The British environmental protection agency has relented on its demand that the nuclear re-processing plant in Sellafield should reduce its spills with 80 percent during 2001. It says in a statement that they were "swayed by the owner's persuasive economic arguments". The "decision" has caused an outcry of disbelief and protests both domestically and internationally. During its 40+ years of operation the plant christened Windscale, later to be re-christened Sellafield, has made the Irish Sea among the most radioactive marine areas in the world, Pigeons to be dubbed "flying radioactive waste" and number of cancers among the human population in the area surrounding the plant to be far higher than average. The Norwegian and Swedish authorities have also traced its easily recognizable radioactive isotopes to Scandinavian coastal areas where even in its diluted form it has affected the marine life. Both the Swedish and Norwegian governments have made several official protests to the British government, concerning among other facts, that the spills have been twenty-doubled only the last seven years.
WEEK 3 Jan 8th to 14th 2001
BUSINESS AS USUAL CONCERNING SELLAFIELD
The Insanity of attempting to harness nuclear power
NEW ZEALAND'S GLACIERS MELTING
The glaciers in the alps on New Zealand's southern island is melting because of the human-created global warming, according to climate experts. The mountains have lost 40 percent of their ice since 1860, according to the research-institute NIWA. The 1990 is by far the hottest period since the measure started 150 years ago. The researchers say that the ice will start pulling back even faster in the immediate future.
This is consistent with information gathered all over the world, on Greenland, the Siberian Taiga, The Arctic and Antarctica. Earth's ice is melting and much faster than researchers was able to predict just a few years ago. The recent research is clearly showing that the process is accelerating. When and if it's going to end, is anybody's guess.
Entered 2001-01-10