Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “United States Department of Energy”
The U.S. has some big problems that require bold solutions. Unfortunately, books about solutions to our society’s problems are often given short shrift by reviewers or languish on our bookshelves. As I often say, this country has more problems than it deserves and more solutions than it uses. Now comes S. David Freeman. In 1974 David Freeman, an energy engineer …
Radioactive Waste Dump in Texas Threatens U.S. Water Supply
The Big Fix: What Ails America and How to Fix It
Highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants in 36 states is being dumped in a remote area in West Texas, just outside the small town of Andrews. The dumping will continue until a massive hole in the ground dug for that purpose is filled. The nuclear-waste graveyard, however, sits atop the Ogallala Aquifer, the world’s second-largest underground water supply, covering an area of 174,000 square miles.
Independent, award-winning journalist Paul DeRienzo—who had done a six-part series (“America’s Fukushima”) on Leid Stories about the nation’s largest ecological disaster caused by massive contamination from the Hanford Site, a sprawling nuclear-reactor complex on the Columbia River in south-central Washington state—reveals an elaborate scheme by governmental officials and a politically connected waste-disposal company to hide from the public the clear and present danger of massive contamination of the Ogallala Aquifer.
Leid Stories listeners identify top problems confronting the nation and offer workable solutions.
U.S. Cleans Up Nuclear-Waste with … Kitty Litter!
Ferguson: A Year After Rebellion, Is There ‘Reform?’
In On Feb. 5, 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy said a salt-hauling truck caught fire at its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, an underground collection, processing and storage plant for nuclear and radioactive waste from a Defense Department weapons facility located in Los Alamos, Texas. Workers were evacuated, six were treated for smoke inhalation, and part of the plant was shut down, the DOE said.
Nine days later, workers on the night shift on Feb. 14 heard an explosion “close to the operating location where waste was being emplaced,” the DOE confirmed. The next day, air monitors detected “very low levels of airborne radioactive contamination.”
Independent, award-winning journalist Paul DeRienzo—who had done a six-part series (“America’s Fukushima”) on Leid Stories about the nation’s largest ecological disaster caused by massive contamination from the Hanford Site, a sprawling nuclear-reactor complex on the Columbia River in south-central Washington state—sheds light on the clear and present danger posed by the nation’s nuclear-weapons industry and the government’s abysmal regulation of nuclear waste.
In Ferguson, Missouri, and across the nation yesterday, thousands paused in memory of Michael Brown, who at 18 was shot dead by former police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9 last year. Leid Stories takes a look at what Ferguson has taught us.
U.S. residents’ exposure to extreme heat could increase four- to six-fold by mid-century, due to both a warming climate and a population that’s growing especially fast in the hottest regions of the country, according to new research. The study, by researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the City University of New York (CUNY), highlights the importance …
China’s increased trade and investment in Latin America over the past decade has resulted in powerful social and environmental impacts such as job losses and pollution, although the growing relationship has also brought some benefits, says new research published today. The high concentration of Chinese activity in Latin America’s agriculture and extractive sectors has placed a heavy strain on water …
ow it’s official: using the wrong kitty litter can cause a severe and expensive nuclear accident at the nation’s unique underground radioactive waste containment facility, shutting it down indefinitely. What’s NOT official yet is why the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) used organic kitty litter that caused the nuclear waste accident in the first place, or why LANL used that …
