Japan nuclear plant: 2nd blast

A second explosion has struck the Fukushima nuclear plant, raising fresh fears of emissions of radioactive gas.

Such radioactive releases could last months, according to The New York Times:

As the scale of Japan’s nuclear crisis begins to come to light, experts in Japan and the United States say the country is now facing a cascade of accumulating problems that suggest that radioactive releases of steam from the crippled plants could go on for weeks or even months.

Japanese reactor operators now have little choice but to periodically release radioactive steam as part of an emergency cooling process for the fuel of the stricken reactors that may continue for a year or more even after fission has stopped.

Nuclear energy still very safe, you think? Does Malaysia really want to go down this path?
It’s weird to see all those professors on global television stations trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation. Big money is at stake in the nuclear power industry. See the concerns in the business community as reported by Bloomberg here. Not surprisingly, the media damage control and spin began soon after the first explosion.

I hope sanity will prevail in Malaysia.
Posted by Anil

The Burning and Sinking of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig

Yesterday, we blogged about photographs of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill hitting the Louisiana shorelines and undoubtedly you’ve heard about Big Oil pointing fingers and casting blames at each other about whose fault it was.

But what happened when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded? National Geographic Channel has the exclusive, never-before-seen photographs and video footage of the rig ablaze and the efforts of the US Coast Guards and first responders to put out the flame and rescue the survivors.

Over at Neatorama Spotlight, we have a few photos of the sinking rig that will leave you breathless: Link – Thanks Julie Frazier and Minjae Ormes!