Brain damage risk to astronauts from radiation
Could deep space cause BRAIN DAMAGE? Radiation could permanently destroy an astronaut’s attention span
- Rats were exposed to radiation levels similar to that found in deep space
- Serious lapses in attention occurred in 64% of the sensitive animals
- Increase in impulsiveness took place in 45% and slower reaction in 27%
- Difference based on a rat’s specific resilience after exposure to radiation
- If same proves true in humans, scientists could identify those more susceptible to radiation before the brain becomes permanently damaged
Daily Mail, By ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD, 30 April 2014 Researchers came to the conclusion after exposing rats to high-energy particles that simulate the conditions astronauts could experience in deep space.
After exposure, a team at John Hopkins University in Maryland made the rats perform a fitness test similar to the ones astronauts, pilots, and soldiers have to take prior to a mission. …....‘In our radiated rats, we found that 40 to 45 percent had these attention-related deficits, while the rest were seemingly unaffected,’ said study leader Dr Robert Hienz……The radiation-sensitive animals all showed evidence of brain damage that began at 50 to 60 days after exposure…..
Currently, astronauts are not as exposed to the damaging effects of radiation because the International Space Station flies in an orbit low enough that the Earth’s magnetic field continues to provide protection.
But several years ago brain scans of Nasa astronauts who spent more than a month in space revealed damage to their eyeballs and brain tissue. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2616792/Could-deep-space-cause-BRAIN-DAMAGE-Radiation-permanently-destroy-astronauts-attention-span.html#ixzz30Ur2J9NG
Plan to bring Germany’s radioactive trash to South Carolina
German nuclear waste could be shipped to Savannah River Site http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2014-04-30/german-nuclear-waste-could-be-shipped-savannah-river-site By Meg MirshakThe U.S. Department of Energy signed a “statement of intent” with German research agencies offering to evaluate accepting, processing and disposing of waste at SRS. No final decision has been made, according to SRS spokesman Jim Giusti.
“All potential work to support DOE’s evaluation would be funded by the German government so the Statement of Intent is an important step forward,” Giusti said in an email this week to SRS stakeholders.
Additional shipments of waste at SRS has drawn opposition from environmentalist Tom Clements, director of watchdog group SRS Watch. SRS already has its own challenges disposing of large amounts of high-level waste existing at the facility, he said.
“The proposal to import highly radioactive spent fuel from Germany to SRS is simply nuclear dumping dressed up as nuclear non-proliferation,” Clements said. “Germany’s challenging dilemma with what to do with its nuclear waste must not become a waste management problem for the Savannah River Site.”
The graphite-based fuel for the German reactor contains U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium. Returning it to the U.S. would remove it from potential use in a nuclear weapon, Giusti said.
The energy department will “prepare appropriate analysis and consult with the public” as part of the National Environmental Policy Act before any decisions on accepting the waste are made, Giusti said.
SunEdison going ahead with large solar energy plants
SunEdison Lighting Up California (And Elsewhere) http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4287 SunEdison has announced it has secured construction financing for the 60 MW Regulus solar power plant located in Kern County, California.
Regulus will consist of around 250,000 solar panels and once operational; SunEdison will provide management and monitoring, field dispatch and reporting services via its Renewable Operation Center (ROC).
“Regulus is our largest North America project to date and is evidence of the momentum we are building in the California utility scale solar market,” said Bob Powell, SunEdison president of North America.
Announcements concerning SunEdison’s involvement in big ticket solar plants in California have become rather commonplace these days – just in the last couple of 6 weeks; the 24 MW Cascade solar farm and the 20MW Adobe Solar Facilityhave been brought online.
Last Thursday, the company also announced it had secured financing from Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. for two solar power plants to be built in Ontario, Canada. Combined, the solar farms will supply enough clean energy to power 1,300 average households.
As well as large-scale flashy solar farms, SunEdison also has interests in helping out those less fortunate with clean energy too.
Last Friday, the company dedicated a solar power system to the Mariposa Center for Girls in the Dominican Republic. The facility assists at-risk schoolgirls in support of the UN’s goals to increase energy access for all. SunEdison donated $10,000 in cash plus an in-kind donation of equipment – a 9.9 kW solar panel system.
“Electricity facilitates education, the delivery of healthcare services, and economic growth,” said Steve O’Rourke, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for SunEdison.
“We are proud to support the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative in this and future endeavors to ensure all people have access to clean, affordable energy.”
Dead nuclear reactors mean increasingly costly funerals
The rising cost of decommissioning a nuclear power plant Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Dan Drollette Jr 30 April 14“……. The Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Rowe, Massachusetts, took 15 years to decommission—or five times longer than was needed to build it. And decommissioning the plant—constructed early in the 1960s for $39 million—cost $608 million. The plant’s spent fuel rods are still stored in a facility on-site, because there is no permanent disposal repository to put them in. To monitor them and make sure the material does not fall into the hands of terrorists or spill into the nearby river costs $8 million per year. That cost will continue for an unknown number of years. David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that even without the ongoing costs of monitoring and security, the average reactor now costs about $500 million to deactivate……..
Costs of dead San Onofre nuclear reactor – who pays?
Nuclear settlement costs investors $96M By Morgan Lee .APRIL 29, 2014 A San Onofre settlement proposal held back first-quarter earnings at Southern California Edison by $96 million, the Rosemead-based utility said Tuesday in federal financial filings.
The agreement, negotiated between the nuclear plant’s owners and two consumer groups, would hold customers responsible for about $3.3 billion in facility-related expenses and the cost of securing replacement power. The California Public Utilities Commission is considering the proposal amid objections from consumer groups that say the agreement favors investors over utility customers.
Including previous charges last year, Edison estimated the settlement would have a $461 million after-tax impact on its bottom line. Before-tax charges totaled $806 million.
Edison’s first-quarter earnings declined by 35 percent — to $176 million — compared with the same period last year.
Edison is the main owner and the operator of San Onofre. San Diego Gas & Electric owns a 20 percent stake in the plant; it took a $187 million impairment charge last year and said recently that it expects no further write-downs.
Crippled by the rapid degradation of newly installed steam generators, San Onofre stopped producing power on Jan. 31, 2012. Edison chose to retire San Onofre for good in June of last year, leaving state regulators to decide who should pay for an assortment of leftover costs — utility customers or corporate stockholders……..http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/apr/29/nuke-settlement-impact-reported/
Uranium – the invisible killer
Uranium Contamination Across America: Holding the Silent Killers Of Environmental Destruction Accountable By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers Global Research, April 29, 2014 PopularResistance.org The findings of the most recent IPCC report are sobering. We have 15 years to mitigate climate disaster. It is up to us to make a major transition to a carbon-free, nuclear-free energy economy within that time-frame. Big Energy and our plutocratic government are not going to do it without effective pressure from a people-powered movement.
More people are getting this concept. This year, there are several major campaigns around Earth Day, for example the Global Climate Convergence and the Cowboy Indian Alliance camp in Washington, DC. We celebrated Earth Day by launching a new national campaign to clean up the thousands of abandoned uranium mines (AUMs) scattered throughout the Great Plains and West Coast.
Uranium: The Invisible Killer
In the days leading up to the launch of Clean Up the Mines campaign, our team of eleven organizers toured Southwest South Dakota to learn more about the AUMs. Our tour was led by Charmaine White Face, a scientist and coordinator of Defenders of the Black Hills, who took us to various sites and brought her Geiger counters. There are 272 AUMs in South Dakota that continue to emit radiation, radon and toxic elements into the air, water and land. The mines were abandoned by corporations like Kerr McGee and Atlantic Richfield who walked away from them when the Uranium Rush that started in the early 1950s was over. We described this in more detail in our previous article about how uranium mines are poisoning the breadbasket of America.
The Northern Great Plains Region of Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota contain more than 3,000 AUMs. There are more than 1,000 AUMs in Arizona and New Mexico. In total, in the 15 western states there are estimated to be more than 10,000 AUMs. One in 7 people in the western US live within 50 miles of an AUM, according to the EPA. This is a national environmental crisis – a silent Fukushima – for which responsibility needs to be taken………..
Accountability for Silent Killers
Exploring the legacy of uranium mining – for Earth destroying weapons of mass destruction and risky nuclear energy – reminded us how far humans have come in environmental destruction. It also showed, once again, how all is related. The Gaia theory of the Earth as a living being where all is connected is evident in the uranium toxicity that spreads through water, air and food
There is a growing movement that links native peoples with the descendants of those who colonized them. Now, many non-natives follow the lead of native peoples against fossil fuel and mineral extraction throughout the continent. It is this kind of solidarity and unity that will not only clean up the mines but will also make even greater changes in our economy, environment and government.
The toxicity of AUMs also reminds us of the cost of living under the rule of an illegitimate governmentwhere money, not the people, rule; of big finance capitalism that puts profit ahead of people and planet – and is enabled by the corrupt corporate government. The experience of the uranium mines shows us that even if it means people will die younger than they should, profit is king when we live under the ‘rule of money.’ It shows us we have an even larger task – ending a plutocratic oligarchy and creating a real democracy where the people rule……http://www.globalresearch.ca/uranium-contamination-across-america-holding-the-silent-killers-of-environmental-destruction-accountable/5379605
Nuclear industry front groups exposed
Nuclear Industry Front Groups – Nuclear Matters And Center For Climate And Energy Solutions – Urged To Come Clean On Funding CNBC, WASHINGTON, April 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Two organizations that inexplicably are getting a pass from most news media outlets in the United States – Nuclear Matters and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) – are, in fact, de facto nuclear industry front groups that have failed entirely to be transparent about their financing, according to the independent watchdog group the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS).
NIRS, which relies on donations for its operations and has a total budget smaller than the salary paid to the CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, is objecting to the fact that in a recent barrage of news releases, op-eds, full-page New York Times ads, and its Web site, the group “Nuclear Matters” nowhere reveals that its primary or currently sole source of funding is Exelon, which maintains the largest U.S. nuclear fleet: 23 reactors at locations in Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Nuclear Matters is represented by Sloane & Company PR, the same firm that works for Exelon itself. Sloane PR has indicated that Exelon is not just “among the funders” of Nuclear Matters. It is currently the primary funder of the front group and funds from other interests are now being sought, according to Sloane. Nowhere is this information being disclosed by Exelon or Nuclear Matters to the public … and there is little evidence that is being demanded and then reported on by the news media. Additionally, no information has been provided to date about the fees and/or other considerations being paid by Exelon’s front group to a growing list of former public officials, including Carol M. Browner, Bill Daley, Spencer Abraham, Evan Bayh, and Judd Gregg.
Also failing to be transparent about its funding is The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, which is holding a National Press Club briefing today on nuclear power and “climate solutions.” However, the news advisory for the C2ES event (featuring Nuclear Matter’s Carol M. Browner) nowhere discloses that the organization is bankrolled in large part by utilities with nuclear reactors.
In fact, Entergy is a founding sponsor and “strategic partner” of C2ES (http://www.c2es.org/about/strategic-partners). Other nuclear-oriented utilities listed on the “Business Environmental Leadership Council” of C2ES include Areva, Dominion, Duke Energy, Exelon, and NRG. (Seehttp://www.c2es.org/about/strategic-partners.) At the time of the 2011 launch of C2ES, Think Progress referred to it as “an explicitly corporate-managed organization.” (Seehttp://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/11/10/366887/pew-center-for-climate-changes-name-now-sponsored-by-energy-companies/.)
Two and a half years later, C2ES misleadingly refers to itself in the news advisory for its April 28th nuclear power briefing as “independent,” which would not appear at all to be accurate in the nuclear power context. Making matters worse, the promotional material for the news event (as noted above) completely omits any reference to C2ES’s heavy reliance on nuclear industry funding and the industry’s active involvement in the “leadership” of the Center
NIRS Executive Director Tim Judson said: “Exelon is spearheading an aggressive, multi-front campaign today to rewrite the rules of the energy marketplace to protect the nuclear power industry, which is dying in the face of a number of factors, including safety concerns, out-of-control costs, and cheap renewable energy alternatives. Exelon, Entergy and the rest of the industry have every right to make their case. All we are asking them to do is to come clean about the funding of their front groups. Enlisting formerly high visibility government officials to act as shills for nuclear power is completely acceptable as long as the industry does not try to hide the ball about where the money is coming from.”
In addition to calling for more transparency, Judson emphasized that any notion that C2ES is a major environmental group that suddenly is “coming out for nuclear” is completely mistaken. There is a long track record that shows that the Center and its predecessor (Pew) have long defended and even openly touted nuclear power:………
ABOUT NIRS
2013 marked the 35th anniversary of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, which was founded to be the national information and networking center for citizens and environmental activists concerned about nuclear power, radioactive waste, radiation and sustainable energy issues. For more information, go to http://www.nirs.org. http://www.cnbc.com/id/101619421
Shutting down nuclear power – a process already on the way
U.S. expects about 10 pct of nuclear capacity to shut by 2020 HOUSTON, April 28 Tue Apr 29, 2014 (Reuters) – Lower natural gas prices and stagnant growth in electric demand will lead to the loss of 10,800 megawatts of U.S. nuclear generation, or around 10 percent of total capacity, by the end of the decade, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a report issued on Monday.
About 6,000 MW of nuclear capacity will shut by 2020 in addition to six reactors totaling 4,800 MW that have already shut or plan to shut in that time period, the EIA said in its 2014 annual electric output study.
“Retirements often are the result of unique circumstances, but some owners of nuclear power plants have voiced concerns about the profitability of their units,” the EIA said in its report.
Lower natural gas prices that have pared wholesale power prices will hurt profitability for nuclear units and some high-cost reactors will shut as economic challenges mount, the EIA said.
“When faced with declining profitability, plant owners may choose to retire their units rather than make additional investments to keep them operating,” the report said…….
In its 2013 report, the EIA projected only 7,700 MW, or about 7 percent, of nuclear capacity would retire by 2040. The report did not mention the number of units that are likely shut after operating for 60 years after 2029. http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/04/28/utilities-nuclear-eia-idINL2N0NK23D20140428
Secretive TPP distrusted by both Left and Right – says Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader on TPP, GM Recall, Nuclear Power & the “Unstoppable” Left-Right Anti-Corporate Movement, Democracy Now, 28 April 14 Former presidential candidate and longtime consumer advocate Ralph Nader joins us to discuss his latest book, “Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State.” Nader highlights the common concerns shared by a wide swath of the American public, regardless of political orientation, including mass government surveillance, opposing nebulous free trade agreements, reforming the criminal justice system, and punishing criminal behavior on Wall Street. Nader also discusses the U.S. push for the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, General Motors’ new bid to escape liability for its deadly ignition defect, the revived nuclear era under President Obama, and challenging U.S. militarism through the defense budget.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form
AMY GOODMAN “……….Now, he’s out with a new book; it is called Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State. It highlights the common concerns shared by a wide swath of the American public, regardless of political orientation. These concerns include resisting mass surveillance, opposing nebulous free trade agreements, and punishing criminal behavior on Wall Street. Throughout, Ralph Nader argues in favor of transcending divisive partisan labels and instead working in concert to pursue shared interests, all the while offering practical solutions rooted in collective organizing………
AMY GOODMAN: Ralph Nader, I want to go to this global issue of the TPP, because over the weekend President Obama spoke to young leaders during this town hall-style meeting at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His talk was briefly disrupted by peaceful protesters holding up signs denouncing a sweeping new trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership—the TPPoften referred to by critics as NAFTA on steroids, as you were talking about, establishing a free-trade zone that would stretch from Vietnam to Chile, encompass 800 million people, about a third of world trade, nearly 40 percent of the global economy. Obama defended the TPP………
AMY GOODMAN: That’s President Obama in Malaysia. Who is advising President Obama on TPP? The unions? Environmental organizations? Ralph Nader.
RALPH NADER: Well, they can’t get back through the secrecy of these negotiations in these drafts. As Lori Wallach of Global Trade Watch has pointed out repeatedly, even members of Congress couldn’t get the draft negotiations from the TPP, although the corporate lobbyists have access to these drafts. But it’s quite clear that the TPP is nothing more than an extension of NAFTA and the World Trade Organization on steroids.
And here’s where we have a left-right alliance, each one with their reason. On the left, they’re opposed to these agreements because they’re bad for workers; they’re bad for the price of medicines being affordable, under the intellectual property rules that are being negotiated; they’re bad for open government; and they’re bad for the environment. On the right, they don’t like these trade agreements because they shred our sovereignty. I happen to agree with that, too. All international treaties reduce sovereignties, by definition. But this one, these trade agreements are the greatest usurpers of local, state and national sovereignty in American history. And so, we have this growing alliance. And, by the way, it goes back to documents like the 2002 Texas Republican state platform, that was dead set against these trade agreements on sovereignty issues……..http://www.democracynow.org/2014/4/28/ralph_nader_on_tpp_gm_recall
Collapse of uranium prices forces mining companies to stockpile uranium
Mining companies stockpile uranium near Grand Canyon Mining.Com Cecilia Jamasmie | April 28, 2014 Faced with dropping uranium prices, US mining companies close to the Grand Canyon have begun storing their output as they wait for prices to recover, which has environmentalists up in arms over potential radioactive contamination…….
“The cumulative effects of uranium ore on [nearby waterways] were not anticipated by the original federal environmental review, which really needs to be redone,” he was quoted as saying.
Controversy around Energy Fuels’ project sparked in April last year, after the company announced it was going ahead with its Canyon Mine despite a 20-year ban on new uranium mining claims, passed by the Obama administration in 2012, which applies to the a 1 million-acre area around the park.
The company has clarified the ruling doesn’t affect its plans, as it obtained the rights for it almost two decades ago.
What does affect the company’s plans is the current price of uranium, which has dropped about 25% so far this year…..http://www.mining.com/mining-companies-stockpile-uranium-near-grand-canyon-64493/
‘photoswitches,’ – a coming breakthrough in solar energy?
Scientists Discover How to Generate Solar Power in the Dark Meet ‘photoswitches,’ a breakthrough set of materials that act as their own batteries, absorbing energy and releasing it on demand. THE ATLANTIC, TODD WOODYAPR 15 2014, The next big thing in solar energy could be microscopic.
Scientists at MIT and Harvard University have devised a way to store solar energy in molecules that can then be tapped to heat homes, water or used for cooking.
The best part: The molecules can store the heat forever and be endlessly re-used while emitting absolutely no greenhouse gases. Scientists remain a way’s off in building this perpetual heat machine but they have succeeded in the laboratory at demonstrating the viability of the phenomenon called photoswitching……….
“One design we have for such an application is purely gravity driven – the material flows from one tank to another. The flow rate is restricted so that it’s exposed to the sun long enough that it gets fully charged. Then, when it’s time to cook dinner, after the sun is down, the flow direction is reversed, again driven by gravity, and the opposite side of the setup is used as the cooking surface.”
“As the material flows back to the first tank, it passes by an immobilized catalyst which triggers the energy-releasing process, heating the cooking surface up,” he adds.
Other versions of such device could be used to heat buildings.
Kucharski said the MIT and Harvard team is now investigating other photoswitching molecules and substrates, “with the aim of designing a system that absorbs more of the sun’s energy and also can be more practically scaled up.” http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/04/scientists-discover-how-to-generate-solar-power-in-the-dark/360679/
Antiquated computer systems at USA’s nuclear missile facilities
America’s feared nuclear missile facilities are still controlled by computers from the 1960s and floppy disks
- 60 Minutes received a tour of the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the storage facility of 450 nuclear warheads and a Minuteman III missile
- The facility was built in the 1960s to withstand a nuclear attack and alot of its equipment dates back to that time
- The floppy disks that contain the missile launch codes are safe and effective because it allows center to stay disconnected from the internet and prevent cyber terrorism, the military claims
- Tour comes in the wake of a major cheating scandal that has implicated 91 Air Force nuclear missile officers, nine of which were fired
Mail Online, By JOEL CHRISTIE, 27 April 2014 The isolated U.S. military silo that contains one of deadliest nuclear arsenals in the world – some 450 warheads that are each 20 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima – is being controlled by computers dating back to 1960s and a launch system that relies on floppy disks.
But security officials maintain their methods are not only functional but hack-free, with the underground control room in Wyoming not connected to the internet, stopping any cyber terrorists gaining control over the weapons.
60 Minutes gained access to the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne and will broadcast its full report from the facility tonight.
CBS Correspondent Lesley Stahl said she believed the unprecedented invitation to take a look inside was part of a move by the military to show the public their system was safe in the wake of a widespread cheating scandal among their ranks.
Four Air Force nuclear missile officers were found to be at the center of the still-unfolding scandal, with nine officers were fired at the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, and 82 others facing disciplinary action after being caught cheating on proficiency tests.
The officers need to get 100 percent on the exams in order to work at facilities, such as the one in Cheyenne.
The four ‘librarians’, as they have been dubbed, allegedly faciliated the cheating, in part by transmitting test answers via text message. ….. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614323/Americas-feared-nuclear-missile-facilities-controlled-computers-1960s-floppy-disks.html#ixzz30DZNgbTC
Abolish nuclear weapons – say Buddhist, Christian and Muslim leaders
US Faith Groups Unite to Call for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Stressing Devastating Humanitarian Impact, Religion News Service April 25, 2014 Buddhist, Christian and Muslim Communities at US Institute of Peace in Advance of UN Non-Proliferation Conference
WASHINGTON DC: On April 24, 2014, Buddhist association Soka Gakkai International (SGI) sponsored “Making a Difference – Faith Communities and the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons,” a one-day interfaith symposium held at the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC.
Over 100 participants from diverse faiths including Buddhist, Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions came together with peace activists and experts to identify common concerns and refresh their determination to rid the world of these inhuman weapons.
At the symposium, representatives of 11 different faith groups adopted a joint statement pledging increased activism by religious communities toward nuclear weapons abolition. This statement will be presented to the chair of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) taking place at the UN Headquarters in New York from April 28 to May 9.
The statement reads, “The continued existence of nuclear weapons forces humankind to live in the shadow of apocalyptic destruction…. The moral insights of our traditions teach us that this threat is unacceptable and must be eliminated.” See http://www.sgi.org/assets/pdf/Joint-Faith-Statement-Antinukes.pdf………
Cosponsors of the event included Abolition 2000, American Values Network, Federation of American Scientists (FAS), Arms Control Association (ACA), Global Zero, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Pax Christi International, Pax Christi-USA and Women’s Action for New Direction (WAND).
Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is a grassroots Buddhist association with 12 million members around the world. Its activities to promote peace, culture and education are part of the longstanding tradition of Buddhist humanism. SGI-USA has 120,000 members throughout the U.S.A.
Contact
William Aiken
waiken@sgi-usa.org
301-346-0167
NASA just doesn’t get it – that ionising radiation is a killer
Cosmic ray radiation could prevent humans from travelling to Mars, Herald Sun, STAFF WRITERS NEWS.COM.AU APRIL 25, 2014
A NEW report has exposed one of the big problems confronting our ambition to send humans to Mars – galactic cosmic ray radiation.
Cosmic rays consist of high energy particles. When humans leave the earth’s atmosphere, these rays can kill cells and even cause cancer. They’re also extremely difficult to shield against, Wired reports.
The new study, published in the scientific journal PLOS One, says astronauts could receive doses of cosmic ray radiation exceeding their lifetime limit after just 18 months (for women) or two years (for men) on the International Space Station.
“The type of tumours that cosmic ray ions make are more aggressive than what we get from other radiation,” says radiation expert Francis Cucinotta, who wrote the report.
That conclusion obviously has wider repercussions for extended space travel. If we’re going to send anyone to Mars, we’d better be able to protect them against the effects of this radiation. Cucinotta estimates that, as technology currently stands, an astronaut’s lifespan would be shortened by 15-24 years by a trip to the red planet.
NASA does take steps to ensure its astronauts don’t vastly increase their chances of dying from cancer. Once an astronaut has spent too much time accumulating radiation in space, they’re grounded, Wired reports……..http://www.heraldsun.com.au/technology/science/cosmic-ray-radiation-could-prevent-humans-from-travelling-to-mars/story-fnjwlbuf-1226895669558
NASA Chief: Mars Mission Necessary For Human Survival Http://Www.Abc22now.Com/Shared/News/Top-Stories/Stories/Wkef_vid_19784.Shtml
Ultimately, Bolden said, the human race will need to become colonists.
“If this species is to survive indefinitely we need to become a multiplanet species,” Yahoo quotes Bolden as saying. “We need to go to Mars, and Mars is a stepping stone to other solar systems.”
Bolden said a journey to Mars should be possible by the 2030s, with modest increases to NASA’s budget.
Renewable energy financing deal for home-owners
Google, SunPower announce joint renewable energy financing deal Renewable Energy Focus 24 April 2014 Pair teams up to finance $250 million in residential solar lease projects
According to the agreement, Google will commit up to $100 million, with SunPower committing approximately $150 million. Thousands of homeowners are expected to finance solar power systems through SunPower solar leases as a result of this program, joining approximately 20,000 Americans already leasing from SunPower……
…..This agreement represents Google’s 16th renewable energy investment and its third residential rooftop solar investment. Overall, Google has invested more than $1 billion in renewable energy projects on three continents and across a range of technologies. Together, these projects can generate more than 2GW — enough electricity each year to power approximately 500,000 U.S. homes. http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com/view/38121/google-sunpower-announce-joint-renewable-energy-financing-deal/
1 This Month
23-25 October – on Zoom – World BEYOND War’s annual global conferenc
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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