Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, a Japanese state-owned prospecting company says it has successfully extracted methane gas from an undersea methane hydrate deposit in the Nankai trench south of Japan’s main island of Honshu. This marks the first successful extraction of methane from such deep sea deposits. The team expects their pilot rig [...]
The journal Nature reports that a team of ocean researchers have captured the world’s first video of a giant squid (Architeuthis dux) in its natural environment. The video was captured 700 meters (2300 feet) beneath the Pacific near the Ogasawara archipelago, about 1000 kilometers south of Tokyo Japan. The mission was funded by Japan’s NHK broadcasting [...]
The Abu Dhabi government in cooperation with Mitsubishi industries has opened the region’s first rapid electric vehicle (EV) charging station. The station is located in Masdar City and is certified to meet the Charge de Move (CHAdeMO) industry standard for rapid charging. This standard can reduce charging time by as much as 90 percent. Charging [...]
Japan is seeking Israeli clean tech experts to help rebuild Fukushima, which was devastated by both an earthquake and a tsunami last year. The Japanese company in charge of rehabilitation recently sent a delegation to Israel looking for experts and entrepreneurs, especially in the fields of water management and recycling. According to the company’s liaison [...]
Can there be ways to protect olive oil prices and the sustainable ways of olive farming in the Middle East? The price for olive oil has dropped to its lowest level in a decade and farmers in the Middle East are bearing the brunt as Spain and Italy dump their government-subsidized stocks at below cost. [...]
Ukranian president Viktor Yanukovych dedicates construction of new protective cover for damaged Chernobyl reactors To mark the 26th anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant accident, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych presided at a ceremony at the site of the ruined nuclear plant in which a new construction project is being launched. The country will build a [...]
The Middle East can learn about energy savings from the Japanese, and the Japanese concept of setsuden. Sometime during the mid 1990s a series of heat waves coincided with a refueling shut-down at one of my home state’s nuclear power plants. Citizens were asked to voluntarily cut usage. Somehow we managed to conserve the equivalent [...]
A pregnant me at the very sunny Better Place visitor center last year. With the launch of the first nationwide electric car networks rolling out in Israel and with Denmark just months away, the electric car company Better Place today reports that it has secured another $200 million in financing, on top of the $55o [...]
Praying in a Tokyo church could expose you to radiation levels higher than Chernobyl dead zones. In the same manner that Japanese authorities failed to prevent the Japanese nuclear disaster earlier this year, the authorities are dealing with radiation fallout –– in Tokyo. They are not telling the whole story. Locals armed with their own [...]
A massive solar flare, like small one shown in this photo, could cause the world’s 440 commercial and 300 plus research nuclear reactors to melt down simultaneously. The sun, that intensely hot ball of gases located 93 million miles from plant earth, has been the subject of numerous articles here, but mostly for good: for [...]
There are good reasons not to eat apricots and hazelnuts from Turkey (after Chernobyl). Japan’s reactor is much worse. Brace for future horrors says expert Dr. Helen Caldicott. Although several months have passed since the devastating earthquake and tsunami occurred in Japan, the resulting nuclear power plant crisis, and the effect on the world environment [...]
There’s no stopping Jordan: it will build a nuclear reactor outside of Amman despite risks. In an unstable situation in good times, it’s surprising to learn that Jordan (with its plentiful sun) is intent on building its first nuclear reactor, for what it believes to be a source of nonpolluting, sustainable energy. In the wake [...]
Last week, the government of Saudi Arabia announced that it would go ahead with its nuclear energy ambitions and invest more than $100bn in building 16 nuclear reactors over the next two decades. At a time when other countries like Japan or Germany are looking for exit strategies from nuclear energy production, Saudi Arabia and [...]
Areal view of damaged Fukushima reactors – another Chernobyl? In what is being considered as a “worst case scenario” Japan power company authorities have now confirmed that three of the Fukushima nuclear reactors have actually melted down. The news follows onsite investigation by volunteer plant workers who were able to observe the damage from the [...]
Lava melting through the vessel? Greenpeace compares the Japan meltdown to this. As Japan’s post earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant environmental crises pass the two month mark, ongoing events have been reported at regular intervals by Green Prophet, including news that measured radioactivity in seawater near the plant indicated radioactivity up to 1,250 times above [...]
Russian nuclear icebreaker 50 Years of Victory: Can spend many months at sea With the nuclear power plant crisis in the Chernobyl reactor in 1986 and now the recent Japanese nuclear crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant many people are still wondering if there is any possible good use for nuclear energy , especially [...]
Car parts, scrap metal, fish and produce from Japan won’t enter Egyptian ports. Traces of radiation, likely from Japan, have been clocked at Israel’s nuclear research station, and Bahrain is building a contingency plan should radiation levels spiral further out of control in Japan. Now, Egypt has declared that it will halt all import of [...]
Bahrain (A) will screen Japanese travelers (B) at airport if radiation levels rise. It goes without saying that radiation, like air and water pollution knows no borders. Countries close to Japan, and even those farther away like Israel and the United States have already measured radiation from Japan’s troubled nuclear reactors. Now Bahrain authorities, a [...]
In bucolic but earthquake-prone Armenia, people both fear and rely on a nuclear power plant that has operated for three decades with no primary containment structure. In the 1970s, a series of first-generation nuclear reactors were built in the former Soviet Union, all lacking the infrastructure to contain major ruptures in the reactor’s primary circuit. [...]
Abandoned Fukushima “dead zone” dog: its face says it all! The radiation, sadly, lingers in its fur. With escalating rates of radiation, and an upgrade to 7 in terms of severity, it’s not only humans who have suffered from Japan’s 9 magnitude earthquake, tsunami and radiation leakage in northeastern Japan. Thousands of dogs, cats, and [...]
Destroyed reactor: Dead Zone for 100 years? Three of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear reactors may now be in a meltdown situation according to nuclear energy experts studying the ongoing situation and the amount of radiation in reactor core water leaking into the sea. What’s worse, workers at the plant who have been exposed to high [...]
Traces of radioactive material from Japan have been detected in Israel. The Soreq Nuclear Research Center announced that traces of radiation had reached Israel on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.This radioactive material is most likely to have carried from Japan, where the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant exploded following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that has [...]
When caring for infants after any kind disaster breastfeeding is usually safest because of fears about water supplies. Whenever there is an earthquake, flood or other large-scale disaster, the first concern is for the infants in the area. Rescue organizations rush to send infant formula to the area, but because access to clean water is [...]
Japan’s PM Naoto Kan apologizes to his nation, and to the world, concerning radiation leakage at Fukushima reactors Is the Japanese nuclear radiation crises getting better, or getting worse? It depends on who is reporting the ongoing events at the Fukushima nuclear reactors, which were heavily damaged by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami [...]
Israel’s aging nuclear facilities are “beyond safe operating ages“. It sits in the middle of Israel’s Negev desert region, far from the Mediterranean seacoast and the possibility of a catastrophic 14 meter high Tsunami like the one which severely damaged the Japanese Fukushima nuclear power plant. It’s also not in nearly as serious an earthquake [...]
Physicist and guest blogger Susan Goodman puts the Japan nuclear news in proportion to non-scientists. Perhaps in the west we still retain some false sense of culpability for the discovery of nuclear fission. Maybe the very name Fukushima has resonances with that of Hiroshima – invoking memories of horrors that for most of us are [...]
Checking radiation levels. Will potassium iodide work? When I wrote a Green Prophet article in the summer of 2009 dealing with research into a vaccine to protect against the effects of radiation sickness, I never realized that this topic would be as relevant as it is today. This is due to the ongoing crisis of [...]
Forty years in the making: Turkey still intent on building the country’s first nuclear reactor on this serene spot on the Mediterranean Coast. Cyprus says the zone falls right on a fault line. Despite the insanity and the imminent meltdown of Japan’s nuclear facilities now going from bad to worse, countries in the Middle East [...]
Fukushima Daiichi reactors in Japan before and after the tsunami. Is this worthwhile for Israel or other Middle East countries? Japan’s damaged nuclear facilities are reaching even more critical radiation leakage levels, and the country’s population is becoming more concerned about the effect of radiation their own environment as well as that outside Japan. Despite [...]
The Arab region holds the densest concentration on earth of countries seeking to generate nuclear electricity for the first time. Rola points out the dangers. Over the last few years, while talk of a nuclear power ‘renaissance’ was spreading globally, Middle Eastern and North African countries have been rushing to jump on the commercial nuclear [...]
This beautiful temple of light creates a subliminal healing effect for distraught visitors as soon as they enter its doors. Goodness knows we could use a little healing. Japanese residents are faced with a potential nuclear meltdown, the consequences of which are almost too horrible to imagine. Libyans are experiencing untold suffering as one man [...]
Japanese soldiers prepare for the worst. The China Syndrome? Is the worst yet to come? Radiation from damaged reactor cores at Japan’s Fukushima Diiachi nuclear power plant now appear to be reaching dangerous proportions according to statements being issued by governmental authorities and assessments being made by nuclear energy safety analysts. Some experts in Israel [...]
Checking for radiation in Japan. Wouldn’t happen if a solar power plant is damaged. Japan’s situation involving its damaged nuclear reactors is heading into “critical mass” following more reactor failures from last week’s mega earthquake and subsequent tsunami tidal waves. Worries about this kind nightmarish scenario happening elsewhere, especially in the Middle East has been [...]
Another Chernobyl in the making? Does the Middle East need this risk? Friday’s devastating earthquake and tsunami waves in Japan have left that entire country in a state of shock, and power outages – even in the country’s capital, Tokyo. The 8.9 magnitude quake, the most massive Japan has ever experienced and the 7th largest [...]
With all the hype, 13 Better Place EV cars are finally being imported in Israel to test charge spots. They are being tested as taxis in San Francisco and Tokyo, and in Israel you can even test drive the battery-switchable fully electric (EV) car developed by Better Place/Renault. Within the next couple of weeks, Globes [...]
Iranians throw our about a half kilo of trash, per person, per day. That’s high for a developing country. There is a growing rate of waste generation in Iranian cities. According to the R&D Deputy of the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee of Municipality of Tehran, every resident of Tehran produces 320 kilograms of solid [...]
Better Place electric taxi debuts in Tokyo. Is Tel Aviv next? Maurice volunteers himself to be the company’s test driver. Israel’s debut with total electric powered cars is coming, and Shai Agassi’s Better Place electric car company is going to bring this reality in Israel sooner than many people may be prepared for, including having enough [...]
WANA, a North Africa and West Asia forum recently convened in Jordan to discuss the environment, a green economy, sustainable development and the revival of Hima, an Islamic environmental conservation practice. The West Asia – North Africa WANA Forum is a long-term initiative that brings together decision-makers, civil society orgs, religious leaders, researchers, business owners, [...]
Taxis can’t wait all night to recharge: The Better Place battery switch is showing another way for electric cars, in Tokyo. A few days ago, Better Place electric car company sent out the press release. The Israeli-US company launched its electric taxis in Tokyo, Japan. The pilot will be small, with only 4 taxis which [...]
Revese osmosis membrane equipment will help quench thirst of oil rich, but water-poor Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has been in the news a lot in regards to building desalination facilities, on which the Kingdom depends for most of its fresh water supplies. This includes what has been hailed as the worlds’ largest desalination facility in [...]