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France's oldest nuclear plant to close this year
Work will begin this year to shut down Fessenheim, which is at the centre of a row with Germany and Switzerland
The French environment minister, Ségolène Royal, said on Monday that work will begin this year to shut down the country’s oldest nuclear power plant, at the centre of a row with neighbouring Germany and Switzerland.
In doing so she implicitly contradicted a Green party minister who had said on Sunday that the process to close the Fessenheim plant in Alsace would be completed, rather than merely started, by the end of the year.
The two ministers spoke to the French media after a row sparked on Friday when Germany demanded that France close down Fessenheim following reports that a 2014 incident was worse than earlier portrayed.
Royal said on the TF1 television channel that shutting down a nuclear reactor “is not just turning off a tap” and involved not only time-consuming official paperwork but careful decommissioning under strict safety conditions, along with collateral issues such as the question of job losses.
“A nuclear plant like Fessenheim employs 2,000 people,” she explained, saying the site could eventually be converted for renewable energy, or maybe a car factory.
On Sunday France’s housing minister, Green party member Emmanuelle Cosse, had said that closing Fessenheim this year was “the timeline ... the president [François Hollande] has repeated to me several times”.
“The process of stopping a reactor is simple enough,” she added.
France’s Nuclear Safety Agency has said that safety at the plant was “overall satisfactory” but that the government’s energy policy “could lead to different choices” regarding the facility, which is near the German and Swiss borders.
It said there was “no need” to shut the plant from a nuclear safety point of view.
France has promised to cut reliance on nuclear energy from more than 75% to 50% by shutting 24 reactors by 2025, while stepping up reliance on renewable energy.
Fessenheim, located on a seismic fault line, has worried French, German and Swiss environmentalists for years.
In September, Hollande said the plant, in operation since 1977, would not be shut this year, contrary to a 2012 campaign promise, because of delays in completion of a new plant in northern Flamanville.
On Sunday, Cosse said that to reach its target, the government would have “to close other nuclear plants, other reactors, obviously, over several years.”
Obama administration pays out $500m to climate change project
The first chunk of a $3bn commitment made at the Paris climate talks ‘shows the US stands squarely behind climate commitments’, the State Department said
The Obama administration has made a first installment on its $3bn pledge to help poor countries fight climate change – defying Republican opposition to the president’s environmental plan.
The $500m payment to the Green Climate Fund was seen as critical to shoring up international confidence in Barack Obama’s ability to deliver on the pledges made at the United Nations’ climate change conference in Paris in late 2015.
Continue reading...Statement on the Conservation Agreement for Old Government House and Domain
MIT researchers turn waste gas into liquid fuel
Successful trial at a pilot plant in China using bacteria to convert exhaust emissions to oil will now be tested at a larger scale
Turning the emissions of power stations, steel mills and garbage dumps into liquid fuels has been demonstrated by MIT researchers using engineered microbes.
The process has been successfully trialled at a pilot plant in China and a much bigger facility is now planned.
Continue reading...Octopus dubbed Casper the friendly ghost could be new species
Small, ghostly-white octopus was found in the deep sea off Hawaii and has been likened to the beloved cartoon character
Scientists say they have discovered what might be a new species of octopus while searching the Pacific Ocean floor near the Hawaiian Islands.
On 27 February, a team found a small light-coloured octopus at a depth of about 2.5 miles.
Continue reading...Roman fort, wolves and bears lost to time
High in the Cambrian mountains of mid Wales, perched on a slope above the chaotically youthful river Afon Tarenig, the bleak aspect of the Roman fort at Cae Gaer speaks of military expediency and urgent purpose.
In the sunshine of early spring it looks almost serene. But to a newly arrived legionary, in the depths of winter, immersed in an alien landscape still home to wolves and bears, it must have felt like the edge of the world.
Continue reading...Oregon becomes first state to pass law to completely eliminate coal-fired power
- Coal currently provides a third of the state’s electricity supply
- State also aims to double amount of renewable energy produced by 2050
Oregon has become the first US state to pass laws to rid itself of coal, committing to eliminate the use of coal-fired power by 2035 and to double the amount of renewable energy in the state by 2040.
Legislation passed by the state’s assembly, which will need to be signed into law by Governor Kate Brown, will transition Oregon away from coal, which currently provides around a third of the state’s electricity supply.
Continue reading...Yellowstone grizzly bears face end of endangered species protection
US federal government says recovery of national park population to more than 700 is a ‘historic success’ but conservationists say move is premature
The federal government is proposing to strip endangered species protections from Yellowstone’s famed grizzly bears, with officials claiming a “historic success” in the recovery of the bear population.
Related: Rangers catch grizzly bear suspected in Yellowstone hiker death
Continue reading...US agency reaches 'holy grail' of battery storage sought by Elon Musk and Gates
Breakthrough in next generation of storage batteries could transform the US electrical grid within five to 10 years, says research agency, Arpa-E
A US government agency says it has attained the “holy grail” of energy – the next-generation system of battery storage, that has has been hotly pursued by the likes of Bill Gates and Elon Musk.
Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (Arpa-E) – a branch of the Department of Energy – says it achieved its breakthrough technology in seven years.
Continue reading...New satellite mapping a 'game changer' against illegal logging
System that provides hard evidence of logging crimes in almost real time gives new hope of combating tropical deforestation
Taken from outer space, the satellite images show illegal loggers cutting a road into a protected area in Peru, part of a criminal enterprise attempting to steal millions of dollars worth of ecological resources.
With the launch of a new satellite mapping system on Wednesday, governments and environmentalists will have access to hard evidence of these types of crimes almost in real time as part of a push by scientists to improve monitoring of tropical deforestation.
Continue reading...Smallest of giant flowers ‘accidentally’ discovered in the Philippines
On Luzon Island, scientists have accidentally discovered the smallest of the giant Rafflesia flowers, a species that may be critically endangered, reports Mongabay
In the rainforests of southeastern Asia, a parasitic plant called Rafflesia produces the world’s largest flowers. Some Rafflesia flowers, for instance, can be a meter and a half in diameter, and can weigh up to 22 pounds (or 10 kilograms). These flowers, called “corpse flower” locally, often smell like rotting flesh.
Now, on Luzon Island in the Phillipines, a team of scientists have discovered the smallest of these giant flowers.
Continue reading...Alarm over lead found in drinking water at US schools
In the wake of the Flint water crisis several schools have shut off their drinking water due to high levels of lead, raising the question: ‘How big is this issue?’
Several schools across the US have either discovered or acted upon evidence of high levels of lead in their drinking water in the wake of the crisis in Flint, Michigan, with one leading expert warning the cases could mark “the tip of the iceberg”.
Related: 'It's all just poison now': Flint reels as families struggle through water crisis
Continue reading...Tiger country? Scientists uncover wild surprises in tribal Bangladesh
Partnering with indigenous groups, conservationists discover a wealth of wildlife in Bangladesh’s most remote region. Including maybe, just maybe, tigers
The locals said there were tigers in the forest. They also said there were sun bear, gaur, dhole and clouded leopard. Few took note, but it turned out, not surprisingly, that locals were right. Conservationists surveying the super-remote, little-known Chittagong Hills Tract region of Bangladesh have taken the country’s first ever photos of sun bear and gaur. And last month they discovered a 13-centimetre pugmark (or pawprint) of a feline, which experts believe is a tiger.
“Despite the tremendous challenges [facing] the natural heritage of Bangladesh – all hope is not lost yet,” said Shahriar Caesar Rahman, the co-founder of the new group, Creative Conservation Alliance (CCA). Rahman and his group, which organized the wildlife survey that employed camera traps, have been working in the Chittagong Hills Tract region for five years by partnering with the local tribes and securing support from Bangladesh’s forest department.
Continue reading...Release of Sensitive Ecological Species Data Access and Management Policy
World's biggest floating solar farm powers up outside London
Five years in planning and due to be finished in early March, more than 23,000 solar panels will be floated on the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir near Heathrow and used to generate power for local water treatment plants
On a vast manmade lake on the outskirts of London, work is nearing completion on what will soon be Europe’s largest floating solar power farm – and will briefly be the world’s biggest.
But few are likely to see the 23,000 solar panels on the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir at Walton-on-Thames, which is invisible to all but Heathrow passengers and a few flats in neighbouring estates.
Continue reading...Former Tepco bosses charged Fukushima meltdown
First criminal action to be taken after 2011 disaster, in which three nuclear reactors went into meltdown after earthquake
Three former executives from Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) have been charged with contributing to deaths and injuries stemming from the triple meltdown in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Their indictment on Monday marks the start of the first criminal action to be taken in connection with the disaster, which forced the evacuation of 160,000 residents, many of whom are still unable to return to their homes.
Continue reading...Republican candidates' calls to scrap EPA met with skepticism by experts
Trump claims he would dismantle agency but law experts say that would be nigh impossible: ‘I wouldn’t dignify it with a serious reply. Maybe “grow up”’
Amid prolonged bickering with his rivals, Donald Trump outlined a fairly radical proposal during Thursday’s Republican debate: to scrap the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Related: First EPA chief accuses Republicans of ignoring science for political gain
Continue reading...LA gas leak: worst in US history spewed as much pollution as 600,000 cars
Emissions from Aliso Canyon leak, which took 112 days to plug, totalled 97,100 tonnes of methane – equal to annual output of a medium-sized EU country
A natural gas leak in the mountains above Los Angeles was one of the worst accidental discharges of greenhouse gases in US history. A new study shows the months-long disaster resulted in 97,100 metric tonnes of methane being dumped into the atmosphere.
Related: SoCalGas pleads not guilty to criminal charges in massive natural gas leak case
Continue reading...Social media helps fuel China's illegal craze for 'thumb monkeys'
Year of the monkey has sparked a trend for pygmy marmosets, the world’s smallest monkey, as pets. But conservationists warn the animals rarely survive in captivity, reports Mongabay
The “year of the monkey” dawned recently in China – and with it, a trendy new exotic pet. Pygmy marmosets are all the rage among China’s wealthy elite, who are forgoing legality and snapping up baby monkeys at around $4,500 (£3,200) each. The internet has exploded with photos of the so-called “thumb monkeys,” while conservationists and primate scientists are lamenting the situation.
Weighing in at just over 100 grams (equivalent to about 20 US nickels), pygmy marmosets (Cebuella pygmaea) are the world’s smallest monkeys. They’re native to the rainforests of South America’s western Amazon Basin, where they live in small groups of around a dozen individuals. They aren’t considered threatened because of their large range and relative prevalence, but they are in decline, according to the IUCN, primarily due to the pet trade.
Continue reading...New online application form for permits to import and export wildlife and wildlife products
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