Search This Blog

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Speaking Of TV....

James Hansen is scheduled to speak about climate change on C-Span at 9:05 p.m. EST.  There is a good discussion on the channel right now!

The God Problem On Book TV

The book is called "The God Problem:  How A Godless Cosmos Creates" by Howard Bloom.

It's scheduled to appear at 7:00 p.m. Eastern and will probably replay later this weekend.

Heartland Institute "Expert" Wins Award!

Yeah, the same moron featured in the previous post.

Congratulations, idiot.

Heartland Institute "Expert" Learns Global Warming Is True

His name is Marc Moron Morano:


A Fission-Fusion Fusion

To help transmute high level radioactive waste.

Japan's P.M. Calls Fukushima An "Unprecedented Challenge"

"Unlike anything humanity has ever undertaken".

Friday, December 28, 2012

What's Wrong With This Headline?

The news is good.  It's about a study that found that proton beam therapy works no better than intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).  So why pay more?  But protons are radiation as are the photons associated with IMRT.

Sakura Meet Rosemary & Meister

Sakura was the Fukushima robotic aide I covered in this post.

Here are a couple more.  They all face hurdles:


Krauss With A One-Two

A couple of short philosophical videos by theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss:







How Celebrities Went To War Against Science

A round-up of some of the celebrities who engaged in pseudo-science.  They're just people too.

Nuclear Power Plant Flood Risk

The author of this piece did very well in touching base with the anti-nukes.  However, it is important for nuclear facilities to prepare for climate change and not ignore it.  And they don't have to wait for the NRC to prod them, either.

Fukushima Victims Take A Stand With Human Rights Declaration

Which is non-binding.

New Japanese PM To Review Plans To Ditch Nuclear Power

He will consult with local communities and experts.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Nice Chernobyl Photography

Courtesy of National Geographic.

Jerry Coyne Chimes In

Biologist Jerry Coyne chimes in on my last post about science and religion.  He sides with Dawkins (and me!).  I don't know when this talk was given, but it was uploaded to YouTube less than a week ago:


Physicist Criticizes Biologist Over Anti-Religious "Fundamentalism"

Peter Higgs, known for theorizing the recently discovered boson which carries his name, has criticized biologist Richard Dawkins over Dawkins' approach to dealing with religious believers.

What  may motivate Dawkins is that the central paradigm of his science is evolution, and many religious leaders promote that evolution isn't true. There isn't much religious objection to physics, so Higgs hasn't had to deal with the same problems that Dawkins has.

I'm fundamentally (pun intended) with Dawkins.  Higgs offers no reason not to be other than others in his field are religious.  That's not a good reason.

TEPCO Needs More $

To compensate evacuees and others to the tune of $38,000,000,000.

Fukushima Waste Tanks Fail Drop Tests

Causing clean-up delays.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

What Is & Isn't A Scientific Debate

Evolution, global warming, and radiogenic cancer are not debatable.

From Fukushima To Okinawa

More than 1,000 people have made the move to avoid the radioactivity.

Flaws In Pipeline Leak Detection Systems

Detect leaks less than 20% of the time.

Recall that natural gas is a greater contributor to global warming than CO2.  Even though when burned, natural gas produces less CO2 than coal, any natural gas leakage works against this benefit.

Science & Faith. Another Reconciliation Attempt?

In HuffPo.

It's hard to really understand what the author means by "faith".  He seems to be arguing more for philosophy.

In any event, just because some things are not understood by humans or we've discovered some things that are counter-intuitive doesn't mean "faith" has anything to add.  It doesn't.

U.S. & S. Korea Team On Fusion Power

In a project called K-Demo.

Plans For HLW Storage In Utah

Are dead.

Neutron Detectors Placed In ISS

Bubble detectors to measure neutron dose components.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Fukushima Update

Still "volatile".

Protecting Nuclear Facilities From Criminal Acts

A service of the IAEA:


What Do So Many People Have Against Science?

James Randi answers.

It's ironic that the interview appears in the Washington Times which is owned by the Unification Church.

MOX Glovebox Welds Need Repair

At SRS.

Immediate Health Risk Must Be Weighed Against Cancer Risk

When considering medical procedures using ionizing radiation. 


Spain's Oldest Nuke Plant Shutsdown

Due to its lack of economic viability.

Cutting CO2 Emissions With Innovative Tech

Some of which are described here.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Hanford Challenge Criticizes Hanford Progress

Hanford Challenge is your typical self-annoited appointed watchdog group.

They are critical of DOE's progress at Hanford.

It does seem like the DOE could be doing better.

MI Med Center Awarded For Dose Reductions

Congratulations!

High Tritium At Barnwell Disposal Site

Or is it a waste "dump"? 


Biased German Physician Faults WHO Fukushima Report

I'm referring to the WHO Fukushima Preliminary Dose Estimate Report which I provided a link to on the right hand side of this webpage.

What evidence does this physician have that the WHO really got it wrong?  None. He's just finding them guilty by association with the IAEA and he's claiming that they've omitted discussions on the health effects.

That's because that report only deals with dose estimates.  Health effects are to be discussed in a subsequent report which is due to be published this year (time is running out).

The WHO is yet to respond.


Saturday, December 15, 2012

Sunlight Radiation Hormesis

So I was reading the latest issue of the Health Physics Journal and I see this really stupid letter by a guy named William B. Grant criticizing the UV Index working group on its work.  The UVI  working group primarily focuses on the cancer risk associated with UV radiation.

Grant accused them of not paying enough attention to the beneficial effects of UV radiation in areas other than bone health (ie, cancer risk reduction).  He primarily used studies which suffered from the ecological fallacy to bolster his case.

Like the radiation hormesis proponents (or Intelligent Design proponents or global warming deniers) he has a website.


TX IDiot Legislation

C'mon Texas, stop this nonsense!

IDiot Tries To Raise Doubts On Biology

From the IDiot Institute (actually The Discovery Institute which tries to undermine biology in favor of the long debunked Intelligent Design, hence the name IDiot):


How's that model of the Designer looking?

IAEA To Assist In Japan's Decontamination

Post-Fukushima.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Pressure On Southern Company

As the company modifies its messaging on its new plant construction.

Wade Allison At It In Warsaw

Apparently he gave a talk to the World Nuclear Power Briefing called the "Road To Public Confidence In Nuclear Power" (see towards bottom of the webpage link).

Congrats Americans!

Most of you are not in denial of global warming.

The rest of you need an education....and not a pseudo-education from Rawls.

TEPCO Admits Bad Safety Habits

Behind the Fukushima crisis.

2012 Set To Be Hottest U.S. Year On Record

According to this estimate.  We will know soon.

Exelon Tells Employees To Tell Congress

To end wind power tax credits because it's hurting their profitability.

The Fukushima "50"

Those who helped control the plant during the crisis...actually more than fifty.  Cool graphic at bottom of article.

Bent Fuel Rod At TEPCO's Niigata Rx

Likely due to poor procedures.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

LA - This Is Very Troubling

Here's a  <20 minute talk by Barbara Forrest of the National Center For Science Education called, "Religious Politics and Secular Values".  It was posted on YouTube yesterday though it dates back to about a year ago.  The focus is on Louisiana and the interplay between religion and politics there:


America - This Is Very Troubling

About 36% of Americans think that the changes we've experienced from climate change, are due to end times.


Nuclear Power Is Japanese Campaign Issue

Wasn't much of one in the recent U.S. election.

UNSCEAR Approves Rad Advice

And they have more work planned for next year.

On Cloudy Days, Your Eyes Can Still Get Sunburned

The UV rays pass through the clouds.

Yucca Mountain: A Post-Mortem

Good, though lengthy article on the history of the site.

Santa Susana Field Lab Still Contaminated

After more than several decades.

Las Vegas Radiation Drill

It could really happen, but what are the odds?

Renewables Can Power Grid

Most of the time.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

How About Some Cheese With That Whine?

I've written about the International Hormesis Dose Response Society before (see my page, "Comparing The Creationist & Hormesis Cults", on the right hand side of this webpage) and I've written about Jerry Cuttler before (search his name).

Put the two together and you have a paper by him in the latest "journal" published by the society.  It's titled "Commentary On The Appropriate Radiation Level For Evacuations".  You will have to search for it to read it, and when you do you'll see that he's been repeating this over and over.

This is the opposite of science.

Instead of providing new evidence to support his claim, he attached a paper from 1990 to his.

It's almost 2013.

That's classic science denial.

Fukushima - Still Leaking Radioactive H2O

As TEPCO struggles to find location of leak.

Poisoning The Well

Good article which describes how even though injecting pollution into aquifers is against the regulations, a company can get exemptions.  And with the current surge in domestic drilling for energy resources, that's what companies are doing.

Bang! There Goes That Theory!

It looks like there is a British television show called "Bang Goes The Theory" which tried to give the "truth about the effects of radiation".

But they didn't.

Scientist Doesn't Like Science

You can always tell when they use the neologism of "scientism".  When we apply the scientific method to everything, we fare better than when we don't.  Yes, even ethics.  When we observe and tabulate the effects of certain behaviors on others we can get data to help us decide whether the behaviors are more harmful than we might have first thought.

Monday, December 10, 2012

The RadWaste Market - The Good, The Bad....

And the Ugly.

An accurate summary of the fighting associated with the radwaste market.

Japan's Tsuruga Plant Sited On Fault

And will likely be shutdown.

Georgia's Rad Material Market

Not the U.S. state of Georgia, but the country.  It seems to be part of an illicit market for radioactive material which could be used to make either a dirty bomb or a nuclear weapon.

SRS Assists Fukushima Cleanup

They gained expertise in cleaning up U.S. sites.

The Santa Lie - Does It Hurt Kids?

Here's a Slate article that discusses the question and generally finds that because it fosters creativity it has some benefit.  And of course, one day the children learn it was lie.

But what about this?:


Despair After Last Week's Climate Conference

Summarized here.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Exxon Hates Your Children


Proliferation Risk Of Thorium

It's not proliferation risk free.

And Don't Forget About Health Physics!

A good article on what is and is not a scientific debate and the role of the media.

Japan's Health Physics Deniers

Yup, Japan has them too, and some have been nuclear industry funding recipients.

One of them says that the linear, no threshold model is a "tool" and possibly not scientifically sound.

It may not be, but he needs to provide evidence to convince others, and he obviously hasn't.

I don't know what work he's done on salamanders or other animals, but it's sure is early to declare that there are no harmful effects.

Fukushima - A Nice Place To Visit

But would you want to live there?


Pseudoscience - The Shadow Of Science

This article describes what I've found to be true...the pseudosciences will always migrate to do what they can to look like legitimate science because real science earns so much respect.

Working against biology we have the Discovery Institute and working against health physics we have the International Dose-Response Society.  They look reputable and scientific...they even have PhD's.

But they are peddling nonsense.

Exporting Natural Gas

It may make economic sense, but does it make environmental sense?

More S. Korean Rx Parts Problems

Remember those S. Korean unverifiable parts?  More problems.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Reminder - Science Refutes God Debate

Starts in just under an hour.

French Nuclear Power Dead?

According to one analyst due to cost overruns.

Ban On CO2

That would be U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

I wonder why the article's author felt compelled to find a climatology denier to interview.

Al Gore: Nuclear Power Too Expensive

At a green energy conference.

Fukushima - >80% Of Homes Remain Contaminated

About 100,000 homes was the estimate of the total number requiring decontamination.

IDiot Needs Focus

Here's biologist, but biology denier, Doug Axe attempting to raise doubts about evolution (and sell a book):




7 Gift Ideas For The Climate Change Denier In Your Life

Courtesy of Popular Science.

Africa - Getting Energized

Kenya is scheduled to have its first nuke plant by 2022:


Meanwhile, Ghana and Morocco are scheduled to open large solar power plants.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Earth's Rad Belts Are Highly Dynamic

Remember the two space probes launched a couple of months ago to study the Earth's radiation belts?

They've begun to transmit unexpected data.

"Don't Criticize Science When It Doesn't Give You The Answer You Thought You Knew"

Here's a wonderful Forbes article (Forbes of all places!) criticizing some of our Congressmen for promoting anti-vaxxers (the false allegation that vaccines cause autism, they don't).

Genetic Background Matters

This study shows that it matters in relating skin cancer risk to UV exposure, but it also matters for other cancer risks and ionizing radiation.

Many people make the mistake of thinking that the linear, no threshold risk model applies to individuals, but it doesn't.  It applies to a population.  An individual may be at less or greater risk than the population as a whole.  And different populations can have different radiation cancer risks.  This should be obvious in the case of UV radiation where darker skinned populations are at less risk than lighter skinned ones, but there can also be traits which cause differential ionizing radiation responses.

NRC Whistleblowers On Flood Risks At Nuke Plants

Those that are downstream of dams.

TEPCO Considers Giant Net To Control Contaminated Fish

This sort of thing was done before to minimize the spread of Hg contaminated fish in 1974.

Diet & Radiation Destroy Brain Tumor Cells

In mice.  Those provided with a high fat, low carb diet fared better than those with a standard diet.

Q&A At An Anti-Nuke Conference

I can't embed the video, but it's here, from the recent Chicago anti-nuke conference, featuring Arnie Gundersen (I don't know who is at his side).

It's interesting to see how they maintain fear among themselves.


Manhattan Project National Historic Park

It's a mouthful, but a part of history.

Anti-Nukes Visit Old Chicago Waste Site

They say to keep the risks of nuclear power in the public's mind, but if it's so risky why are they there?

Monday, December 3, 2012

Climatology Deniers Write Stupid Letter

Not in a science journal like the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, but in the Financial Post!

For a resounding criticism of it, read this.


Latest From Doha

Covered by the NYT and Reuters.

When More Medical Radiation Is Good

When targeting lung cancers with it which have evolved resistance to drugs.

Medical Radiation Exposure Reduction Conference

Is being held this week by the IAEA.

Science Refutes God

Is the topic of a debate which is being live-streamed this Wednesday.

Teens Dying Curb Sunbed Tanning Industry

Yeah, not a good thing to contribute to kids' cancer.  And where have we seen this line before (think - fossil fuel industry and global warming or nuclear industry and LNT or religious organizations and evolution)?:

 “Though they don’t have much in the way of scientific argument, they do their best to obfuscate.”

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Radiation Issue In Indiana Town?

Possibly due to fly ash, but the EPA doesn't agree with local "expert".

Faults Inspected At Tsuruga Nuke Plant

They can learn from Fukushima too.

Fukushima Inspires Safety For Georgia Rx's

As covered by CNN.

Bashing Nuclear Power

The Nuclear Energy Information Service is holding a two day conference in Chicago, starting yesterday.  Their confirmed list of speakers (provided on their website) are pretty much the same anti-nuclear folks of decades past.

Video's of yesterday's talks are here.

Arnie Gundersen has posted his talk on his website.

Montana You Have An IDiot

Who has been elected as a legislator.  Not a smart move.

The Guardian On Cumbria

The Guardian is a British newspaper and Cumbria is the proposed high level radioactive waste disposal site. Here are a series of short videos posted by the newspaper where a reporter gets different viewpoints from different folks:

Saturday, December 1, 2012

CO2 Could Reduce Crop Yields

It almost certainly will in a particular region for a particular crop, but it may help certain crop yields in other regions.  Some people focus only on the fact that CO2 is consumed by plants as a part of photosynthesis, so the first thought is that rising CO2 should be good.  But rising CO2 also causes temperature increases, droughts and flooding which can be worse.

High Thyroid Doses To 178 Fukushima Workers

According to this article describing the draft WHO report on Fukushima.

Islam To Focus On Science - Surely You Jest

Though it would be refreshing.

Inside Fukushima - Chaos & Uncertainty

An opinion in the NYT based on viewing the released videos.

EnergySolutions Site Changes Approved

But I can't tell what they are from this nebulous article.