2-28-10

As Clock Ticks, Nuclear Plant Searches for Leak

By MATTHEW L. WALD

Published: February 26, 2010

Summary:At Vermont Yankee, a nuclear reactor on the ropes, the search for a tritium leak that may doom the plant is proceeding as quickly as possible. Finding and fixing the leak would be a first step toward rebuilding the plant’s credibility — crucial if the owner, the Louisiana-based nuclear company Entergy, is to persuade lawmakers to reverse their decision to force the plant to close when its license expires in 2012. Now, based on the tritium levels logged at various spots, a team of several dozen technicians, chemists, hydrologists and others who have been working in shifts around the clock think they may have found their target.

Response: This is scary because nuclear energy and pollution is very dangerous and could cause serious problems. They need to fix this problem quickly and make the right decision.

2-28-10

Underwater Plate Cuts 400-Mile Gash

By HENRY FOUNTAIN

Published: February 27, 2010

Summary:The magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck off the coast of Chile early Saturday morning occurred along the same fault responsible for the biggest quake ever measured, a 1960 tremor that killed nearly 2,000 people in Chile and hundreds more across the Pacific, Both earthquakes took place along a fault zone where the Nazca tectonic plate, the section of the earth’s crust that lies under the Eastern Pacific Ocean south of the Equator, is sliding beneath another section, the South American plate. The two are converging at a rate of about three and a half inches a year.

Response: I bet this article would frighten me if i lived my the ocean where this could harm me. And its kinda of scary to think about but i don't think it will cause that many problems.

Feb 7,2010 #2

In Texas, Resistance Over Stricter U.S. Smog Limits
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: February 3, 2010

Summary:Environmentalists squared off against business groups and Texas state officials on Thursday at a hearing on the Obama administration’s proposal to tighten standards for smog-producing pollutants, a change that could improve the health of millions but would impose burdensome costs on industry and local governments. The hearing, before a panel of federal environmental officials, was one of three being held around the country on the proposed new standards, which would replace those set by the Bush administration in March 2008.


Response: This is funny because we just learned about this and it is also good because air pollution is a serious thing our government should really crack down.

Feb. 7, 2010 #1

In a California Town, Birth Defects, Deaths and Questions
By JESSE McKINLEY
Published: February 6, 2010

Summary:State and federal officials are scrambling to determine what caused the deaths of three children in this Central California farming town, which shares a ZIP code with the largest hazardous waste treatment site west of the Mississippi. Over a 15-month period in 2007 and 2008, six children of mothers from Kettleman City were born with serious birth defects, including cleft palates, deformities and brain damage. Half of those infants subsequently died.

Response: I think this seems like a very serious problem. This seems very dangerous and something is seriously wrong. They need to figure this out and fix it before it hurts any more babies or people get hurt.