Chernobyl – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Wolves in Chernobyl could spread to other areas, help support other populations

By Guest PostOctober 5, 2018Naturecez, Chernobyl, chernobyl exclusion zone, gps collar, michael byrne, nuclear power plant, wildlife, wolves

Long free of humans, the site of a nuclear disaster may play an important role in wildlife conservation in the region.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) is a 1,660 square mile area surrounding the remains of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which exploded on April 25, 1986, and released large amounts of radiation into the area. Living in the zone remains prohibited 32 years later, and the resulting lack of human presence has led some to call the zone a de-facto nature reserve. (more…)

Study Offers Economical Solutions for Maintaining Critical Delta Environments

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2013Environment1954, age of humans, Anthropocene, black sea, bulgaria, Chernobyl, danube river delta, deforestation, delta environments, economical solutions, floodplain, frequency, Germany, historic data, hungary, iron gates dams, liviu giosan, main european waterway, nuclear bomb testing, nuclear reactor, radiocarbon analysis, radioisotope cesium 137, rising sea level, romania, sandy barriers, sea level, warming climate, wave dominated deltas, whoi

Millions of people across the world live or depend on deltas for their livelihoods.

Formed at the lowest part of a river where its water flow slows and spreads into the sea, deltas are sediment-rich, biodiverse areas, a valuable source of seafood, fertile ground for agriculture, and host to ports important for transportation.

At least half of the deltas around the world are so-called “wave dominated deltas” – open to the sea and under the impact of wave erosion. And many more deltas will come under wave dominance as dammed rivers carry less and less sediment. In a warming climate, sea levels are rising and storms are increasing in frequency and severity, posing threats to these deltas and the people and habitats dependent on them. (more…)

Crashing rockets could lead to novel sample-return technology

By Guest PostNovember 7, 2013Scienceblack rock desert, bothell, california, capsule, Chernobyl, crashing rockets, nevada desert, nuclear power facility, robert hoyt, robert winglee, sample return technology, tethers unlimited, ukraine, university of washington

During spring break the last five years, a University of Washington class has headed to the Nevada desert to launch rockets and learn more about the science and engineering involved. Sometimes, the launch would fail and a rocket smacked hard into the ground.

This year, the session included launches from a balloon that were deliberately directed into a dry lakebed. Far from being failures, these were early tests of a concept that in the future could be used to collect and return samples from forbidding environments – an erupting volcano, a melting nuclear reactor or even an asteroid in space. (more…)

After Japan Nuclear Power Plant Disaster: How Much Radioactivity in the Oceans?

By Guest PostMay 21, 2011Environmentatlantic, atmosphere, baltic, bioaccumulation of radionuclides, black seas, cesium, cesium isotopes, Chernobyl, chernobyl incident, earthquake, Environment, fukushima, fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant, fukushima plant, henrieta dulaiova, human sources of radiation in atmosphere, iodine, Japan, ken buesseler, national science foundation, nuclear power plant, pacific oceans, radiation level in oceans, radioisotopes, radionuclides, satellite image, seawater, tracer, tsunami, woods hole oceanographic institution

*National Science Foundation awards rapid-response grants to establish ocean radionuclide levels from Fukushima*

Among the casualties of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan was the country’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

A result of the loss of electricity, overheating at the power plant led to significant releases of iodine, cesium and other radioisotopes to the environment. (more…)

Japan Worst-case Scenario Unlikely to Cause Catastrophic Radiation Release

By Guest PostMarch 17, 2011Environmentboiling water reactor, Chernobyl, chest x-rays, explosion, fuel rods, fukushima plant, Japan, john lee, meltdown, nuclear reactor, nuclear reactors, power blackouts, radioactivity, release of harmful radiation, thomas downer, three mile island accident, united states, worst case scenario

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— While exposed spent fuel rods at the failing nuclear reactors in Japan pose new threats, the worst-case scenario would still be unlikely to expose the public to catastrophic amounts of radiation, says a University of Michigan nuclear engineering professor who is an expert on this particular kind of reactor.

“For the public, I don’t believe it would be much higher than two additional chest x-rays,” said John Lee, a professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, citing the results of the Three Mile Island accident. (more…)

Chernobyl Effects Could Last for Centuries

By PravdaSeptember 4, 2010EnvironmentChernobyl, david sumner, Greenpeace, Hiroshima, iaea, ian fairly, international atomic energy agency, mir, mutations, Nagasaki, NASA, nuclear accident, nuclear power plant, oksana kostikov, pavol stracansky, radiation, radioactive contamination, rianne teuleI, russian space station, thyroid cancer, WHO, wladimir wertelecki, world health organization

Nearly 25 years after the worst nuclear accident in history, new scientific findings suggest that the effects of the explosion at Chernobyl have been underestimated. Experts last month published a series of studies indicating that, contrary to previous findings, populations of animals decreased in the exclusion zone surrounding the site of the former nuclear power plant, and that the effects of radioactive contamination after the outbreak had been “overwhelming.”

(more…)

Technological Advances and the Dangers of Nuclear Energy

By PravdaJuly 11, 20101 commentEnvironment, Science1986, air france af 477, airbus 330-200, april 20, april 26, bp, brazil, british petroleum, Chernobyl, deepwater horizon oil exploration, eastern europe, environmental disasters, gulf of mexico, hector scalambrini costa, hiroshima bomb, human activities, nuclear power, nuclear waste, radioactivity, Scandinavia, soviet union, thyroid cancer, uk, zero risk

The successive and increasingly frequent occurrences of environmental disasters caused by human activities deserves our utmost attention. Leading us to necessarily suspect that we should have credible and foolproof trials before accepting assertions regarding existing technologies.

The most striking example is the disaster caused by the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil exploration platform by British Petroleum (BP) which happened last April 20, and which day after day has reached catastrophic proportions.