My News Blurb and thoughts
Okay today is a big day for me wanting to discuss and share things in my Live Journal. So without further delay...
Twenty-five years ago, an incident happened at Three Mile Island that made widespread news across the world. Alot of speculation was brought up that the accident would increase the risk of cancer in the area, cause a slump in town population and make an area of land around the plant essentially an unattractive piece of land.
To counter that point, I found a recently published piece called Part of The Scenery. It does seem very skewed, but considering the media likes to create more hype on things than what it's worth (Not that it's a bad thing, but fear sells and gets viewers/readers), this kind of settles the fears brought up.
In contrast, this article here entitled 25 years ago, catastrophe loomed on Three Mile Island Nuclear... seems to discuss the media frenzy that occurred during the days after the incident. It is better to be safe than sorry, but once again the media will use that as a way to get more people listening on their news. It's also interesting to note that the article calls the incident a meltdown and technically it is. And look at the public's exposure to radiation because of the meltdown: 100 millirems (a good document on radiation exposure is here). The concept of the containment to hold the dangerous materials and such worked, unlike Chernobyl which was had no containment facility. Yes, nuclear power can be unsafe with incidents like this, but it was brought under control with no real negative impact other than fear/paranoia. The downside of course is that every incident is different and there are many unknown things regarding them (look at the Hydrogen bubble concept in the above article).
As the years go by, so does the length of time a nuclear plant is allowed to operate. In the United States, the limit is 50 years, at which point a reactor is decommissioned due to the amount of low-level radiation that accumulates inside. There have already been a few decommissioned reactors, mostly experimental ones, but as time goes on, more and more commercial reactors will be decommissioned, thus creating an energy shortage that has already been going on for some time. We are dependent on electricity more than ever these days, with more electronics and computers doing work, with more electronics in the household, on the go, etc. It takes between 4-8 years to build a reactor depending on the site and financing and as such, the industry is looking at Nuclear power again as a way to solve this problem. Here's an article discussing the possible rebound in this industry. For more articles about Three Mile Island and the 25th anniversary coverage, check Google News.
On the topic of Chernobyl, the website of the female biker that rides through the exclusion zone has been updated. Check it out here.
Fifty years ago from the 30th, the Toronto Transit Commission opened up the Yonge Subway line, which went from Union Station, following Yonge Street to Eglinton Avenue. A special segment including pictures and information is available for viewing online here on the Toronto Archive's website.
The Toronto Star has issued several articles (In the related links section) in what looks like a mini-section (can anyone who bought the Saturday Star confirm this?) about the subway, the expansion and the history of the current lines, as well as lines to be.
Notable things discussed include the ghost subway stations at Bay and Queen Subway stations. The Eglinton subway line, and the University extension to York University (It will happen, but extending the Sheppard line that far apparently is not an option -- only eastbound from Yonge). The whistle blowing train conductors, which I remember and prefer over the train chimes. The list and memories go on, and things do change. It's nice to know that there are plenty of people archiving history, memories and such of their experiences with the TTC.
Also the TTC have their own webpage discussing the history of it all, and a public re-enactment of the first train ride on Tuesday March 30th at 10:30am.
Finally, if you're interested in reading more about the TTC, the history, looking at old bus maps and photos, a great place to look is Transit Toronto. One of my favorite reads that I recommend is entitled Subways to come, which discusses several proposed projects, what happened, what may happen etc. Great stuff.
I think there was one or two more things but I cannot seem to remember them currently. If I remember I'll add another entry.
Twenty-five years ago, an incident happened at Three Mile Island that made widespread news across the world. Alot of speculation was brought up that the accident would increase the risk of cancer in the area, cause a slump in town population and make an area of land around the plant essentially an unattractive piece of land.
To counter that point, I found a recently published piece called Part of The Scenery. It does seem very skewed, but considering the media likes to create more hype on things than what it's worth (Not that it's a bad thing, but fear sells and gets viewers/readers), this kind of settles the fears brought up.
In contrast, this article here entitled 25 years ago, catastrophe loomed on Three Mile Island Nuclear... seems to discuss the media frenzy that occurred during the days after the incident. It is better to be safe than sorry, but once again the media will use that as a way to get more people listening on their news. It's also interesting to note that the article calls the incident a meltdown and technically it is. And look at the public's exposure to radiation because of the meltdown: 100 millirems (a good document on radiation exposure is here). The concept of the containment to hold the dangerous materials and such worked, unlike Chernobyl which was had no containment facility. Yes, nuclear power can be unsafe with incidents like this, but it was brought under control with no real negative impact other than fear/paranoia. The downside of course is that every incident is different and there are many unknown things regarding them (look at the Hydrogen bubble concept in the above article).
As the years go by, so does the length of time a nuclear plant is allowed to operate. In the United States, the limit is 50 years, at which point a reactor is decommissioned due to the amount of low-level radiation that accumulates inside. There have already been a few decommissioned reactors, mostly experimental ones, but as time goes on, more and more commercial reactors will be decommissioned, thus creating an energy shortage that has already been going on for some time. We are dependent on electricity more than ever these days, with more electronics and computers doing work, with more electronics in the household, on the go, etc. It takes between 4-8 years to build a reactor depending on the site and financing and as such, the industry is looking at Nuclear power again as a way to solve this problem. Here's an article discussing the possible rebound in this industry. For more articles about Three Mile Island and the 25th anniversary coverage, check Google News.
On the topic of Chernobyl, the website of the female biker that rides through the exclusion zone has been updated. Check it out here.
Fifty years ago from the 30th, the Toronto Transit Commission opened up the Yonge Subway line, which went from Union Station, following Yonge Street to Eglinton Avenue. A special segment including pictures and information is available for viewing online here on the Toronto Archive's website.
The Toronto Star has issued several articles (In the related links section) in what looks like a mini-section (can anyone who bought the Saturday Star confirm this?) about the subway, the expansion and the history of the current lines, as well as lines to be.
Notable things discussed include the ghost subway stations at Bay and Queen Subway stations. The Eglinton subway line, and the University extension to York University (It will happen, but extending the Sheppard line that far apparently is not an option -- only eastbound from Yonge). The whistle blowing train conductors, which I remember and prefer over the train chimes. The list and memories go on, and things do change. It's nice to know that there are plenty of people archiving history, memories and such of their experiences with the TTC.
Also the TTC have their own webpage discussing the history of it all, and a public re-enactment of the first train ride on Tuesday March 30th at 10:30am.
Finally, if you're interested in reading more about the TTC, the history, looking at old bus maps and photos, a great place to look is Transit Toronto. One of my favorite reads that I recommend is entitled Subways to come, which discusses several proposed projects, what happened, what may happen etc. Great stuff.
I think there was one or two more things but I cannot seem to remember them currently. If I remember I'll add another entry.