"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."
"Small towns in the Permian Basin have become a petri dish for the perils of living amid the nation’s largest oil fields."
"The Energy Department said on Tuesday that it would lend up to $1.9 billion to help restart a shuttered nuclear power plant in Iowa, in the Trump administration’s latest move aimed at reviving nuclear energy in the United States." "No company in the United States has ever restarted a reactor that was seemingly closed for good, but there are now three major efforts underway to do so."
"Officials in New Mexico, the nation’s largest historic producer of uranium ore, banned new leasing of state lands for uranium mining on Friday." "The move to block new mining projects comes as the Trump administration seeks to revive American uranium production."
Solar and wind power are critical for combating climate change, but some energy experts warn they won’t be enough. Their vision for an emissions-free grid depends on technologies ranging from long-duration batteries to nuclear reactors. Journalist Nicolás Rivero on clean firm power’s potential, the challenges ahead and how Big Tech is driving the pursuit of always-on zero-carbon electricity.
"A new law gives companies a simple way to raise the bar for lawsuits. A phosphate mining company lobbied for it."
"As a wildfire in May approached the site of one of the worst nuclear meltdowns in U.S. history, state and local officials scrambled to respond to the blaze and to establish proper real-time radiation and air monitoring to protect Southern California families, internal emails show."
"A recent hearing meant to inform the public about a new uranium mine proposal near Church Rock instead exposed wounds around the legacy of mining’s impacts on Navajo communities, as well as fresh concerns about whether technology that promises to safely extract the mineral is as clean as the industry claims."
"House Democrats are investigating whether executives at a uranium company operating in Utah engaged in possible insider trading by making investments days before President Donald Trump opened a nearby national monument to mining."
