourth quarter, led by a jump in consumer spending that will be hard to match early in the year as energy prices surge. The revised increase in gross domestic product compares with a 2.8 per cent estimate issued last month, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington.
Stocks rose even as the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment decreased to 67.5 from 77.5 in February. The preliminary estimate issued earlier this month was 68.2. The median forecast of 67 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a reading of 68.
Emergency aid
European Union leaders at a two-day meeting in Brussels agreed to cut the startup capital for the future euro emergency aid mechanism, while Portugal continued to rule out a rescue after the parliament’s rejection of budget cuts led Prime Minister Jose Socrates to offer to quit.
A bailout may total as much as 70 billion euros ($97 billion), two European officials with direct knowledge of the matter said, as credit-rating cuts threatened to deepen Portugal’s debt woes.
“The market has digested a lot of uncertainties in the past couple of weeks, with the tragedy in Japan and the unrest in Libya,” said Charles Stamey, who helps manage $US42 billion at Manning & Napier
Advisors Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida. “I certainly think the market is looking for some good news and this is a bit of it,” he said of Oracle’s forecast.
Oracle climbed 1.6 per cent to $US32.64 after the company late yesterday forecast profit Coach Bags excluding acquisition costs and some other expenses of 69 cents to 73 cents this quarter, beating the average analyst estimate of 66 cents. Earnings on that basis were 54 cents a share in the period that ended Feb. 28, also exceeding analysts’ projections.
Accenture rallies
Accenture added 4.5 per cent to $US54.29. Third-quarter net revenue, or sales before reimbursements, will grow to a range of $US6.3 billion to $US6.5 billion, the Dublin-based company said. The average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey was $US6.08 billion. The company also increased forecasts for full-year net revenue growth to a range of 11 per cent to 14 per cent, from 8 per cent to 11 per cent, and for earnings per share to $US3.22 to $US3.30, from $US3.08 to $US3.16.
“Very robust results from enterprise bellwethers Oracle and Accenture will reassure people that the enterprise capex cycle remains a powerful tailwind,” London-based analysts Jonathan Tseng and Andrew Griffin at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research wrote in a report to clients.
Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 3.3 per cent to $US27.29. The pharmaceutical company won US approval for ipilimumab, the first drug in a new family of medicines to treat advanced melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer.
Smithfield Foods Inc. gained 2 per cent to $US24.44. The world’s biggest pork processor said it sees no “backup” in Japanese orders and that the nation is shifting to fresh pork, according to a Barclays Plc presentation.
Research In Motion Ltd. slumped 11 per cent to $US56.89 after the axial fan maker of the BlackBerry smartphone forecast first-quarter revenue and profit that trailed estimates.
Earnings will be $US1.47 to $US1.55 a share as the company spends more on research and steps up marketing for its PlayBook tablet and new smartphones, RIM said late yesterday. Analysts had predicted profit of $US1.66 on average, excluding some costs.
The Australian dollar advanced too, hitting a high of 102.94 US cents - a record since seamless steel pipe it began trading freely in 1983 - before easing back to 102.6 US cents. It was also buying 72.8 euro cents, 64 pence and 83.5 yen.
Oracle, the world’s top supplier of database software, climbed 1.6 per cent. US shares of Accenture Plc, the world’s second-largest technology-consulting firm, rallied 4.5 per cent after its sales forecast beat analyst’s projections. Bristol- Myers Squibb Co. advanced 3.3 per cent after the pharmaceutical company won US approval a melanoma drug.
The S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to 1,313.80 at 4 p.m. in New York. The gauge climbed 2.7 per cent this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 50.03 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 12,220.59 today, bringing the week’s advance to 3.1 per cent. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 6.64 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 2,743.06, extending the week’s gain to 3.8 per cent.
Australian shares were poised to open slightly lower when trading resumes on Monday. The SPI futures index was down 9 points at 4764. At the market close of Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 43 points, or 0.91 per cent, higher at 4742.6, capping its best weekly gain - 2.4 per cent - since November. The broader All Ordinaries index rose 46.1 points, or 0.96 per cent, to 4840.3.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, which bridge rectifier measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500, fell 0.5 per cent to 17.91, extending its retreat since March 16 to 39 per cent.
“Corporations are making money amid this pace of economic growth,” said Kevin Caron, a market strategist in Florham Park, New Jersey, at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., which has about $US90 billion in client assets.
“We saw a solid GDP number. The fact that Oracle reported a decent forecast would be consistent with that trend. As long as the data is supporting the recovery, the S&P 500 can get to $US100 a share of earnings over the next year and a half. That means the index rising to 1,500.”
Recouping losses
US stocks rose yesterday, recouping losses that followed Japan’s March 11 earthquake, as corporate profits beat estimates and a government report showed a decline in jobless claims. The S&P 500 has advanced 4.5 per cent in 2011, extending last year’s 13 per cent rally, amid government stimulus measures and an eighth straight quarter of higher-than-estimated earnings.
The US economy grew at a 3.1 per cent annual rate in the fourth quarter, led by a jump in consumer spending that will be hard to match early in the year as energy prices surge. The revised increase in gross domestic product compares with a 2.8 per cent estimate issued last month, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington.
Stocks rose even as the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment decreased to 67.5 from 77.5 in February. The preliminary estimate issued earlier this month was 68.2. The median forecast of 67 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a reading of 68.
Emergency aid
European Union leaders at a two-day meeting in Brussels agreed to cut the startup capital for the future euro emergency aid mechanism, while Portugal continued to rule out a rescue after the parliament’s rejection of budget cuts led Prime Minister Jose Socrates to offer to quit.
A bailout may total as much as 70 billion euros ($97 billion), two European officials with direct knowledge of the matter said, as credit-rating cuts threatened to deepen Portugal’s debt woes.
“The market has digested a lot of uncertainties in the past couple of weeks, with the tragedy in Japan and the unrest in Libya,” said Charles Stamey, who helps manage $US42 billion at Manning & Napier
Advisors Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida. “I certainly think the market is looking for some good news and this is a bit of it,” he said of Oracle’s forecast.
Oracle climbed 1.6 per cent to $US32.64 after the company late yesterday forecast profit Coach Bags excluding acquisition costs and some other expenses of 69 cents to 73 cents this quarter, beating the average analyst estimate of 66 cents. Earnings on that basis were 54 cents a share in the period that ended Feb. 28, also exceeding analysts’ projections.
Accenture rallies
Accenture added 4.5 per cent to $US54.29. Third-quarter net revenue, or sales before reimbursements, will grow to a range of $US6.3 billion to $US6.5 billion, the Dublin-based company said. The average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey was $US6.08 billion. The company also increased forecasts for full-year net revenue growth to a range of 11 per cent to 14 per cent, from 8 per cent to 11 per cent, and for earnings per share to $US3.22 to $US3.30, from $US3.08 to $US3.16.
“Very robust results from enterprise bellwethers Oracle and Accenture will reassure people that the enterprise capex cycle remains a powerful tailwind,” London-based analysts Jonathan Tseng and Andrew Griffin at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research wrote in a report to clients.
Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 3.3 per cent to $US27.29. The pharmaceutical company won US approval for ipilimumab, the first drug in a new family of medicines to treat advanced melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer.
Smithfield Foods Inc. gained 2 per cent to $US24.44. The world’s biggest pork processor said it sees no “backup” in Japanese orders and that the nation is shifting to fresh pork, according to a Barclays Plc presentation.
Research In Motion Ltd. slumped 11 per cent to $US56.89 after the axial fan maker of the BlackBerry smartphone forecast first-quarter revenue and profit that trailed estimates.
Earnings will be $US1.47 to $US1.55 a share as the company spends more on research and steps up marketing for its PlayBook tablet and new smartphones, RIM said late yesterday. Analysts had predicted profit of $US1.66 on average, excluding some costs.
Libyan rebels into Ajdabiya town
Libyan rebels say they have entered the government-controlled city of Ajdabiya from the east, in a bid to wrestle control of the strategic eastern city.
Many fighters belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were impact crusher held hostage after fierce fighting on Friday, they said.
Pro-Gaddafi forces are now mainly positioned in the west of the city, having previously held the entire city, they said.
Earlier on Friday, western warplanes bombed Gaddafi's tanks and artillery outside the town to try to break a battlefield stalemate and help rebels retake the strategic area.
Plumes of smoke filled the sky as the pace of coalition air strikes escalated, forcing terrified residents to flee Ajdabiya, which is 160km south of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
"We entered the town," Colonel Mohammed Ehsayer, who defected from the army to join the rebellion told AFP news agency at a rebel outpost a few kilometres east of the city.
Misurata fighting
Forces loyal to Gaddafi shelled an area on the outskirts of the city of Misurata on Friday, killing six people including three children, a rebel said.
The Libyan port, the North African country's third biggest city, has experienced some of the heaviest fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Gaddafi since an uprising began on February 16.
Officials and rebels said on Friday aid organisations were able to deliver some supplies to Misurata.
"There is a fairly regular supply going into Misurata," Simon Brooks, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross operations in eastern Libya, told Reuters.
"But we are deeply concerned about the reports we are receiving about fighting in the city."
Casualties have overwhelmed the local medical clinic and prompted electronic ballast international concern about the safety of civilians.
Residents say electricity, water and regular land and cell phone service to Misurata are not functioning.
Reports from the city cannot be verified independently because Libyan authorities have prevented journalists from going there.
On Thursday, government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said the government was in total control of the city, a claim denied by rebels.
AU proposal
Meanwhile, on the diplomatic front, the African Union said it plans to facilitate talks to help end the conflict in Libya between government and rebel forces.
"The AU action is ... aiming at facilitating dialogue between the Libyan parties on reforms to be launched to
eliminate the root causes of the conflict," the union's commission chairman Jean Ping told a meeting in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Friday.
He said that the process should end with democratic elections in Libya.
It was the first statement by the AU, which had rejected any form of foreign intervention in the Libya crisis, since the UN Security Council imposed a no-fly zone last week and a Western coalition began air strikes on Libyan military targets.
Call for ceasefire
Libya's delegation to the meeting, at which the rebels were not represented, called for an end to air strikes and said the government was committed to upholding a ceasefire it declared on Sunday.
The delegation said Tripoli is ready to implement an AU roadmap to resolve the Libyan crisis, while also demanding a halt to the Western-led coalition's military intervention.
"We are ready to implement the Road Map envisaged ... (by) the High-Level Committee mandated by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union," said a statement from the delegation headed by Mohammed al-Zwai, secretary general seamless steel pipe of the General People's Congress.
The AU roadmap calls for an immediate end to all hostilities, "cooperation on the part of the relevant Libyan authorities to facilitate humanitarian aid," and "protection for all foreign nationals, including African migrant workers."
The delegation called on the international community to oblige the "other parties" in the conflict to respect a ceasefire, referring to the opposition, and demanded "the cessation of the air bombardment and the naval blockade carried out by Western forces and the United States".
Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, said it was not the first time that a Libyan delegation "conducted a little freelance foreign policy on the sideline" and that there was no way of telling if the offer was sincere.
"In much the same way we had the foreign ministry go out on a limb a few days ago and say that they declared a ceasefire," she said.
"That was in complete contradiction of the facts on the ground and also the rhetoric coming from Colonel Gaddafi himself who wasn’t saying anything to do with a ceasefire.
"He was saying: We'll fight to the death; we'll chase you into your homes. We'll pursue this war to the end."
"A rebel spokesman in Benghazi said they weren't consulted in this initiative. Some reports say they were even invited to the meeting others say they were but refused to go. Others are saying there isn't an opening for negotiating, that they simply bridge rectifier want the bombing to stop and Gaddafi and his family to leave."
Many fighters belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were impact crusher held hostage after fierce fighting on Friday, they said.
Pro-Gaddafi forces are now mainly positioned in the west of the city, having previously held the entire city, they said.
Earlier on Friday, western warplanes bombed Gaddafi's tanks and artillery outside the town to try to break a battlefield stalemate and help rebels retake the strategic area.
Plumes of smoke filled the sky as the pace of coalition air strikes escalated, forcing terrified residents to flee Ajdabiya, which is 160km south of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
"We entered the town," Colonel Mohammed Ehsayer, who defected from the army to join the rebellion told AFP news agency at a rebel outpost a few kilometres east of the city.
Misurata fighting
Forces loyal to Gaddafi shelled an area on the outskirts of the city of Misurata on Friday, killing six people including three children, a rebel said.
The Libyan port, the North African country's third biggest city, has experienced some of the heaviest fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Gaddafi since an uprising began on February 16.
Officials and rebels said on Friday aid organisations were able to deliver some supplies to Misurata.
"There is a fairly regular supply going into Misurata," Simon Brooks, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross operations in eastern Libya, told Reuters.
"But we are deeply concerned about the reports we are receiving about fighting in the city."
Casualties have overwhelmed the local medical clinic and prompted electronic ballast international concern about the safety of civilians.
Residents say electricity, water and regular land and cell phone service to Misurata are not functioning.
Reports from the city cannot be verified independently because Libyan authorities have prevented journalists from going there.
On Thursday, government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said the government was in total control of the city, a claim denied by rebels.
AU proposal
Meanwhile, on the diplomatic front, the African Union said it plans to facilitate talks to help end the conflict in Libya between government and rebel forces.
"The AU action is ... aiming at facilitating dialogue between the Libyan parties on reforms to be launched to
eliminate the root causes of the conflict," the union's commission chairman Jean Ping told a meeting in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Friday.
He said that the process should end with democratic elections in Libya.
It was the first statement by the AU, which had rejected any form of foreign intervention in the Libya crisis, since the UN Security Council imposed a no-fly zone last week and a Western coalition began air strikes on Libyan military targets.
Call for ceasefire
Libya's delegation to the meeting, at which the rebels were not represented, called for an end to air strikes and said the government was committed to upholding a ceasefire it declared on Sunday.
The delegation said Tripoli is ready to implement an AU roadmap to resolve the Libyan crisis, while also demanding a halt to the Western-led coalition's military intervention.
"We are ready to implement the Road Map envisaged ... (by) the High-Level Committee mandated by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union," said a statement from the delegation headed by Mohammed al-Zwai, secretary general seamless steel pipe of the General People's Congress.
The AU roadmap calls for an immediate end to all hostilities, "cooperation on the part of the relevant Libyan authorities to facilitate humanitarian aid," and "protection for all foreign nationals, including African migrant workers."
The delegation called on the international community to oblige the "other parties" in the conflict to respect a ceasefire, referring to the opposition, and demanded "the cessation of the air bombardment and the naval blockade carried out by Western forces and the United States".
Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, said it was not the first time that a Libyan delegation "conducted a little freelance foreign policy on the sideline" and that there was no way of telling if the offer was sincere.
"In much the same way we had the foreign ministry go out on a limb a few days ago and say that they declared a ceasefire," she said.
"That was in complete contradiction of the facts on the ground and also the rhetoric coming from Colonel Gaddafi himself who wasn’t saying anything to do with a ceasefire.
"He was saying: We'll fight to the death; we'll chase you into your homes. We'll pursue this war to the end."
"A rebel spokesman in Benghazi said they weren't consulted in this initiative. Some reports say they were even invited to the meeting others say they were but refused to go. Others are saying there isn't an opening for negotiating, that they simply bridge rectifier want the bombing to stop and Gaddafi and his family to leave."
Japan's nuclear crisis a long way from over
BEIJING/TOKYO, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Problems continue to arise at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, despite progress in restoring the power needed to cool down its overheating reactors.
In recent days, injuries to workers, black smoke rising from No. 3 reactor and abnormal radiation have come one after another.
Some experts say the crisis might not end soon, Coach Bags while others insist its effects will be limited.
The crisis arose from the shutdown of the plant's cooling systems, which are critical to bringing down temperatures in the reactors' cores and stabilizing its nuclear fuel. The systems shut down after the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami wiped out the power supply.
Workers are making efforts to bring the six-reactor facility's cooling systems back online and are spraying stricken reactors with seawater to cool damaged reactors and fuel rods The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant uses boiling water reactors, which went into emergency shutdown when the earthquake hit. The backup power started automatically to circulate cooling water to carry away the residual heat.
However, the earthquake destroyed the external power supply of the nuclear reactor. The emergency diesel power generators also failed when the tsunami arrived.
With the cooling system shut down, the residual heat built up, bringing down the water level of the fuel pool and threatening eventual core meltdown.
In 1979, a partial core meltdown occurred at Three Mile Island in the United States bridge rectifier due to a cooling system failure. It remains the most severe nuclear leak accident in the country and forced the evacuation of at least 150,000 local residents.
Fortunately, Fukushima workers on Monday reconnected power lines to all six reactors, marking a critical first step in getting the overheated reactors under control after days of public anxiety. But much still needs to be done before electricity can be turned on. It is not clear what condition the equipment is in.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) admitted Friday it might take at least another month to achieve a cold shutdown of all reactors, when temperatures inside fall below boiling point and its cooling systems are back at atmospheric pressure.
"We are still in the process of assessing the damage at the plant, so we can't put a deadline on when the cooling operations will work again. It may take more than a month, " a TEPCO spokesman said.
The biggest worry for the public is radiation leaking from the reactors. Previously, in order to avoid damaging the reactors, the plant released the potentially devastating build up of pressure, with some radioactive particles emitted into the air.
According to the latest news, a possible breach has been found in No. 3 reactor, which might be a crack or a hole in the stainless steel chamber of the reactor core or in the spent fuel pool that is lined with several feet of reinforced concrete.
Suspicions of a possible breach were raised when two workers were exposed to radiation 10,000 times the normal level and suffered skin burns while dealing with an emergency at the No. 3 reactor.
The two workers, in their 20s and 30s, who were seamless steel pipe laying power cables with their feet submerged in the water of the turbine room at the troubled No. 3 reactor, sustained injuries, including skin burns caused by beta rays. This suggests the reactor or its spent nuclear fuel pool is damaged.
A total of 17 workers have been exposed to radiation exceeding 100 millisieverts since the March 11 earthquake.
Radioactive leaks were detected after a series of explosions and fires at four of the plant's six reactors and the government on Friday suggested residents living within a 20 to 30 kilometer distance of the stricken plant voluntarily evacuate the area.
The radiation leak from the plant has contaminated sea water, food produce, milk and water supplies in regions as far away as Tokyo, 240 km southwest of the plant.
However, some experts said, with continued follow-up measures, the situation was still under control.
Judging from historical experience, the effects of the nuclear leak would be limited.
Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency currently only rates Fukushima at 5 out of 7 on its warning level, the same electronic ballast level as the 1979 accident at Three
Mile Island.
Many international organizations also said people outside Japan need not worry about the health effects of the nuclear leak.
In recent days, injuries to workers, black smoke rising from No. 3 reactor and abnormal radiation have come one after another.
Some experts say the crisis might not end soon, Coach Bags while others insist its effects will be limited.
The crisis arose from the shutdown of the plant's cooling systems, which are critical to bringing down temperatures in the reactors' cores and stabilizing its nuclear fuel. The systems shut down after the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami wiped out the power supply.
Workers are making efforts to bring the six-reactor facility's cooling systems back online and are spraying stricken reactors with seawater to cool damaged reactors and fuel rods The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant uses boiling water reactors, which went into emergency shutdown when the earthquake hit. The backup power started automatically to circulate cooling water to carry away the residual heat.
However, the earthquake destroyed the external power supply of the nuclear reactor. The emergency diesel power generators also failed when the tsunami arrived.
With the cooling system shut down, the residual heat built up, bringing down the water level of the fuel pool and threatening eventual core meltdown.
In 1979, a partial core meltdown occurred at Three Mile Island in the United States bridge rectifier due to a cooling system failure. It remains the most severe nuclear leak accident in the country and forced the evacuation of at least 150,000 local residents.
Fortunately, Fukushima workers on Monday reconnected power lines to all six reactors, marking a critical first step in getting the overheated reactors under control after days of public anxiety. But much still needs to be done before electricity can be turned on. It is not clear what condition the equipment is in.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) admitted Friday it might take at least another month to achieve a cold shutdown of all reactors, when temperatures inside fall below boiling point and its cooling systems are back at atmospheric pressure.
"We are still in the process of assessing the damage at the plant, so we can't put a deadline on when the cooling operations will work again. It may take more than a month, " a TEPCO spokesman said.
The biggest worry for the public is radiation leaking from the reactors. Previously, in order to avoid damaging the reactors, the plant released the potentially devastating build up of pressure, with some radioactive particles emitted into the air.
According to the latest news, a possible breach has been found in No. 3 reactor, which might be a crack or a hole in the stainless steel chamber of the reactor core or in the spent fuel pool that is lined with several feet of reinforced concrete.
Suspicions of a possible breach were raised when two workers were exposed to radiation 10,000 times the normal level and suffered skin burns while dealing with an emergency at the No. 3 reactor.
The two workers, in their 20s and 30s, who were seamless steel pipe laying power cables with their feet submerged in the water of the turbine room at the troubled No. 3 reactor, sustained injuries, including skin burns caused by beta rays. This suggests the reactor or its spent nuclear fuel pool is damaged.
A total of 17 workers have been exposed to radiation exceeding 100 millisieverts since the March 11 earthquake.
Radioactive leaks were detected after a series of explosions and fires at four of the plant's six reactors and the government on Friday suggested residents living within a 20 to 30 kilometer distance of the stricken plant voluntarily evacuate the area.
The radiation leak from the plant has contaminated sea water, food produce, milk and water supplies in regions as far away as Tokyo, 240 km southwest of the plant.
However, some experts said, with continued follow-up measures, the situation was still under control.
Judging from historical experience, the effects of the nuclear leak would be limited.
Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency currently only rates Fukushima at 5 out of 7 on its warning level, the same electronic ballast level as the 1979 accident at Three
Mile Island.
Many international organizations also said people outside Japan need not worry about the health effects of the nuclear leak.
FAA Issues New Rules For Air Traffic Controllers
The Federal Aviation Administration gave air traffic controllers new procedures Friday as officials try to
contain the fallout from an incident earlier this week in which two airliners landed at Reagan National
Airport without assistance because the lone controller on duty was asleep.
Regional radar facilities are now required to alert controllers working jaw crusher alone at night in an airport tower that a plane is approaching, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said in a statement. The radar controllers are "to confirm that there is a controller prepared to handle the incoming flight," he said.
Regional controllers have also been reminded that if no controller can be raised at an airport tower, proper procedures require they offer pilots the option of diverting to another airport, Babbitt said.
Controllers at a regional FAA radar facility in Warrenton, Va., about 40 miles from Reagan, didn't offer that option to the pilots who were unable to reach the airport's tower between 12:04 and 12:28 a.m. on
Wednesday.
Repeated phone calls from the regional facility to the tower also went unanswered.
The planes — an American Airlines flight from Dallas and a United Airlines flight from Chicago with a combined 165 people on board — landed safely.
Pilots can always decide on their own authority to divert to another airport, said Rory Kay, a former Air
Line Pilots Association safety chairman and an international airline captain.
The controller on duty in the tower — a veteran air traffic supervisor — acknowledged to investigators who interviewed him Thursday that he had dozed off, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The controller, who has not cold room been identified, was working his fourth 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift in a row, according the board, which is investigating the episode.
The incident has renewed concern about the potential safety consequences of controllers suffering from fatigue, a longstanding concern of the board.
It has also sparked criticism of FAA's practice of scheduling a single controller on overnight shifts at some airports, but especially at Reagan, which is in Arlington, Va., and just across the Potomac River from downtown Washington.
"This is not a mom-and-pop airport for small planes, and is in the vicinity of some very sensitive airspace," Kay said.
At least one congressional committee has launched its own investigation, and the issue is expected to be raised next week when the House takes up a bill to provide long term authority for FAA programs.
On Wednesday night, less than 24 hours after the incident, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ordered a second controller be added to the overnight shift at Reagan
About 30 other airports around the country also have a single controller on duty on the overnight shift. In some instances, the controllers work alone for only a part of the shift.
FAA is examining whether staffing on those overnight shifts should be increased.
On Friday, the safety board recommended to the FAA that it no longer allow air traffic controllers to provide supervisory oversight while performing operational air traffic duties. The recommendation wasn't directly related to this week's incident. But if FAA were to follow the board's recommendation, the agency would effectively have to assign at least two people — a supervisor and a controller — to every shift.
In a previous letter to FAA, NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman pointed to several previous airport accidents in which the air traffic supervisor on Coach Bags duty was also working as a controller directing air traffic instead of being free to devote attention entirely to the supervising of controllers.
contain the fallout from an incident earlier this week in which two airliners landed at Reagan National
Airport without assistance because the lone controller on duty was asleep.
Regional radar facilities are now required to alert controllers working jaw crusher alone at night in an airport tower that a plane is approaching, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said in a statement. The radar controllers are "to confirm that there is a controller prepared to handle the incoming flight," he said.
Regional controllers have also been reminded that if no controller can be raised at an airport tower, proper procedures require they offer pilots the option of diverting to another airport, Babbitt said.
Controllers at a regional FAA radar facility in Warrenton, Va., about 40 miles from Reagan, didn't offer that option to the pilots who were unable to reach the airport's tower between 12:04 and 12:28 a.m. on
Wednesday.
Repeated phone calls from the regional facility to the tower also went unanswered.
The planes — an American Airlines flight from Dallas and a United Airlines flight from Chicago with a combined 165 people on board — landed safely.
Pilots can always decide on their own authority to divert to another airport, said Rory Kay, a former Air
Line Pilots Association safety chairman and an international airline captain.
The controller on duty in the tower — a veteran air traffic supervisor — acknowledged to investigators who interviewed him Thursday that he had dozed off, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The controller, who has not cold room been identified, was working his fourth 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift in a row, according the board, which is investigating the episode.
The incident has renewed concern about the potential safety consequences of controllers suffering from fatigue, a longstanding concern of the board.
It has also sparked criticism of FAA's practice of scheduling a single controller on overnight shifts at some airports, but especially at Reagan, which is in Arlington, Va., and just across the Potomac River from downtown Washington.
"This is not a mom-and-pop airport for small planes, and is in the vicinity of some very sensitive airspace," Kay said.
At least one congressional committee has launched its own investigation, and the issue is expected to be raised next week when the House takes up a bill to provide long term authority for FAA programs.
On Wednesday night, less than 24 hours after the incident, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ordered a second controller be added to the overnight shift at Reagan
About 30 other airports around the country also have a single controller on duty on the overnight shift. In some instances, the controllers work alone for only a part of the shift.
FAA is examining whether staffing on those overnight shifts should be increased.
On Friday, the safety board recommended to the FAA that it no longer allow air traffic controllers to provide supervisory oversight while performing operational air traffic duties. The recommendation wasn't directly related to this week's incident. But if FAA were to follow the board's recommendation, the agency would effectively have to assign at least two people — a supervisor and a controller — to every shift.
In a previous letter to FAA, NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman pointed to several previous airport accidents in which the air traffic supervisor on Coach Bags duty was also working as a controller directing air traffic instead of being free to devote attention entirely to the supervising of controllers.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
In T Mobile company, AT&T - pursuit of intense lobbying influence
AT&T remained confident Tuesday that it will win over regulators to approve its $39 billion seamless steel pipe bid to buy T-Mobile USA, even as critics continued to bash the deal as anti-competitive and bad for consumers.
Bolstering its chances, AT&T has one of the most muscular lobbying operations in Washington. Last year, it enlisted an army of about 90 lobbyists and has had on its roster well-known former lawmakers, including Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and John Breaux (D-La.) of the Senate and J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) of the House of Representatives, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
It is also one of the biggest campaign contributors among any corporation in history and has spent $15 million annually on lobbying efforts since 2005, according to the nonprofit group. The Republican chairmen of three key House committees — Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) — together have received more than $200,000 over their political careers from AT&T’s political action committee, the center’s data show. They did not immediately return phone calls for comment.
Experts and consumer advocates say the merger, which would create a wireless behemoth by combining the nation’s second- and fourth-largest cellular carriers, raises serious doubts for federal antitrust regulators. But they also note that AT&T is especially well-positioned to make its case.
Critics point to a key detail in AT&T’s proposed transaction as a sign of the company’s confidence that it will ultimately win over regulators: AT&T must hand over $3 billion to T-Mobile, plus some valuable wireless spectrum, if the deal gets nixed.
“Why are they so confident?” asked Craig Aaron, the managing director of Free Press, a Washington-based nonprofit group that examines media and Internet policy. “I have to believe that they must have made the rounds in Washington to find out. . . . You’d have to think that they have this confidence because of all that lobbying clout that they bring to bear.”
Congress does not have direct oversight over the bridge rectifier deal; AT&T needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department.
Michael Balmoris, an AT&T spokesman, said the company did not shop the idea of the merger with regulators before announcing the deal. In a presentation to investors this week, Wayne Watts, AT&T’s senior executive vice president and general counsel, said the company “fully understands and respects” the regulatory process.
In the presentation and on a Web site promoting its cause, AT&T argued that the merger will bring wireless access to 95 percent of the U.S. population and reach far-flung locales — fulfilling a key goal of President Obama. AT&T also contended that previous wireless company mergers have resulted in lower prices for consumers.
Critics of the deal doubt prices will come down in this case. And they worry about what AT&T will do with its influence in Washington.
Aaron said the firm’s lobbying clout is partly due to James W. Cicconi, a company senior executive vice president. Last year, GQ magazine ranked Cicconi as No. 4 on its list of top “influencers” in Washington, right behind Haley Barbour, the Mississippi governor and possible GOP presidential candidate.
Cicconi was instrumental, Aaron said, Coach Bags in brokering a deal that paved the way for the FCC to pass rules governing whether providers of wireless Internet connections can control Web content.
“He’s shown himself to be a savvy strategist,” Aaron said. “Back in 2008 , President Obama said he wasn’t going to take a back seat to anyone in net neutrality. Of course, the following year, FCC backed away and changed its position, and that was largely due to lobbying by AT&T with direct pressure at the FCC.”
Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge, a nonprofit public-interest group, said many critics of the deal are also wary of William Daley, the White House chief of staff. In the early 2000s, Daley was president of SBC Communications, which later merged with AT&T, and then worked for JPMorgan, which is helping finance the AT&T/T-Mobile merger.
“A bunch of us are saying there’s no way he should touch this,” Brodsky said. “The FCC chairman has been known to consult with people at the White House all the time, and JPMorgan is in line for millions of dollars in fees out of this deal.”
The White House did not return a phone call or -mail requesting comment about Daley’s potential involvement.
AT&T’s financial contributions tend to benefit Republicans more than Democrats, according to the nonprofit watchdog: During the 2010 election cycle, 55 percent of the company’s $4 million to federal-level politicians aided Republicans and 44 percent helped Democrats.
“AT&T is one of the biggest fish on the block,” said Dave Levinthal, a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics. “They are massive. They employ a number of lobbyists and former members of the government. There are very few companies that impact crusher have multiple former Congress members working for them. They are in a rare position even for big companies when it comes to the strength of their lobbying force.”
Bolstering its chances, AT&T has one of the most muscular lobbying operations in Washington. Last year, it enlisted an army of about 90 lobbyists and has had on its roster well-known former lawmakers, including Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and John Breaux (D-La.) of the Senate and J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) of the House of Representatives, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
It is also one of the biggest campaign contributors among any corporation in history and has spent $15 million annually on lobbying efforts since 2005, according to the nonprofit group. The Republican chairmen of three key House committees — Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) — together have received more than $200,000 over their political careers from AT&T’s political action committee, the center’s data show. They did not immediately return phone calls for comment.
Experts and consumer advocates say the merger, which would create a wireless behemoth by combining the nation’s second- and fourth-largest cellular carriers, raises serious doubts for federal antitrust regulators. But they also note that AT&T is especially well-positioned to make its case.
Critics point to a key detail in AT&T’s proposed transaction as a sign of the company’s confidence that it will ultimately win over regulators: AT&T must hand over $3 billion to T-Mobile, plus some valuable wireless spectrum, if the deal gets nixed.
“Why are they so confident?” asked Craig Aaron, the managing director of Free Press, a Washington-based nonprofit group that examines media and Internet policy. “I have to believe that they must have made the rounds in Washington to find out. . . . You’d have to think that they have this confidence because of all that lobbying clout that they bring to bear.”
Congress does not have direct oversight over the bridge rectifier deal; AT&T needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department.
Michael Balmoris, an AT&T spokesman, said the company did not shop the idea of the merger with regulators before announcing the deal. In a presentation to investors this week, Wayne Watts, AT&T’s senior executive vice president and general counsel, said the company “fully understands and respects” the regulatory process.
In the presentation and on a Web site promoting its cause, AT&T argued that the merger will bring wireless access to 95 percent of the U.S. population and reach far-flung locales — fulfilling a key goal of President Obama. AT&T also contended that previous wireless company mergers have resulted in lower prices for consumers.
Critics of the deal doubt prices will come down in this case. And they worry about what AT&T will do with its influence in Washington.
Aaron said the firm’s lobbying clout is partly due to James W. Cicconi, a company senior executive vice president. Last year, GQ magazine ranked Cicconi as No. 4 on its list of top “influencers” in Washington, right behind Haley Barbour, the Mississippi governor and possible GOP presidential candidate.
Cicconi was instrumental, Aaron said, Coach Bags in brokering a deal that paved the way for the FCC to pass rules governing whether providers of wireless Internet connections can control Web content.
“He’s shown himself to be a savvy strategist,” Aaron said. “Back in 2008 , President Obama said he wasn’t going to take a back seat to anyone in net neutrality. Of course, the following year, FCC backed away and changed its position, and that was largely due to lobbying by AT&T with direct pressure at the FCC.”
Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge, a nonprofit public-interest group, said many critics of the deal are also wary of William Daley, the White House chief of staff. In the early 2000s, Daley was president of SBC Communications, which later merged with AT&T, and then worked for JPMorgan, which is helping finance the AT&T/T-Mobile merger.
“A bunch of us are saying there’s no way he should touch this,” Brodsky said. “The FCC chairman has been known to consult with people at the White House all the time, and JPMorgan is in line for millions of dollars in fees out of this deal.”
The White House did not return a phone call or -mail requesting comment about Daley’s potential involvement.
AT&T’s financial contributions tend to benefit Republicans more than Democrats, according to the nonprofit watchdog: During the 2010 election cycle, 55 percent of the company’s $4 million to federal-level politicians aided Republicans and 44 percent helped Democrats.
“AT&T is one of the biggest fish on the block,” said Dave Levinthal, a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics. “They are massive. They employ a number of lobbyists and former members of the government. There are very few companies that impact crusher have multiple former Congress members working for them. They are in a rare position even for big companies when it comes to the strength of their lobbying force.”
Japan factory to suspend, Asian shares fell problems
March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell for the first time in four days as Japanese companies announced production halts and earthquakes struck shaded pold motor near the Fukushima nuclear plant that was crippled after a March 11 temblor and tsunami.
Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest carmaker, declined 1.5 percent in Tokyo after extending production halts. Sony Corp. dropped 0.6 percent after the electronics maker suspended some work at five factories. Fujitsu Ltd., Japan’s No. 1 computer- services provider, dropped 4.8 percent. Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd. plunged 7.6 percent in Sydney after Australia’s second-biggest airline forecast an annual loss.
“There are still a lot of uncertainties surrounding the nuclear fallout, as well as aftershocks, and we won’t be seeing a stable market for a while,” said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist in Tokyo at Daiwa Asset Management Co., which oversees about $104 billion. “No one thinks the nuclear crisis has ended completely.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.5 percent to 132.36 as of 10:30 a.m. in Tokyo. About five stocks fell for every three that climbed on the index.
A series of earthquakes struck Japan’s Fukushima prefecture today, where Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s damaged nuclear plant is located, starting with a magnitude 6.0 temblor at 7:12 a.m. local time, according to Japan’s Meteorological Agency.
Quakes of magnitude 4.1, 5.8, 4.9 and 4.3 followed as of 8:03 a.m., and there was no threat of tsunami waves, the agency said in its website. The Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said there has been no impact on the Fukushima plant from the latest temblors.
Nikkei Falls
“Anxieties about the nuclear issues aren’t gone yet, but the situation is improving,” said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager in Tokyo at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. “Some industries and stocks that declined significantly lately will be bought back.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 1.4 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index slipped 0.1 percent impact crusher and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed. Futures on the Standard&Poor’s 500 Index slid 0.3 percent today. The index retreated 0.4 percent yesterday as the price of oil rose amid unrest in Libya and concern grew that Europe won’t find an immediate solution to its debt crisis.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 3.4 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a gain of 2.9 percent by the S&P 500 and a drop of 1.5 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 13.3 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.4 times for the S&P 500 and 10.9 times for the Stoxx 600.
Reconstruction Agency
The Nikkei 225 plunged 10 percent last week on concern the effects of the earthquake and damaged reactors will hurt a recovery in the world’s third-largest economy.
Japan said it may set up a reconstruction agency to oversee earthquake repairs, while data showed the central bank pumped record liquidity into lenders as the nation grappled with its worst disaster since World War II.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters in Tokyo the government will weigh “some sort of system or organization” to oversee spending following the earthquake, adding that it’s too early to say when a spending bill will be compiled. The Bank of Japan said yesterday lenders’ deposits with the central bank more than doubled since March 11 to 41.62 trillion yen ($513 billion).
Tokyo Electric Power workers began restoring power to the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in northern Japan as government tests showed radiation has leaked into the sea and contaminated some food.
Lights are on in the control room at Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant’s No. 3 reactor, while some lights are electronic ballast on at reactor No. 4, the company said today. Reactors No. 5 and 6 were already supplied with electricity.
Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest carmaker, declined 1.5 percent in Tokyo after extending production halts. Sony Corp. dropped 0.6 percent after the electronics maker suspended some work at five factories. Fujitsu Ltd., Japan’s No. 1 computer- services provider, dropped 4.8 percent. Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd. plunged 7.6 percent in Sydney after Australia’s second-biggest airline forecast an annual loss.
“There are still a lot of uncertainties surrounding the nuclear fallout, as well as aftershocks, and we won’t be seeing a stable market for a while,” said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist in Tokyo at Daiwa Asset Management Co., which oversees about $104 billion. “No one thinks the nuclear crisis has ended completely.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.5 percent to 132.36 as of 10:30 a.m. in Tokyo. About five stocks fell for every three that climbed on the index.
A series of earthquakes struck Japan’s Fukushima prefecture today, where Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s damaged nuclear plant is located, starting with a magnitude 6.0 temblor at 7:12 a.m. local time, according to Japan’s Meteorological Agency.
Quakes of magnitude 4.1, 5.8, 4.9 and 4.3 followed as of 8:03 a.m., and there was no threat of tsunami waves, the agency said in its website. The Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said there has been no impact on the Fukushima plant from the latest temblors.
Nikkei Falls
“Anxieties about the nuclear issues aren’t gone yet, but the situation is improving,” said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager in Tokyo at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. “Some industries and stocks that declined significantly lately will be bought back.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 1.4 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index slipped 0.1 percent impact crusher and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed. Futures on the Standard&Poor’s 500 Index slid 0.3 percent today. The index retreated 0.4 percent yesterday as the price of oil rose amid unrest in Libya and concern grew that Europe won’t find an immediate solution to its debt crisis.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 3.4 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a gain of 2.9 percent by the S&P 500 and a drop of 1.5 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 13.3 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.4 times for the S&P 500 and 10.9 times for the Stoxx 600.
Reconstruction Agency
The Nikkei 225 plunged 10 percent last week on concern the effects of the earthquake and damaged reactors will hurt a recovery in the world’s third-largest economy.
Japan said it may set up a reconstruction agency to oversee earthquake repairs, while data showed the central bank pumped record liquidity into lenders as the nation grappled with its worst disaster since World War II.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters in Tokyo the government will weigh “some sort of system or organization” to oversee spending following the earthquake, adding that it’s too early to say when a spending bill will be compiled. The Bank of Japan said yesterday lenders’ deposits with the central bank more than doubled since March 11 to 41.62 trillion yen ($513 billion).
Tokyo Electric Power workers began restoring power to the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in northern Japan as government tests showed radiation has leaked into the sea and contaminated some food.
Lights are on in the control room at Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant’s No. 3 reactor, while some lights are electronic ballast on at reactor No. 4, the company said today. Reactors No. 5 and 6 were already supplied with electricity.
The United States new review questions to get nuclear waste
The radiation levels, while not acceptable, are manageable," he said.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has essentially accepted the industry's rationale on the jaw crusher safety of dense-packing fuel rods. Over the last two decades, the agency has repeatedly approved license applications by utilities to pack more rods into the pools.
Nuclear safety experts say that plants have packed up to five times more spent fuel rods than the pools were designed to store, though Nuclear Energy Institute officials say the pools contain no more than twice their original capacity.
The only advantage to keeping the pools packed so tightly is the cost of the dry casks, which would run about $5 billion to $10 billion nationwide, said Frank N. von Hippel, a Princeton University physicist who first disclosed the problem in a paper he co-wrote in 2003. He said he considers fixing the fuel pool problem one of the most important steps toward making U.S. nuclear plants safer.
"It is such a huge risk that it is worth the cost," he said. "We may not be as lucky as the Japanese were to have the wind blowing the radioactive emissions out to sea."
The reason so much waste has built up is the failure of the Energy Department to hold to its decades-old pledge to take ownership of it, triggering multibillion-dollar law suits by utilities against the government.
Under federal law, the waste was supposed to go to a repository at Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. President George W. Bush approved the plan in 2002. But President Obama has taken steps to kill the plan, saying he wants to find a different site.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned last week that it could be decades before any permanent solution for the waste is developed, so the heavily packed fuel pools will be around for a long time.
"The utilities say that even if an accident happens here, they can deal with it," said Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists. But, he said, the Fukushima accident shows that some events will cold room be difficult to anticipate and plan for.
"The Japanese have run out of pages of their operating manual, and they are just making things up," he said.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has essentially accepted the industry's rationale on the jaw crusher safety of dense-packing fuel rods. Over the last two decades, the agency has repeatedly approved license applications by utilities to pack more rods into the pools.
Nuclear safety experts say that plants have packed up to five times more spent fuel rods than the pools were designed to store, though Nuclear Energy Institute officials say the pools contain no more than twice their original capacity.
The only advantage to keeping the pools packed so tightly is the cost of the dry casks, which would run about $5 billion to $10 billion nationwide, said Frank N. von Hippel, a Princeton University physicist who first disclosed the problem in a paper he co-wrote in 2003. He said he considers fixing the fuel pool problem one of the most important steps toward making U.S. nuclear plants safer.
"It is such a huge risk that it is worth the cost," he said. "We may not be as lucky as the Japanese were to have the wind blowing the radioactive emissions out to sea."
The reason so much waste has built up is the failure of the Energy Department to hold to its decades-old pledge to take ownership of it, triggering multibillion-dollar law suits by utilities against the government.
Under federal law, the waste was supposed to go to a repository at Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. President George W. Bush approved the plan in 2002. But President Obama has taken steps to kill the plan, saying he wants to find a different site.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned last week that it could be decades before any permanent solution for the waste is developed, so the heavily packed fuel pools will be around for a long time.
"The utilities say that even if an accident happens here, they can deal with it," said Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists. But, he said, the Fukushima accident shows that some events will cold room be difficult to anticipate and plan for.
"The Japanese have run out of pages of their operating manual, and they are just making things up," he said.
Anti-aircraft weapons outbreak in tripoli
Anti-aircraft fire has erupted over the Libyan capital, Tripoli, after a day of heavy fighting between pro-democracy fighters and forces loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Anti-aircraft crews began firing shortly after nightfall in the capital on Tuesday Coach Bags, four nights after an international military coalition launched an operation enforce a no-fly zone over the country.
"We've been hearing big noises. We've heard some explosions in the last 10 minutes," Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from Tripoli, said.
"We haven't seen any smoke on the horizon. People are firing guns in defiance. We're in the loyalist heartland here where people are utterly defiant of the international effort to force Gaddafi to surrender, as they would see it.
"The anti-aircraft fire has not been as intense [as Monday night when two naval installations outside the city were hit]. Perhaps they feel in the immediate neighbourhood that most of the significant targets have already been hit."
The AFP news agency reported that at least two blasts were heard at a distance before the capital's air defences opened fire.
Several strong detonations followed, said the journalists who were unable to determine the site of the explosions.
They said anti-aircraft fire streaked into the night sky for around 10 minutes, especially in the area near Gaddafi's residence, not far from the hotel where the international press corps is housed.
In the previous night's operations, the coalition air campaign suffered its first loss with the crash of a US fighter jet in the rebel-held east.
Both crew ejected safely.
The no-fly zone is intended to protect civilians from attack by forces loyal to Gaddafi in their battles with opposition fighters bridge rectifier. The United States announced on Tuesday that it is shifting its focus to widen the no-fly zone across the north African country.
Despite the strikes, Gaddafi has remained defiant. The Libyan leader made a public appearance at his Bab Al-Aziziyah compound in Tripoli that was the target on Sunday of a coalition missile strike, Libyan state television reported.
In televised remarks, Gaddafi said Libya was "ready for battle, be it long or short".
"We will win this battle," footage showed him telling supporters at the compound. "The masses were the strongest anti-air defences."
Fighting rages
The developments came after a day of intense fighting in the three Libyan cities of Misurata, Ajdabiya and Zintan.
Forces loyal to Gaddafi have been shelling Misurata for days, pressing their siege of the embattled western city. Four children were killed in the shelling on Tuesday and at least 40 people were killed on Monday, a resident said.
There was also fierce fighting seamless steel pipe further east in Ajdabiya. Opposition fighters were seen retreating in the face of an attack by government forces.
Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from an area close to Ajdabiya, said there had been clashes outside the city.
"There's been heavy fighting and heavy shelling going on ... the rebels told me there have been heavy casualties and there are a number of corpses between here and the town [of Ajdabiya] that they have been unable to reach," he said.
Meanwhile, around 106km south of Tripoli, Libyan pro-democracy fighters forced government troops to withdraw from the outskirts of Zintan, breaking a siege of the town.
A resident of Zintan told the Reuters news agency that at least 10 people were killed in the bombardment by Gaddafi's forces.
"Gaddafi's forces bombarded Zintan this morning and killed 10 to 15 people," Abdulrahman said.
"After the bombardment they retreated from the eastern area of Zintan. But they have not withdrawn from the northern area electronic ballast. There is still a huge number of soldiers there, backed with 50 to 60 tanks and several vehicles."
Anti-aircraft crews began firing shortly after nightfall in the capital on Tuesday Coach Bags, four nights after an international military coalition launched an operation enforce a no-fly zone over the country.
"We've been hearing big noises. We've heard some explosions in the last 10 minutes," Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from Tripoli, said.
"We haven't seen any smoke on the horizon. People are firing guns in defiance. We're in the loyalist heartland here where people are utterly defiant of the international effort to force Gaddafi to surrender, as they would see it.
"The anti-aircraft fire has not been as intense [as Monday night when two naval installations outside the city were hit]. Perhaps they feel in the immediate neighbourhood that most of the significant targets have already been hit."
The AFP news agency reported that at least two blasts were heard at a distance before the capital's air defences opened fire.
Several strong detonations followed, said the journalists who were unable to determine the site of the explosions.
They said anti-aircraft fire streaked into the night sky for around 10 minutes, especially in the area near Gaddafi's residence, not far from the hotel where the international press corps is housed.
In the previous night's operations, the coalition air campaign suffered its first loss with the crash of a US fighter jet in the rebel-held east.
Both crew ejected safely.
The no-fly zone is intended to protect civilians from attack by forces loyal to Gaddafi in their battles with opposition fighters bridge rectifier. The United States announced on Tuesday that it is shifting its focus to widen the no-fly zone across the north African country.
Despite the strikes, Gaddafi has remained defiant. The Libyan leader made a public appearance at his Bab Al-Aziziyah compound in Tripoli that was the target on Sunday of a coalition missile strike, Libyan state television reported.
In televised remarks, Gaddafi said Libya was "ready for battle, be it long or short".
"We will win this battle," footage showed him telling supporters at the compound. "The masses were the strongest anti-air defences."
Fighting rages
The developments came after a day of intense fighting in the three Libyan cities of Misurata, Ajdabiya and Zintan.
Forces loyal to Gaddafi have been shelling Misurata for days, pressing their siege of the embattled western city. Four children were killed in the shelling on Tuesday and at least 40 people were killed on Monday, a resident said.
There was also fierce fighting seamless steel pipe further east in Ajdabiya. Opposition fighters were seen retreating in the face of an attack by government forces.
Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from an area close to Ajdabiya, said there had been clashes outside the city.
"There's been heavy fighting and heavy shelling going on ... the rebels told me there have been heavy casualties and there are a number of corpses between here and the town [of Ajdabiya] that they have been unable to reach," he said.
Meanwhile, around 106km south of Tripoli, Libyan pro-democracy fighters forced government troops to withdraw from the outskirts of Zintan, breaking a siege of the town.
A resident of Zintan told the Reuters news agency that at least 10 people were killed in the bombardment by Gaddafi's forces.
"Gaddafi's forces bombarded Zintan this morning and killed 10 to 15 people," Abdulrahman said.
"After the bombardment they retreated from the eastern area of Zintan. But they have not withdrawn from the northern area electronic ballast. There is still a huge number of soldiers there, backed with 50 to 60 tanks and several vehicles."
Yemen's President salih civil war threat, called for dialogue
The mood in the capital, Sanaa, was tense amid reports that opposing military units cold room, some supporting Saleh and some backing recently defected military commanders, had faced off in skirmishes around the country.
The United States and Saudi Arabia, with strong vested interests in Yemen’s ongoing counterterrorism cooperation, worked behind the scenes to promote a solution, but made no public expressions of support for Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years.
“We continue to consult with our regional partners, including Saudi Arabia, about the situation in Yemen,” an Obama administration official said, declining to comment further. The White House has had no direct contact with Saleh since a call made Sunday by John O. Brennan, President Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters traveling with him in Moscow that it was “not my place” to comment on events in Yemen. “We are obviously concerned about instability” there, he said, describing the focus of U.S. worry as a possible “diversion of attention” from the threat posed by the al-Qaeda offshoot in Yemen.
According to news wire reports and Internet postings by Yemenis, Saleh’s army repelled an attack by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on a military position east of Lawdar, a city in the southern part of the country, killing 12 militants and injuring five. Armed militants have been on a rampage in the southern city of Aden, breaking into nightclubs, throwing out patrons and setting fire to buildings, the Associated Press reported.
Clashes were also reported in the north between pro-revolution Houthi rebels and tribes loyal to the government.
Six weeks of largely peaceful protests against Saleh appeared to reach a tipping point Monday, when dozens of senior military officials, diplomats and government officials resigned to protest the killing Friday of more than 50 demonstrators by government snipers.
“Friday broke our hearts; yesterday opened our eyes,” said Mohammed al-Basha, who has not resigned his position as spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington but described himself as a “neutral”civil servant.
“We saw people of our generation killed with head shots and chest wounds,” he said. “We don’t want that pain again.”
In a meeting with military and tribal leaders late Monday night, Saleh agreed to a plan under which he would leave office at the end of the year jaw crusher. He had initially dismissed the proposal when it was advanced weeks ago by a coalition of opposition political parties that joined with the youthful and civil society protesters, and the opposition Tuesday told him it was no longer on the table.
“We reject Saleh’s offer to step down, and we tell him that the next couple of hours will be decisive for his regime,” Mohammed Qahtan, a spokesman for an opposition political bloc, said Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the powerful commander of Yemen’s northwest military district, who was the most prominent defector Monday, called on Saleh to resign to save the country from disaster. “The military is the property of the people and its protector,” Mohsen said. “It does not work for any specific person.”
In a televised speech to his National Defense Council, Saleh vacillated between threats of a “bloody” civil war and appeals for dialogue. In an apparent effort to split the opposition, he warned that youthful protesters would be victimized by the political factions that have joined them.
To military defectors, he said: “Those who want to reach power through coups should know what they are seeking is impossible.”
Late Tuesday evening, a government spokesman reiterated Saleh’s calls for “direct and transparent dialogue” with Yemeni youth.
The opposition political groups,electronic ballast called the Joint Meeting Parties, denied fears expressed on the street that they or the military were interested in a deal with Saleh. “Civil society youth are now controlling politicians, military and the tribes,” Qahtan said. “Military commanders will not steal the revolution from the people.”
Ali Amrani, the leader of a bloc of politicians who have left the ruling General Peoples Congress party over the past month, said that Saleh must leave but did not rule out an exit strategy agreed to by all sides, including Saleh and his remaining backers, to avoid chaos.
“Those with the revolution have numerous ideological differences,” he said, “and we need to make sure that the sides don’t start disputes immediately at the fall of Saleh.”
The protesters are suspicious of Mohsen’s motives, said Gregory Johnsen, a Yemen expert at Princeton University. “But at the same time, they’re willing to make a deal for the moment to get rid of Saleh.”
Mohsen, a longtime ally of the president bridge rectifier and the most powerful military figure in the country, “is taking advantage in order to ensure for himself a position in a post-Saleh government,” Johnsen said.
The United States and Saudi Arabia, with strong vested interests in Yemen’s ongoing counterterrorism cooperation, worked behind the scenes to promote a solution, but made no public expressions of support for Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years.
“We continue to consult with our regional partners, including Saudi Arabia, about the situation in Yemen,” an Obama administration official said, declining to comment further. The White House has had no direct contact with Saleh since a call made Sunday by John O. Brennan, President Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters traveling with him in Moscow that it was “not my place” to comment on events in Yemen. “We are obviously concerned about instability” there, he said, describing the focus of U.S. worry as a possible “diversion of attention” from the threat posed by the al-Qaeda offshoot in Yemen.
According to news wire reports and Internet postings by Yemenis, Saleh’s army repelled an attack by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on a military position east of Lawdar, a city in the southern part of the country, killing 12 militants and injuring five. Armed militants have been on a rampage in the southern city of Aden, breaking into nightclubs, throwing out patrons and setting fire to buildings, the Associated Press reported.
Clashes were also reported in the north between pro-revolution Houthi rebels and tribes loyal to the government.
Six weeks of largely peaceful protests against Saleh appeared to reach a tipping point Monday, when dozens of senior military officials, diplomats and government officials resigned to protest the killing Friday of more than 50 demonstrators by government snipers.
“Friday broke our hearts; yesterday opened our eyes,” said Mohammed al-Basha, who has not resigned his position as spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington but described himself as a “neutral”civil servant.
“We saw people of our generation killed with head shots and chest wounds,” he said. “We don’t want that pain again.”
In a meeting with military and tribal leaders late Monday night, Saleh agreed to a plan under which he would leave office at the end of the year jaw crusher. He had initially dismissed the proposal when it was advanced weeks ago by a coalition of opposition political parties that joined with the youthful and civil society protesters, and the opposition Tuesday told him it was no longer on the table.
“We reject Saleh’s offer to step down, and we tell him that the next couple of hours will be decisive for his regime,” Mohammed Qahtan, a spokesman for an opposition political bloc, said Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the powerful commander of Yemen’s northwest military district, who was the most prominent defector Monday, called on Saleh to resign to save the country from disaster. “The military is the property of the people and its protector,” Mohsen said. “It does not work for any specific person.”
In a televised speech to his National Defense Council, Saleh vacillated between threats of a “bloody” civil war and appeals for dialogue. In an apparent effort to split the opposition, he warned that youthful protesters would be victimized by the political factions that have joined them.
To military defectors, he said: “Those who want to reach power through coups should know what they are seeking is impossible.”
Late Tuesday evening, a government spokesman reiterated Saleh’s calls for “direct and transparent dialogue” with Yemeni youth.
The opposition political groups,electronic ballast called the Joint Meeting Parties, denied fears expressed on the street that they or the military were interested in a deal with Saleh. “Civil society youth are now controlling politicians, military and the tribes,” Qahtan said. “Military commanders will not steal the revolution from the people.”
Ali Amrani, the leader of a bloc of politicians who have left the ruling General Peoples Congress party over the past month, said that Saleh must leave but did not rule out an exit strategy agreed to by all sides, including Saleh and his remaining backers, to avoid chaos.
“Those with the revolution have numerous ideological differences,” he said, “and we need to make sure that the sides don’t start disputes immediately at the fall of Saleh.”
The protesters are suspicious of Mohsen’s motives, said Gregory Johnsen, a Yemen expert at Princeton University. “But at the same time, they’re willing to make a deal for the moment to get rid of Saleh.”
Mohsen, a longtime ally of the president bridge rectifier and the most powerful military figure in the country, “is taking advantage in order to ensure for himself a position in a post-Saleh government,” Johnsen said.
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