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Sunday, April 8, 2012

According to press releases from the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), Unit 2 of the Penly Nuclear Power Plant in France shut down Thursday afternoon after operators were alerted to “small quantities of burning oil.” The plant is operated by Électricité de France (EDF). Emergency crews were dispatched to the 1,330-megawatt French reactor following an alarm triggered there at 11:20 UTC Thursday. According to EDF, there were “no consequences for the environment” and no one was injured.

The ASN said in a statement the anomaly had been provisionally placed at level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, which ranks occurrences at nuclear power plants on a scale ranging from 1 to 7, with 7 representing an event with lasting consequences for health and the environment such as the Fukushima Daiichi disaster following a Tsunami in Japan in March 2011.

The alarm was triggered after two fires broke out in the reactor building. The fires are reported to have been caused by leaks in one of the cooling pumps that are part of the reactor’s cooling system. The source of the fire was determined to be one or more pools of oil which had leaked from one of a pump’s joints, catching fire. They were quickly suppressed and the reactor remains shut down due to damage to the cooling pump.

After the fires were put out, radioactive water was then discovered to be leaking from the pump into the reactor’s drainage bin.The ASN released a statement at 05:00 UTC saying they had received “confirmation by EDF that the leak in the primary pump n°1 of the reactor n°2 at the Penly NPP had stopped.” ASN has undertaken an investigation into the causes of the incident which will later be published on their website. The reactor will remain shut down until the damage is repaired and the cause of the incident is known.

The Penly nuclear site, located on the coast to the northwest of Paris, is home to two Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) units and is cooled using water from the English Channel. PWRs are a common variety of nuclear reactors named for their use of highly pressurized water in their primary cooling systems. All of the 58 nuclear power plants which supply France with over 75% of its energy, are of this type.

Friday, March 13, 2009

A team of archaeologists excavating an Ancient Egyptian tomb have discovered golden jewelry in a recently-discovered lower chamber at the Valley of the Kings burial site in Luxor, Egypt.

Two golden rings and five golden earrings were found in the tomb of Djehuty, an 18th-dynasty official of Queen Hatshepsut, and were probably the property of Djehuty or his family.

The discovery was announced by Farouk Hosni, Egypt’s current Minister of Culture.

Djehuty was overseer of the treasury and overseer of works for the Queen. Hatshepsut reigned approximately 1479–1458 BCE. Djehuty was responsible for managing the huge amounts of precious goods brought in from Egypt’s military expedition to Punt in the Horn of Africa and the vast building projects of Hatshepsut which have made the female pharaoh one of the most-remembered of any from ancient Egypt.

Djehuty died after Hatshepsut did, sometime during the reign of Thutmosis III. Both Hatshepsut’s and Thutmosis’s names are recorded on the tomb. In a fashion typical of ancient Egyptian rivalries, Hatshepsut’s name was partly obscured on the monument over the tomb sometime after the queen’s death.

The team, led by José Manuel Galán of the National Research Center (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC), in Madrid, Spain, had been excavating the tomb, designated TT11 and located in the necropolis of Dra’ Abu el-Naga’, since 2002. While much of Djehuty’s funerary equipment was lost to fire in antiquity, the lower chamber of his tomb was concealed at the end of a three-meter shaft and discovered at the end of 2008.

A superficial description of the tomb itself was recorded almost two hundred years ago by 19th-century French Egyptologist Jean-François Champollion, rubble blocking the entrance hindered excavation until the 21st century. In that time, emphasis in Egyptology has changed from the cataloging of treasures to the investigation of ancient culture, life and religion.

Since excavation began, Djehuty’s tomb has yielded a number of surprises. It was discovered that the tomb was re-used repeatedly up to and during the Greco-Roman period. There is an unusual face-on depiction of pharaoh Thutmosis III hunting ducks, and the mummy of a young, bejewelled, as-yet unidentified woman.

In 2007, 44 preserved bunches of flowers thought to be from Djehuty’s funeral were found in the site. In their 8th season of excavation, which ended on February 22, 2009, the team also found considerable evidence that below Djehuty’s tomb is a network of burial sites from the 11th dynasty, four thousand years old.

The lower chamber also displays passages from the Egyptian funerary text the Book of the Dead on its walls and a colorful mural of the goddess Nut, an embodiment of the heavens, on the ceiling. The names of Djehuty and his parents were also intact in the second chamber; the names were defaced in the previously-known first chamber of the tomb, which had also been looted.

According to a press release from Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Djehuty’s tomb is only the fifth known decorated burial chamber of the 18th dynasty. An additional unusual feature of the tomb is that its upper chamber is decorated in relief, rather than simply paint. When the excavation is completed, Dr Galán’s team plans to open the site to the public as the carved stoneworks will not be destroyed by tourists’ activities as paint would.

The identification of Djehuty is a complicated one, as a number of officials of the 18th dynasty bore the name, including a general and several governors. The name itself is an alternate transliteration of the name of the Egyptian god usually written in English as Thoth.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

File:Burj dubai palms.jpg

Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is now the world’s tallest man-made structure, after reaching a record height of 688 metres, The tower is now over 160 stories – the largest number of floors in any building across the world, its developer real estate giant Emaar Properties said in a statement.

The tower unofficially became the world’s tallest man-made structure in April, 2008 after surpassing the KVLY-TV mast (628.8 metres) in North Dakota in the United States. Though the final height of the tower has not been disclosed yet, it is expected to reach 800m. It will be officially recognised as the world’s tallest structure only when the construction is fully completed.

The tower was designed by Chicago, Illinois-based Skidmore and is being constructed by high-rise building experts from South Korea’s Samsung Engineering & Construction, Belgium’s Besix and United States Turner Construction.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Starting February 1, Cospas-Sarsat will discontinue monitoring the frequencies that are used for analog-based emergency position-indicating radio beacons (EPIRB), the 121.5 and 243 MHz frequencies. Search and rescue (SAR) groups worldwide will only monitor the 406 MHz frequency, which is dedicated to digital locators.

The 406 MHz digital band has many advantages over the older analog systems. Since the locators send data to satellites, rather than just provide a continuous signal, much more will be known about the emergency before a SAR group arrives, such as the type of vehicle and owner. In addition, the accuracy will be greatly enhanced from a 1400 square kilometre (500 square mile) search zone down to just 90m (100 yards) if the locator has a GPS fix. The most important reason for the switch is the reduction of false positives. With the older analog bands, only about one in every 50 alerts was real, whereas with the digital system that is reduced to about one in every 17 alerts being real.

With fewer false positives and greatly increased accuracy, SAR groups around the world will be better able and faster to respond to life-threatening emergencies within the critical “golden day”. They will also be able to do this with fewer wasted resources.

The phase-out of analog transponders has been a long time coming. The first warnings were sent by the US Coast Guard in 2000, and analog devices have not been manufactured in the last several years. For most large boats the cost of upgrading to the new system was negligible. The change February 1 is worldwide, with both the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization recommending the switch.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Five hundred people are missing and as many as 150 are reported to have been killed by flash floods in India, caused by a sudden cloudburst that hit Indian-controlled Kashmir on Friday. The downpour struck the town of Leh and several surrounding villages, and reportedly caused a mud slide that hit the refugee-populated village of Choglamsar.

Associated Press reported that at least five foreign tourists were among those killed. Their nationalities are not known but New Delhi Television (NDTV) reported that 110 tourists, half of them foreigners, were being looked after at an Army transit camp on the Leh-Manali road. NDTV also said that the tourists had been given food, medicine and phone connections to their embassies. Flights have been arranged by the Indian government to bring affected foreign tourists back home.

Massive relief efforts are continuing; Farooq Ahmad, who is Inspector General of Police in Kashmir reported on Sunday today that “63 bodies had been identified so far and that rescue teams were fanning out to six villages near Leh that had not yet been reached during relief operations.” Believed to contain 5000 people, Choglamsar, on Leh’s outskirts, is one of the villages that rescuers have been clearing roads to reach.

The army has been called in to assist in rescue work. Thousands of troops, police and paramilitary soldiers were clearing roads in order to reach isolated villages. Those living in the upper reaches, whose housing was not adequate to provide protection, will have borne the full impact of the mud slides caused by the 12 mm of rain that fell on Friday in just a few minutes.

Officials said that rescuers were digging through crushed homes and piles of mud to search for survivors. The hundreds of reported injured are being treated at an army hospital and several makeshift clinics. Mohammed Deen Khan, a social activist who has been assisting in rescue work, said the mud was 15 feet high in some places. Heavy earth-moving equipment has been brought in to move the tonnes of mud and boulders blocking roads.

The rescue officials have faced a serious problem due to the severe damage of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) office, a telecommunication enterprise, leading to the complete disruption of communication in the Leh region. The general manager of BSNL reports that the damage has caused a loss of 120 million INR. Another telecommunication enterprise, Airtel, has provided SIM cards to local administration for setting up hotlines that people can call for assistance.

Pashi Tsetan, a local administration development wing (deputy director) said, “The major problem is due to the communication breakdown. If communication is restored it will help in co-ordination of rescue operations in a better way.” Other institutions like Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), the ITBP camp, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and others have also been affected.

1,314 people, mostly tourists, have been airlifted from Leh to Delhi. Three additional Indian Airlines flights from Jammu and Delhi have been planned. Three IL-76 and four AN-32 aircraft carried relief material to Leh this morning, and four more by Jet Airways and Air India and three by Kingfisher Airlines will carry relief material and doctors to Leh.

The ITBP has sent water tankers containing drinking water to affected areas. Medical camps have been set up in villages like Saboo. The bodies of eleven persons were transported to Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and Rajasthan this morning.

India’s crisis comes as Pakistan is experiencing the worst floods in the country’s history.

Monday, February 28, 2005File:Oscar icon by reiartur.png

The 77th Annual Academy Awards were held on February 27th, 2005 and broadcast live across the world. Some of the more poignant moments included a tribute to Johnny Carson, frequent host of the Awards, as well as a video tribute to many people involved in the movie industry who died in the past year, including Rodney Dangerfield, Ossie Davis, Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, and Ronald Reagan, set to the music of Yo Yo Ma.

Friday, October 12, 2007

I had an unofficial phone call from Gay Talese last Tuesday. He had just flown back from Colombia and he was cranky. “I’m happy to do an interview with you,” he said, “but what the hell could you ask me that’s not already out there? Have you even bothered to look?!”

“Jeez, Mr. Talese, lots of things,” was my response. I lied. The truth is that when I call people to interview them, I do not have a set of preconceived questions. My agenda is to talk to them and gain a sense of who they are; to flesh them out as humans. To find out what they think about the world around them at that moment. With Gay Talese I had little interest in talking about Frank Sinatra Has a Cold and with Augusten Burroughs I had little interest in discussing Running with Scissors. I want to know what they think about things outside of the boxes people have placed them in.

With a memoirist like Burroughs, even this is a challenge. What parts of his life he has not written about himself, other interviewers have strip-mined. When we met for dinner at Lavagna in the East Village, I explained to Augusten this issue. I suggested we make the interview more of a conversation to see if that would be more interesting. “Instead of you in the catbird seat,” I said, “let’s just talk.”

We struck an instant rapport. What set out to be an hour and half interview over dinner had turned into four hours of discussion about our lives similarly lived. I removed half of the interview: the half that focused on me.

Below is Wikinews reporter David Shankbone’s conversation with writer Augusten Burroughs.

Thursday, February 2, 2006

Bathurst Regional Council, the local government responsible for the city of Bathurst and its surrounds in Central Western New South Wales, Australia yesterday revealed it had received a development application for the new Bathurst Base Hospital.

The new hospital is to be built behind the current hospital on the same site and is expected to cost the New South Wales government AUD96 million. The Bathurst Hospital will be the first in the Bathurst-Orange-Bloomfield redevelopment project.

The new hospital will have 149 beds, up from 85 for the current hospital. The hospital will also feature a mental health unit – previously psychiatric patients had to travel to Orange to the Bloomfield Hospital for treatment.

The Bathurst Hospital is expected to have state-of-the art facilities and will share some services with the to be constructed Orange Base Hospital.

The Bathurst Regional Council has approved the demolition of 12 buildings on the hospital site for enabling works. The hospital site is heritage listed although council decided that as the buildings do not contribute to the streetscape they may be demolished.

The demolitions are expected to take place late next month and will take around six weeks to complete. A temporary driveway will then be built to replace the current service entry for food and linen as it will become part of the work site.

Upon completion of the new hospital, the current ward block will be demolished leaving the original building from the late 19th century intact. The original building is expected to become an education centre and consulting rooms.

The original building was opened in 1834. Since then the facility has undergone numerous upgrades and add-ons, with the present ward block being opened in stages from 1978 to 1982.

Other buildings expected to be retained include the Daffodil Cottage (a cancer care centre) and the original Nurse’s quarters known as Poole House.