Record heat brings wildfires, and floods, in Alaska
Heat records tumble as Alaska bakes, burns SMH, August 19, 2013 Alaska residents have been enjoying an unusually warm, sunny summer, but the pleasant weather has come at a cost: choking smoke from an extended wildfire season, flooding rivers due to fast-melting snow and glacial ice, and fish covered in algae.
Wildfires have burned 1.25 million acres (500,000 hectares) across Alaska this summer, according to the state’s fire-management center, the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center. Seventy fires were active on Friday, including a 57,870-acre (23,400-hectare) blaze near Delta Junction, about 95 miles (153 km) southeast of Fairbanks.
The fire season usually winds down in late June or early July, but not this year, said Jim Schwarber, a spokesman for the centre……
Heat brings more problems than just wildfires, Thoman and other experts said. Hot and dry conditions are stunting spruce tree growth in interior Alaska, and adding to stress for nearly all species of trees in the northern forest, he said.
Ocean fish have been found covered with algae, possibly a result of hotter sea-surface temperatures, Thoman said. Streams and rivers fed by glaciers and snowpack have been gorged by meltwater, causing sporadic flooding, while rain-fed waterways in parched areas have been running dry, he said. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/heat-records-tumble-as-alaska-bakes-burns-20130819-2s5oi.html#ixzz2cYqMCssq
Climate change effects are stopping nuclear reactors from functioning
Nuclear Reactors Can’t Handle Global Warming , Progressive, By Harvey Wasserman, August 5, 2013 An overheated world now threatens the ability of nuclear reactors to operate at all.
Just as the sales pitch that atomic energy could help with global warming gets its biggest hype, the reactors themselves go very wrong.
And as a “renaissance” turns into a rout, a “new generation” of reactors fades ever-deeper into the realm of expensive fantasy.
The bad news on nuclear power and global warming comes most recently from Cape Cod Bay. All commercial reactors spew huge quantities of waste heat into the rivers, lakes and oceans they use for coolant.
The worst instance (so far) is Fukushima, where hot radioactive effluent still pours into the Pacific Ocean after three explosions the industry claimed could never happen.
Reactors in Alabama, France, Germany, and elsewhere have already been forced to shut because of excess heat.
At Entergy’s Pilgrim, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, a global-warmed summer has heated Cape Cod’s waters beyond the legal limit for cooling a “normal” reactor. So in mid-July Entergy was forced to take Pilgrim down to 85 percent power. Entergy may ask regulators to let it operate at full power with overheated water anyway. Such requests–still under official consideration–have been made repeatedly at Connecticut’s Millstone 2, where the Long Island Sound has soared over 75 degrees.
Meanwhile, Nebraska’s Cooper and Ft. Calhoun reactors were shut in 2011 by massive global-warmed flooding. As many as three dozen U.S. reactors are at risk from dam breaks and the flooding unleashed by climate chaos. Ft. Calhoun may never reopen.
The irony of reactors closed by the global warming they’re supposed to cure seems lost on their pushers….. http://www.progressive.org/nuclear-reactors-global-warming
AUDIO: Runaway global warming as Arctic permafrost thaws
AUDIO Arctic melt damage bill could hit $65 trillion: study http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-25/arctic-melt-damage-bill-could-hit-65-trillion-study/4844416
Release of methane gas from Arctic permafrost could devastate global economy: study http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-25/arctic-methane-could-devastate-economy3a-study/4842994 By David Mack and Stuart Gray
European scientists say the release of large amounts of methane gas from thawing Arctic permafrost could devastate the global economy.
Permafrost, or soil below the freezing point, has been thawing under rising global temperatures for many years.
The thawing is releasing the powerful greenhouse gas methane, which is concentrated in the Arctic tundra and is also found as semi-solid gas hydrates in the sea. A study in the science journal Nature says the release of 50-gigatonnes of methane over a decade will result in flooding, sea-level rise, agriculture damage and health impacts amounting to $60 trillion – which was roughly the size of the entire global economy last year.
The researchers say the impacts will be particularly devastating in developing countries..
Separate research also shows permafrost melting at alarming rates in the Antarctic.
Devastating effect of methane, as Arctic permafrost thaws
Release of methane gas from Arctic permafrost could devastate global economy: study http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-25/arctic-methane-could-devastate-economy3a-study/4842994 By David Mack and Stuart Gray
European scientists say the release of large amounts of methane gas from thawing Arctic permafrost could devastate the global economy.
Permafrost, or soil below the freezing point, has been thawing under rising global temperatures for many years.
The thawing is releasing the powerful greenhouse gas methane, which is concentrated in the Arctic tundra and is also found as semi-solid gas hydrates in the sea. A study in the science journal Nature says the release of 50-gigatonnes of methane over a decade will result in flooding, sea-level rise, agriculture damage and health impacts amounting to $60 trillion – which was roughly the size of the entire global economy last year.
The researchers say the impacts will be particularly devastating in developing countries..
Separate research also shows permafrost melting at alarming rates in the Antarctic.
Rapid climate change, global starvation – a nuclear war would do it
STUMBLING IN THE DARK, REACHING FOR THE LIGHT, Right Now By Tilman
Ruff , 26 july 13, “……….Just 100 Hiroshima-sized nuclear bombs, less than one per cent of the global nuclear arsenal, would generate more than five million tons of soot and smoke if targeted at cities. In addition to local devastation and widespread radioactive contamination, the climate impact would be catastrophic.
Global cooling would be twice as large as following the Tambora explosion, and would persist not a
couple of years but for over a decade, decimating global agriculture. On top of that would come the effects of price hikes; hoarding of food; food riots; intrastate and potential interstate conflicts over
food supplies; the disease epidemics that inevitably spread through malnourished populations; disruption to trade and the complex international supply chains for agricultural inputs – seed, fertiliser, pesticides, fuel and machinery. Continue reading
Immediate climate change: nuclear war can do this
STUMBLING IN THE DARK, REACHING FOR THE LIGHT, Right Now By Tilman
Ruff 25 July 13 “……….Just 100 Hiroshima-sized nuclear bombs, less than one per cent of the global nuclear arsenal, would generate more than five million tons of soot and smoke if targeted at cities. In addition to
local devastation and widespread radioactive contamination, the climate impact would be catastrophic. Global cooling would be twice as large as following the Tambora explosion, and would persist not a couple of years but for over a decade, decimating global agriculture. Continue reading
Global warming- heating cooling water- stopping nukes?
Seawater temps too high for Pilgrim cooling By CHRISTINE LEGERE clegere@capecodonline.com July 18, 2013 PLYMOUTH — The ongoing heat wave could force Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station to shut down, as soaring temperatures continue to warm the Cape Cod Bay waters that the plant relies on to cool key safety
systems. Pilgrim’s license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires the water being drawn from the bay to be no warmer than 75 degrees. On Tuesday night, the temperature in the saltwater system reached 75.3 degrees and remained above the 75-degree limit for about 90 minutes.
If water temperatures rise and show no sign of lowering, the plant has 24 hours to completely shut down.
“The water temperature will be closely monitored as the heat wave persists,” NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan wrote in an email.
The temperature of seawater being drawn from the bay must be low enough to cool the water circulating around the reactor and transform steam from the system back to liquid water.
Although the seawater is warmer when it is discharged back into the bay, it must not be so warm it affects the ecosystem……Mary Lampert, chairwoman of the Duxbury Nuclear Advisory Committee and director of the anti-nuclear group Pilgrim Watch, fired off a letter to NRC officials Wednesday, urging the agency to shut down the Pilgrim plant until the cause of the alarm system failure is found.
“Until that is done, we fail to see how the NRC can provide reasonable assurance for public health and safety,” Lampert wrote.http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130718/NEWS/307180318
US Dept of Energy warns on climate change damaging nuclear and coal plants
Warming already taking toll on U.S. energy sector — DOE Hannah Northey, E&E reporter Greenwire: July 11, 2013 Rising temperatures, decreasing water availability, more severe storms and rising seas stemming from climate change are already affecting every part of the country’s energy sector, and those threats will only grow more severe in years to come, the Energy Department said today.
DOE in a new report outlines the effects a warming world with more chaotic and damaging 
storms, wildfires and other natural disasters is having on oil and gas exploration, power plants, and an aging electric grid.
The outlook isn’t pretty.
The agency pointed to the unprecedented shutdown of a nuclear reactor because of rising seawater temperatures on the Connecticut coast last year, as well as the request by power plants to dump hotter-than-permitted water into nearby lakes and streams.
In another case, high temperatures and high demand last year caused a transformer and power line to trip in Arizona, triggering a cascading blackout that tripped the San Onofre nuclear plant offline, leaving millions of people without power.
Wildfires are threatening large swaths of the electric grid, and waning water resources are calling 
into question just how much hydropower the United States can generate.
What the report also makes clear is that storms like Superstorm Sandy are only a taste of things to come……..
Coming years could bring more damage, DOE said, noting that last year was the warmest year since record keeping began in 1895 for the contiguous United States, and the hottest month for the nation was July 2012. Those higher temperature have ushered in heat waves, a longer wildfire season, decreased sea ice in the Alaskan Arctic sea and a longer growing season, DOE said.
In many cases, historic drought conditions are combining with high temperatures to parch power plants throughout the country that need water to cool reactors, generate steam or produce hydroelectricity.
Higher temperatures are also putting pressure on the system in the form of demand as an increasing number of air conditioners pull power from the grid, causing even more devastating consequences during rolling blackouts and brownouts.
The report calls for a host of new, innovative methods to protect the grid, power plants, and oil and gas producers from the effects of climate change but doesn’t make specific recommendations or provide cost estimates…..http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059984249
U.S. government warns on climate change threat to nuclear and coal power plants
US power plants at risk from climate change, government says SMH, July 12, 2013 Power plants across the US are at increased risk of temporary shutdown and reduced power generation as temperatures and sea levels continue to rise and water becomes less available, the country’s Department of Energy said.
By 2030, there will be nearly $US1 trillion in energy assets in the Gulf region alone at risk from increasingly costly extreme hurricanes and sea-level rises, according to the Energy Department report on the impact of climate change on energy infrastructure.
“As President Obama said in his speech last month, climate change is happening,” said spokeswoman April Saylor in a statement. “As climate change makes the weather more extreme, we have a moral obligation to prepare the country for its effects.”
The report calls on federal, state and local governments to more urgently prepare critical infrastructure – particularly coal, natural gas and nuclear plants – for the compounded risks posed by floods, storms, wildfires and droughts…….
Greenpeace USA spokesman Robert Gardner said the administration’s focus should primarily be transitioning to wind and solar technology, not relying on fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
“The question is why the Department of Energy is really focusing on continuing the problem which has caused this tidal wave of global warming,” said Gardner. : http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/us-power-plants-at-risk-from-climate-change-government-says-20130712-2pv6h.html#ixzz2YxjjqAdb
Climate change increases Chernobyl’s risk of radioactive wildfires
Women in their 20s living just outside the zone face the highest risk from exposure to radioactive smoke, the 2011 study found: 170 in 100,000 would have an increased chance of dying of cancer. Among men farther away in Kiev, 18 in 100,000 20 year olds would be at increased risk of dying of cancer.
the greatest danger from forest fire for most people would be consuming foods exposed to smoke. Milk, meat and other products would exceed safe levels, the 2011 study predicts. The Ukrainian government would almost certainly have to ban consumption of foodstuffs produced as far as 150 kilometres from the fire
Watching for a radioactive forest fire JANE BRAXTON LITTLE, ABC Environment 8 JUL 2013 Tinder dry and radioactive: the forests around Chernobyl are an accident waiting to happen. For 27 years, forests around Chernobyl have been absorbing radioactive elements. A fire would send them skyward again – a growing concern as summers grow longer, hotter and drier. “…….Nikolay Ossienko patrols the forests surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,,,,,,, “Our number one job is to save the forest from fire,”…… It’s a job with international consequences.
For almost three decades the forests around the shuttered nuclear power plant have been absorbing contamination left from the 1986 reactor explosion. Now climate change and lack of management present a troubling predicament: If these forests burn, strontium 90, cesium 137, plutonium 238 and other radioactive elements would be released, according to an analysis of the human health impacts of wildfire in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone conducted by scientists in Germany, Scotland, Ukraine and the United States. Continue reading
Global temperature’s dramatic rise in 21st Century, already
The WMO says droughts affect more people than any other kind of natural disaster because of their large scale and long duration. The decade saw droughts across the world, with some of the longest and most severe in Australia (2002 and other years), East Africa (2004 and 2005, resulting in widespread loss of life) and the Amazon basin (2010)
Clear upward trend’ in global temperatures: WMO ABC News, ALEX KIRBY, 5 July 13, In the first decade of this century extreme weather, global temperatures and sea level all continued a trend in a “clearly upward direction”, says a new report from the World Meteorological Organisation.
If you think the world is warming and the weather getting nastier, you’re right, according to the United Nations agency committed to understanding weather and climate.
The World Meteorological Organisation says the planet “experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes” in the ten years from 2001 to 2010, the warmest decade since the start of modern measurements in 1850.
Those ten years also continued an extended period of accelerating global warming, with more national temperature records reported broken than in any previous decade. Sea levels rose about twice as fast as the trend in the last century.
A WMO report, The Global Climate 2001-2010: A Decade of Climate Extremes, analyses global and regional temperatures and precipitation, and extreme weather such as the heat waves in Europe and Russia, Hurricane Katrina in the US, tropical cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, droughts in the Amazon basin, Australia and East Africa, and floods in Pakistan. Continue reading
Man made greenhouse emissions caused Australia’s hottest summer
Manmade Emissions Led to the Heat Wave That Baked Australia Motherboard, By Jason Koebler, 27 June 13 Scientists are 90 percent sure this year’s Australian heat wave couldn’t have happened without manmade influence. Photo: CIA
Surprise, surprise: The record-breaking heat wave that plagued Australia earlier this year with temperatures that reached up to 121 degrees was almost certainly caused by humans, according to a new study.
The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters by scientists at the University of Melbourne and Australia’s ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Systems Science, highlights how humans have heightened drought effects on the continent. According to the authors, “human contribution to the increased odds of Australian summer extremes like 2013 was substantial, while natural climate variations alone, including El Niño Southern Oscillation, are unlikely to explain the record temperature.”
The so-called “angry summer” was easily the hottest on record, with temperatures hitting more than 27 degrees above average in some parts of the country during the first week of January. When it was happening, meteorologists with the Australian government said that though “Australia has always experienced heat waves … the event affecting much of inland Australia has definitely not been typical.”…..”The model experiments also show that these types of extreme Australian summers will become more severe and more frequent in the future, with further global warming,” she said. ”Extreme summers occur 8 times more frequently in the climate model simulations that include human influences, such as greenhouse gases, compared to the climate model simulations with only natural climate variations.” http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/manmade-emissions-led-to-the-heat-wave-that-baked-australia-1#ixzz2XZtGQ5uR
Obama’s Climate Action Plan : the facts
Fact box on Obama’s climate action plan http://www.smh.com.au/business/carbon-economy/fact-box-on-obamas-climate-action-plan-20130625-2ov92.html#ixzz2XMRTluIq June 25, 2013 The White House on Tuesday released a plan to cut global carbon pollution and address the effects of climate change in three broad ways: cutting carbon pollution domestically, preparing the country to be resilient to climate impacts, and leading international efforts to target climate change.
Below are key highlights of the administration’s “Climate Action Plan:” (Read full report here.) Continue reading
48 USA mayors pledge action to deal with climate chnage
US cities seek greater climate resilience http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/us-cities-seek-greater-climate-resilience-20130618-2of9f.html June 18, 2013US mayors pledged Monday to make their communities more resilient to increasingly severe floods, droughts, extreme storms and wildfires, which they said was more efficient and cost-effective than disaster clean-up afterwards.
Four dozen elected officials, from localities as diverse as Washington DC, Des Moines, Iowa and Santa Barbara County, California, released a one-page plan which laid out actions such as using more renewable energy and making buildings and infrastructure more energy-efficient.
The Resilient Communities for America Agreement was launched less than a week after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a $US20 billion plan to prepare his city for rising sea levels and hotter summers.
The actions by local officials took place as anticipation builds that the White House is planning a series of executive actions in July to address climate.
Federal action can help, but local officials are at the front lines of natural disasters, said Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie. Iowa’s biggest city saw severe flooding in 2008, a trio of “500-year” floods in 2010, a drought in 2012 and the wettest year in 140 years of record-keeping so far in 2013.
“These extreme events are becoming more and more prevalent, and local government is really where it happens,” Cownie said.
Catholic Pope and other religions acting on climate change
Climate change gets religious SMH, 19 June 13 Few religious communities have gone as far in fighting climate change as a church in Queensland which has 24 solar panels bolted to the roof in the shape of a Christian cross. “It’s very effective. It’s inspired some members of our congregation to install panels on their homes,” Reverend David Lowry said of the “solar cross” mounted in 2009 on the Caloundra Uniting Church, which groups three Protestant denominations.
Many religions have been wary of moving to install renewable energy sources on their places of worship, from cathedrals to mosques – or of taking a strong stand on climate change in general – despite teachings that people should be custodians of nature.
But slowly, that may be changing, thanks to new religious leaders including Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
1 This Month
22 June – Virtual Event –Climate Change: New Data, New Debate
Monday, June 22, 2026 2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. CT
YouTube. Register here
Protect Sazan Island from the Trump family! https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/protect_sazan_island_from_the_trump_family_loc/?bqFCVab&v=174511&cl=22707147157&_checksum=5e9dde668860e8231c33699735e16a1fbf22ab2cb01da50c999fe8732b9775ef&utm_source=email&utm_medium=blast_email&utm_campaign=174511
25 June- THE PUKE ON NUKES
Thursday, June 25, 2026
7pm Central Time (8pm ET, 6pm MT, 5pm PT) UTC – 5
From NRC & DOE Deregulation to Techno-Fascist Billionaires Going Nuclear, Plus a Few Songs from Atomic Cabaret REGISTER
26 June – Radiation Trainwreck at the NRC / Join the Protect Better Campaign – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4ZlZ5_qLSHGiLSCg8FF6Bg#/registration
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
-
Archives
- June 2026 (193)
- May 2026 (306)
- April 2026 (356)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (268)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (376)
- September 2025 (257)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 