Nuclear

Nuclear – Dec 6

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-Contaminated water found leaking at Japanese nuclear plant
-Japan nuclear meltdown maybe worse than thought?
-Cesium Detected in Baby-Milk Powder Made by Japan’s Meiji; Shares Tumble
-A Waste of Waste
-UK government shared intelligence with nuclear industry, documents show
-France admits lapses after breach of nuke reactor security

No miracles in science: The story of the “energy catalyzer”

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A few weeks ago some readers asked me to comment on an invention devised by two Italians, Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi. We are talking about the device known as “E-Cat” (Energy Catalyzer) which is supposed to produce energy from nickel, water and an unrevealed catalyzer…if the device were really to produce a significant amount of energy from a low temperature nuclear reaction, we would be facing an energy revolution; all the troubles with Peak Oil will be over and even we will have at hand a magnificent economic stimulus. There is only one problem: the E-Cat cannot be what it is claimed to be. Apart from contradicting all known physics developed up to now, the promoters have never been able to demonstrate that nuclear reactions take place inside the device, and not even that it can produce useful energy.

Pepperspraying the future

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What do a whiff of pepper spray rising from a suburban big box store, a breathtakingly absurd comment by an American politician, and a breathtakingly cynical statement from a Canadian minister have in common? Arguably, an attitude that helps to explain why the political, economic, and cultural institutions of today’s industrial societies are committed to doing anything and everything in response to the crisis of our time, except the options that would actually help. With a little help from history, the Archdruid explains.

Is it really possible to decouple GDP growth from energy growth?

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In recent years, we have heard statements indicating that it is possible to decouple GDP growth from energy growth. I have been looking at the relationship between world GDP and world energy use and am becoming increasingly skeptical that such a decoupling is really possible.