nuclear-news

US Hospitals are ok with sending home patients, who are irradiating family members and sometimes the general public through their breath, urine, etc. But, they don’t want them to come back to the hospital who made them radioactive! Of course, it is not the fault of the health-care workers. But, neither is it the fault of the hapless person who may be unknowingly exposed to high levels of ionizing radiation, nor the hotel worker who may have to clean-up after them, unknowingly exposed to high levels of ionizing radiation.

Today, a Pennsylvania Emergency Room reported an “Unplanned Contamination” “event” to the US NRC. How much were other people in the ER exposed to, before it was discovered that the person had been treated with radioactive I 131? The healthcare workers probably only stayed near the patient for a few minutes. How long were other patients exposed? The person…

Dr Paul Craig Roberts (born April 3, 1939) is an American economist, author and blogger.^[1] He served for one year as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy in the Reagan administration. He is a former editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal,Business Week, and Scripps Howard News Service. Wikipedia

I put it to you that he is a man who has been firmly embedded in the Ruling elite of the US. I tend to take his words serious. In the interview below he states unequivocally that every representative of every country involved in the TPP negotiations has been bought.

I dare say that Tim Groser’s new post and an 11 million pad to live in while in the US goes a bit towards a bribe but I reckon he has been awarded way more handsomely than what we will…

Opinion:

¶ Why the U.S. is cutting carbon emissions no matter what happens with the Supreme Court • The power sector in the US is transforming to a much less carbon-intensive future, the precise thing that the Clean Power Plan aims for. This is neither a legal development, nor political. It is largely a business decision. [Washington Post]

Scaled Wind Farm Technology in Lubbock, Texas. Photo by Mark Rumsey, Energy.gov photo. Wikimedia Commons.

World:

¶ Venezuela is raising petrol prices for the first time in 20 years, although the president claims it will still be the world’s cheapest. President Nicolas Maduro said pump prices of premium fuel would rise from the equivalent of $0.01 a litre to about $0.60. The cost of lower grade petrol would rise to about $0.10 a litre. [BBC]

¶ Telstra Corporation, an Australian telecommunications concern, plans to speed up the…

Pope Francis continues his message of being good stewards, i.e. caretakers, of the earth and all that is in it. He suggests that there is much to learn from indigenous traditions in this regard. He quotes “‘The dawn rises on all of the tribes together. The face of the earth was immediately healed by the sun’.” (Pope Francis, 16 Feb, 2016, VIS)

Due to Pope Francis’ concern about the destruction of the environment, one can guess that this may have a double meaning – firstly Jesus as the “Great Sun” who heals the land, but also the ability of the sun itself to heal the land by providing safe, renewable energy, (including passive solar). Interestingly, not only the Maya used “Great Sun” as a Kingship term, but the Natchez Indians of the lower Mississippi Valley, many of whom were sold into slavery in the Caribbean by the French.

Opinion:

¶ Clean Power Doesn’t Need a Federal Plan • Last week, the Supreme Court put a stopper on the US Clean Power Plan. From the get-go, the CPP was criticized for being unconstitutional and unnecessary. Well, barring the legal applications of the plan, at least one of those accusations may turn out to be true… [Energy and Capital]

Colorado solar plant

World:

¶ In Germany and Portugal, a new drop-in biofuels process has emerged which is cost competitive with $30 oil, according to the inventors. The process breaks even with crude oil, on an 10-year amortized basis for capex, at roughly $20.30 per barrel of crude oil (assuming refining costs of $8.66 per barrel). [biofuelsdigest.com]

¶ Irish renewable energy firm, Solar 21 has acquired the project rights to build a 22-MW biomass power plant in England. The plant will be built on a 64-acre site…