…the public perception of the problems at the Ft. Calhoun nuke plant in Nebraska is getting foggier still with reports on the ‘net suggesting that a 10-mile evacuation is underway, but that references to it have been scrubbed from the net.
The levees or berms that surrounding the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant in Nebraska failed and “…more than 2 feet of water rushed in around containment buildings and electrical transformers at the 478-megawatt facility located 20 miles north of Omaha.”
Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge writes:
Naturally, the severity of the situation is being downplayed by the NRC, very much the way Tepco and Japanese authorities pretended the Fukushima situation was under control, until it was uncovered that there had been plant meltdown within hours of the tsunami
Let’s pray that this is as bad as it gets near Omaha.
MyWay has a lengthy article on a recent study that shows that Tritium has leaked from 48 of 65 U.S. commercial nuclear power sites. “For example, cesium-137 turned up with tritium at the Fort Calhoun nuclear unit near Omaha, Neb., in 2007. Strontium-90 was discovered with tritium two years earlier at the Indian Point nuclear power complex, where two reactors operate 25 miles north of New York City.”
Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen, which allows it to readily bind to hydroxyl radicals, forming tritiated water (HTO), and to carbon atoms. Since tritium is a low energy beta emitter, it is not dangerous externally (its beta particles are unable to penetrate the skin), but it is a radiation hazard when inhaled, ingested via food or water, or absorbed through the skin.[14][15][16][17] HTO has a short biological half life in the human body of seven to 14 days, which both reduces the total effects of single-incident ingestion and precludes long-term bioaccumulation of HTO from the environment.
Any exposure to radiation, the article says, boosts cancer risks. Our aging nuclear power plants, most built in the 60s and 70s, are of old technology and presenting an increasing risk to our environment.
Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) denies rumor “… going around the Internet about a possible nuclear meltdown.”
“I can assure you a Fukushima event will not occur at Fort Calhoun.”
Drudge reports The Missouri River rose to within 18 inches of forcing the shutdown of the Cooper Nuclear Plant.
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Was the flooding of a nuclear power plant in Nebraska as serious as Russia claims? Russia claims the IAEA reported that there was a “…near catastrophic meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant…and goes on to state “…the “events” occurring at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant…put it in the “Level 4” emergency category of an “accident with local consequences” thus making this one of the worst nuclear accidents in US history.”
Sadly, as in Japan, the Obama regime has clamped a veil of secrecy over information about the loss of cooling to one of its idle spent fuel rod pools on June 7th.
Isn’t it cute? It almost looks like a Mini Cooper. I imagine it will run afoul of the blind. They won’t be able to hear it coming.
I am waiting for the new alternative energies to be announced. As fossil fuels become more expensive or we near peak oil, I expect some new Tesla-inspired energy source to be announced. Today, we learn that scientists may have found a way to do away with solar panels by means of an “optical battery“.
Light has electric and magnetic components. Until now, scientists thought the effects of the magnetic field were so weak that they could be ignored. What Rand and his colleagues found is that at the right intensity, when light is traveling through a material that does not conduct electricity, the light field can generate magnetic effects that are 100 million times stronger than previously expected. Under these circumstances, the magnetic effects develop strength equivalent to a strong electric effect.
Wouldn’t it be incredible if we could focus sunlight on a non conductive material that would become a charged battery?
Hat tip to ActivistPost at Before It’s News.
At a cost of $26.6 billion, the 1,600m-tall Kingdom Tower would dwarf the current tallest building in the world, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which is half its height.
I mentioned that I had a wonderful conversation in the Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay pool with a young man from Arizona. One of the things he was interested in was Proton Exchange Membranes (PEM). Wikipedia defines Proton exchange membrane fuel cells, also known as polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells (PEMFC), as “…a type of fuel cell being developed for transport applications as well as for stationary fuel cell applications and portable fuel cell applications. Their distinguishing features include lower temperature/pressure ranges (50 to 100 °C) and a special polymer electrolyte membrane.”
Diagram of a PEM fuel cell
I came across a Seeking Alpha report on “22 Companies With Market Cap Over $50 Million and 100%-Plus Sales Growth Forecast for 2011-12.” Included in that list are several companies involved in PEM or solutions in alternative energy:
Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (ASTI) - $2.70
ASTI is a development stage company formed to commercialize flexible photovoltaic (PV) modules using a technology. The company’s manufacturing process deposits multiple layers of materials, including a thin film of copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) semiconductor material, on a flexible, lightweight, plastic substrate and then laser patterns the layers to create interconnected PV cells, or PV modules, in a process known as monolithic integration. The company’s thin-film PV modules require less than 1% of the semiconductor material to achieve the same power output as a c-Si-based PV device.
Hoku Corp. (HOKU) - $1.99
HOKU formerly Hoku Scientific, Inc., is a diversified clean energy technologies company with three business units: Hoku Materials, Hoku Solar and Hoku Fuel Cells. The company has three operating segments in two industries: Fuel Cell and Solar. The Fuel Cell industry is comprised of the fuel cell segment. The Solar industry is comprised of the photovoltaic (PV) system installation and the polysilicon production segments. Hoku Corp. installed the first six out of a planned total order of 28 Siemens-process reactors at the Polysilicon Plant and in April 2010, produced polysilicon using two of the six reactors. The company is a provider in PV system installations. Under the name Hoku Fuel Cells, Hoku Corp. operates its fuel cell business, which has designed, developed and manufactured membranes and membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
Let’s follow these two and add other companies that are in this industry.
Mike Keefe The Denver Post
This is the second time in two days that this regime has opined on oil prices. Treasury Sec. Geithner said not to worry about oil prices, the economy has strengthened enough to handle the higher oil prices.
Are these guys serious or scared to death? I was told never to believe something until it’s officially denied. That means that oil prices are going much higher and we’re in deep weeds!
