"In the country that gave the world the word tsunami, the Japanese nuclear establishment largely disregarded the potentially destructive force of the walls of water. The word did not even appear in government guidelines until 2006, decades after plants — including the Fukushima Daiichi facility that firefighters are still struggling to get under control — began dotting the Japanese coastline."
"A trio of moisture-rich storm systems are aimed at the West Coast and poised to dump exceptional precipitation totals in parts of California, Oregon and Washington state. Double-digit amounts are possible in some places by the end of the month, making a dent in the region’s prolonged drought-driven water deficit."
It sometimes feels like journalists lurch from one catastrophe (or hurricane, flood, wildfire, heat wave) to the next. But that can mean missing the bigger story: Disasters, increasingly linked to climate extremes, are often interlocking events, in which one system failure causes the next and the next. The latest Backgrounder explores three case studies, and how news media can focus attention on steps toward resilience.
"Ten years since the Fukushima disaster, expensive nuclear energy plants are being shut down across the world as renewable power prices plummet."
Twenty years after the attacks on 9/11, the war on terror has left many risks in the built environment under a cloak of secrecy. For WatchDog Opinion, keeping vital information about such preventable hazards under wraps from the public and journalists is not just wrong, but bad policy. Here’s why. Plus, a rundown for environment reporters of where exactly this secrecy reigns.
"Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed wide-ranging legislation overhauling Illinois’ energy sector on Wednesday, calling the bill a “giant leap forward” for the state as it works to address the effects of climate change and establish “aggressive” clean energy standards."
"Federal officials have cleared the way for construction of a dump in West Texas that could hold spent nuclear fuel for up to 40 years."
"The temporary agreement should keep Tehran from censure for noncompliance by the nuclear agency, a move that could have derailed already suspended nuclear talks."
"The San Onofre nuclear power plant shut down years ago – but residents and experts worry what will happen with the waste left behind".
"Scientists have come tantalizingly close to reproducing the power of the sun — albeit only in a speck of hydrogen for a fraction of a second."
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