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Zircon, or any other material used to encapsulate nuclear waste, must hold the radioactive elements almost like a kind of scar-tissue, and prevent them from finding their way into the environment, e.g. into ground water. However, it is well known that radiation cases damage to most materials, modifying them chemically.... |
The effect is to destroy the initial stable crystalline arrangement of atoms in the tough zircon structure, and to turn them into an amorphous glassy material, which swells and becomes a less effective barrier with the environment. It is found that samples of zircon that have been damaged by radiation will dissolve in ... |
Most previous evaluations of the effects of radiation on ceramics such as zircon, intended for use to encase nuclear waste, have been made mostly using calculations and computer models (rather like the vexed issue of climate change). These new conclusions arise from direct measurements made by Farnan at Cambridge using... |
Wednesday, January 17, 2007 |
Doomsday Clock Hands Move Toward Holocaust. |
The Doomsday Clock is a clock-face not a clock, and has measured the symbolic proximity of the world to nuclear holocaust for 60 years. Today, scientists will move its hands forward to show we are facing the gravest nuclear threat for at least 20 years. The original is displayed on a wall at the University of Chicago w... |
This afternoon, at 2.30 p.m., simultaneous events will be made in London and in Washington from seven minutes to some unspecified number of minutes closer to midnight. |
The time was advanced five years ago in 2002, as a consequence of the aftermath of 9/11 and dissipating global arms treaties which marked a worrying mark-up in world political friction and instability. Now, at the beginning of 2007, the world map is stained more deeply on both counts, but also, in actions to be taken u... |
Iran appears set on enriching uranium for its own nuclear programme, to the annoyance of the U.S., who have issued threats of sanctions and more veiled but darker threats. In the first case, dependent as the West is on Iranian Oil, could it seriously implement trade-blockades that would result in a fall in precious oil... |
North Korea too, has tweaked the nose of the Bush administration, by its own nuclear missile test last year, although I do wonder if that one rocket was it - do they have another one left to fire at anybody? However, since North Korea are on that straight line axis of evil, famously phrased by George Bush, along with I... |
The greatest perceived threat is that al-Qa'ida or some similar organisation might manage to get hold of an existing nuclear device or make one of their own, and use it in a catastrophic 9/11 follow-up attack on New York. This is not impossible since there are large amounts of missing nuclear material originating from ... |
On the reckoning of the Doomsday Clock, the planet stood closest to nuclear destruction in 1953 when the Russians and the U.S. tested Hydrogen Bombs within months of each other, and the hands were placed at just two minutes to midnight. Therefrom, its face has traced the ebb and flow of the nuclear age, reaching its sa... |
Monday, January 15, 2007 |
Poison-Gas Cloud hits U.K. - 30,000 People Killed! |
O.K., it happened two hundred and twenty four years ago, but the point is it could happen again. A new piece of research has shown how a cloud of toxic gas emitted from the Laki volcano in Iceland killed 30,000 Britons 600 miles away, in 1783. According to Dr John Grattan from the University of Wales at Aberystwyth, "p... |
Due to its location on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart), Iceland has the greatest number of fissure-volcanoes, which erupt when huge cracks, some up to 35 miles long, open up in the ground. Icelandic fissure volcanoes can erupt for long periods - up to fiv... |
The 1783 event was only the second largest, and the 10th-century eruption lasted from 934 - 939 A.D., but for which the human effects are largely unknown. However, the event of 1783 had a further impact on the lives of those then living through its effect to initially raise local temperatures and cause severe damage to... |
There will be a B.B.C. "Timewatch" broadcast about the incident this Friday, in which Dr Gratton estimates that in addition to the U.K. casualty figure of 30,000, another 200,000 died in France, in the low countries (Netherlands etc.) and in northern Italy, while Iceland itself lost around 25% of its population. Should... |
Friday, January 12, 2007 |
Oil in Somalia. |
The bombing of Somalia in the past few days has caused worldwide stir, outrage and theories of conspiracy as it emerges that the country has oil. It is no surprise, since Afghanistan and Iraq which are well-documented subjects of military action from the West are both holders of considerable oil reserves, that the thou... |
It is, to put it mildly, an extremely tricky situation. Ethiopia and Somalia are two of the poorest nations of the world, and there have been a number of substantial shots of cash injected into them in the form of weapons and loans from The Pentagon, to the tune of $19 million in 2005, with another $10 million worth of... |
It may be that the Horn of Africa will become an extension of oil production in the Middle East - a short hop across the Arabian Sea. Who, ultimately, will get their hands on that oil is another matter, and it is highly significant that China is making serious diplomatic efforts in Africa, much to the consternation of ... |
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 |
The Oil of Progress - A Poem. |
The Oil of Progress. |
Barreling-on, fomenting the black rivers |
that metered-in an age of gold, |
the planet spins against a thousand suns, |
drawn upon a fragile canopy of time and space. |
Horses chew-on calmly in the pasture, |
made redundant generations back. |
These unemployed, reluctantly drawn out |
for a wedding or village affair on the green. |
We struck it rich! Upwellings in unheralded Texan fields |
The new century rolled its eyes aloud |
at Quantum Physics and tanks, |
which generally broke down, |
or sank in soiled mud around feet forever bound. |
Depression came, blowing grains to swirl |
dry and unsown in the dust bowls of wrath; |
the razor-shards of oil plundered the land, |
ploughing into the furrows of a second, greater war. |
Reparations and expansion; populations grew. |
Thirteen billion hands (working in pairs you understand) |
of oil-fed fingers now abstract their attentions, |
in blind faith, this cornucopia could never end, |
each squeezing the Earth like a hollow stone. |
Loosing the old ways and stuffy values... |
now oil-fed bombs fall on the swollen lands |
of its source; doodling about the jigsaw-map |
and shading-in the missing pieces, state by state; |
tweaking the beard of an older faith. |
Buckling-up the belt of quirky geology around the Earth, |
to secure the ring of fire into more democratic hands; |
lacing Nature's midriff tighter and tighter, |
until the final phantom sputters |
a farewell flame and is blown-out, |
like the last smoking candle on a birthday cake. |
Give them a lump of sugar from your hand, |
Call the horses back again, sooner, not later. |
by Chris Rhodes. |
Author's Comments: |
Monday, January 08, 2007 |
Blood and the Spoils of Oil. |
The recent execution of Saddam Hussain has placed a question mark over the whole matter of the Iraq war. Did the allies initiate the invasion in an attempt to topple a barbarous dictator, or to secure world peace by locating and confiscating the oft mentioned weapons of mass destruction, referred to so often that they ... |
Not that it has been a one way street. Records appear scant as to the number of Iraqi's killed during the conflict since its inception four years ago, a situation that is obfuscated by the emergence of a near civil war, with a growing daily toll of dead irrespective of military action by the coalition armies of the Wes... |
I make no comment here, but it is a fact that the major holdings of oil lie under the sands of the Middle East, and demand for oil worldwide is one of inexorable thirst. In 1999, the U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, is quoted as saying that the world would need an additional 50 million barrels of oil a day by 2010. Whe... |
Whatever the intentions, it seems that war was the most convenient means to hold Iraq and its oil in reserve as a potential "swing-producer", ripe for harvesting when world market forces so dictated. Even if Cheney is right about world demand for oil, I don't understand the logic involved, since his 1999 prediction imp... |
Saturday, January 06, 2007 |
Carbon in the Sky. |
= 5.296 x 10*18 kg. |
Wednesday, January 03, 2007 |
Peak Oil gets a Dress Rehearsal. |
In the firm belief that Peak Oil is imminent, a group called Seattle Peak Oil Awareness are preparing for a world from which cheap oil has gone. The scenario is frightening, and in the worst case could mean a die-off in human populations, since many of the world's 6.5 billion people are fed from crops grown using ferti... |
There is, it must be agreed, some difference in opinion, generally between optimistic industry "experts" on one side, and the early-toppers, who think that the peak in oil production will happen any time now. For instance, the oil consulting firm Cambridge Energy Research Associates, who are based in Cambridge Massachu... |
If we can rely on that one trillion barrels, then it will last (at present consumption of just over 30 billion barrels per year worldwide) for about 33 years. Since we have already used an equal amount of one trillion barrels, we ought to be at the half-way point of "Peak Oil", now. Any projections of the date beyond t... |
Even if more oil can be got, it will inevitably cost more money to produce, meaning that everything that depends on oil (and that really is everything) will become inexorably more expensive. Hence, it will be economic means that drives cars off the roads and goods off the shelves in stores everywhere, including supplie... |
If we can do little about this whole unpleasant scenario altogether, as individuals, then what can we do to try to cushion the ride for ourselves and our families. Holing-up in a bunker somewhere with plenty of tinned food and live ammunition doesn't sound much fun to me, and it would only provide a very limited bubble... |
However, the effective collapse of industrialised cities, for example London, with populations of millions (about 10 million live in London, depending on where you draw the borders) would pose a tremendous problem in terms of relocating so many people into smaller communities. |
In any event, we should prepare for change, both as individuals and as nations, for the present scourge on the planet's energy resources is untenable and we should expect a process of power-down to occur during the next few decades as we settle-out on a less energy-voracious manner of living. |
Monday, January 01, 2007 |
Nigeria Mourns Oil Victims. |
Nigeria has suffered a spate of explosions at oil-pipelines, resulting in the deaths of more than 2000 people in separate incidents. In an explosion at a suburb in Lagos, the cause was determined to be that people had been scooping-up oil which poured from a puncture-hole made by thieves to get at the oil, rather the w... |
The country's leader, President Obasanjo blamed this particular tragedy on vandals deliberately damaging the pipeline, and is reported as saying that he was sad that such acts of vandalism continued in spite of his warnings that it was not only illegal but a dangerous pursuit. United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Ann... |
The post-mortem to the Lagos incident concluded that thieves penetrated a pipeline passing through the Abule Egba area of Lagos intending to syphon-off substantial quantities of fuel - clearly with no foresight as to the consequences. Once word had got around, hundreds of people descended on the scene carrying jerry ca... |
A Lagos journalist, Adeyinka Adewunmi, was present to witness the aftermath of the explosion. "The pipelines are in a popular neighbourhood, very close to the express road, which I normally use for my journey to work," he said. "I could see fire, state ambulances, Red Cross ambulances, firefighters and government offic... |
The list of pipeline disasters in Nigeria reads: |
2006: 400 killed in Lagos. |
2004: 80 killed in Lagos. |
2003: 105 killed in Abia State. |
2000: 350 killed in Warri and Abia State. |
1998: at least 1000 killed in Jesse. |
In is a case of desperate measures, as the gulf between those who have become wealthy from oil and gas resources widens from the rest, on the margins of that society; or of the broadening gap between those that have ample access to fuel and those that don't. I percieve it as a microcosm of the people of the World strug... |
FIC: A Fairy Battle |
I have had an extremely bad case of total creative block for several months now. I can’t write stories, I can’t write music, I can’t do anything. It’s pretty much blown. I can’t seem to shake it, either. I know the root cause but there’s not much I can do other than become a total hermit. |
I am trying to bring down my horizons a little to get back in the swing of things. I’m focusing on 500-750 word bits, just a few paragraphs, to get me from being totally blocked to being mostly blocked. If you’re interested, here’s the first little bit. I’ll post them but I’ll keep them under cuts (LJ-only) so they can... |
A Fairy Battle |
I walked along the ancient wall built by forgotten hands. The wall was grey and stone and obscured by carnivorous vines that digested the wall bit by bit. It sagged as much as a grey stone wall can sag against the grass and trees. Wooden props helped it stand with slightly more dignity and grace as befitting the aged w... |
The wall bends where the old cobblestone road turns away from the town and toward the farms. A hole opens where stones, not meant to turn but to stack upright, have fallen in a heap. Flowers grow in wild profusion in protected boxes made by the fallen stones and weather and happenstance. Beyond the hole in the wall lay... |
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