National news.

[Elena]

I´m terrified by the news from Japan too - all day long they speak about in in radio news. As far as I understand it already is a bad as Chernobyl (or worse) - but I don´t remember that accident wel (- I may be old but not THAT old)l.

[Lady Sa'iltu]

Our government and people in general seem not to think about any possible risks. As we say:'A man won't make sign of the cross until it thunders'.
I heard the news several hours ago, and they said there had been 2 new incidents in their reactors and the radiation had reached the point of the 6th degree and in Chernobyl it was 7.

[ViruS]

I´m terrified by the news from Japan too - all day long they speak about in in radio news. As far as I understand it already is a bad as Chernobyl (or worse) - but I don´t remember that accident wel (- I may be old but not THAT old)l.

Same here .All day they talk about that accident, but it's normal.You don't see this every day happening!
As far as i know they did talk about the Cernobyl incident but they can't compare that to this.
From a scale to 1-7 the Japan accident had a 4  and the Cernobyl had a 7. Also they are doin good so far. They did managed to control the generators and also fixed the cooling sistem.

[Markus]

Oh my, it's getting worse and worse... French authorities now rate the incidents a 6/7. How do you evacuate a megacity? How do you evacuate any city when much of the infrastructure is destroyed?

Here in Germany they are going to switch off some of the oldest nuclear power plants, at least for the time being.

Even now, Fukushima is one of the biggest nuclear disasters of history so far. I just hope that people are going to learn from it, that it will mark the beginning of the end of nuclear power and that the governments will start to invest in clean and safe forms of energy seriously.

Best regards

Markus

[Lucy]

Let's hope for that, Markus, something really has to happen finally.

[Lady Sa'iltu]

In Russia, about 20% of egergy is got from nuclear stations.

[Markus]

The number is similar in Germany, Siren.

Still it's well possible for us to go without nuclear energy pretty soon because we have enough reserves. Germany is still exporting electricity, so experts are saying this would not be too difficult or too expensive.

The smaller one of the two parties in our government is bribable if you ask me. They reduced the VAT for hotel stays at a time when the government was extra-short of money, and they received large donations from from the hotel industry. Go figure... I wish they would sell themselves to a good cause - like green energy - just once, just for a change.

Cheers!

Markus

[The One]

Well, I remember doing a study on this in physics this year. Right before the catastrophe hit Japan.
It would cost an approximate 5 billion dollars to install enough photovoltaic cells, wind turbines and solar heat panels to produce green energy to power all of Kuwait's electrical needs. That's less than 5% of the country's GDP! So, any country developed enough can theoretically afford to install and maintain devices for the production of  green energy.

[Lasse]

I have to disagree, Kuwait has a desert climate, it's windy, the sun shines almost all the time, so basically you can just put out as many solar cells, wind turbines (etc.) in the otherwise uninhabited desert as you want, they're going to work with their best possible efficiency.

Japan (and most other developed countries) on the other hand is incredibly densely populated, and doesn't have the ideal geography for these alternative energies. It's rainy, not particularly hot, and doesn't have any big, long rivers.

[Markus]

Right you are, Lasse, it's not easy to go for regenerative energy unless you're a sunny spot in the desert.

But then again Japan is so innovative and skillful society, so deeply in love with technology. How else could their cities withstand earthquakes so well that it takes a 9.0 to harm them seriously? So why not go for offshore-windparks? For tidal power plants? For some new kind of hyper-inventive efficient solar cells to cover the facades of the skyscrapers? For good old gas from waste water? And I'm not even talking about energy awareness and efficient use...

Even in good old Germany we've been gaining about 1/6 of our electricity from regenerative sources in 2010. I don't understand why a real high-tech-country as Japan should not be able to produce a considerable amount of its energy in similar ways. Every nuclear power plant replaced is one that can't blow up any more...

Cheers!

Markus

[Lasse]

Actually from what I've heard it wasn't the earthquake itself that made the mess, but the tsunami. If the water didn't wash away the diesel generators that pumped the cooling water after the shortcut caused by the earthquake (leaving the cores uncooled for hours), there wouldn't have been any problems, just like in the other plants that got damaged. Japan's been very cautious about building erthquake-resistant power plants, and it actually works for them. They just need to stop putting these next to the shores, lol.

But you're right Markus, they need to look for options to nuclear energy, especially because they're such an energy consuming society anyways! It's pretty likely that the developement for alternative energy sources will get a boost. I hope for a breakthrough soon!

[TheOFFman]

I just hope that people are going to learn from it, that it will mark the beginning of the end of nuclear power and that the governments will start to invest in clean and safe forms of energy seriously.

Chernobyl happened and they haven't learned so how many more disasters need to happen before they learn?

[Lasse]

This is no Chernobyl, and let's not compare the wonderful Soviet engineers to the Japanese ones. It's a completely different technology, and the damage is not nearly as bad.

[Markus]

Hey folks,

last night I heard that someone set fire to the Sagrada Familia. What an idiot! I hope the damage is not too big. This is especially sad to me because I've been there last autumn with Lucy and found it so wonderful...

Cheers, anyway!

Markus

[Luth]

Indeed, an insane man set fire to the sacristy of la Sagrada Familia. Luckily the fire didn't affect the Gaudi work, only the newest part. More information later or tomorrow (I'm at work). But do not worry, it could be worse

[Lucy]

I've heard about it too, and I read that it didn't make any serious damage. Please, Queen Luth, if you get to know something else about it, do share with us.

[Persephone]

Seems Easter time is really hot topic:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143651

[Markus]

This is terrible, upsetting and sad!

I hope they'll find the arsonists and make them pay, make them make up for their deed as much as possible.

Best regards

Markus

[Persephone]

I am really sorry for this, cause the Corfu praying ritus is special, really special. Now the worth historical books and scrolls are lost

[Luth]

Those are bad news, really 

I've looked a little the news about the Sagrada Familia, and that's what I can tell you: an insane man, with pockets full of lighters, went to the sacristy of the temple, a place with a lot of imflammable material (the wardrobes with the clothes of the priestess, for instance), and set fire. Some tourists that were visiting the building caught him.

The damage was important, but it could be worse. It seems that the sacrist is all burnt, but no original Gaudí work has been affected. The firemen had to enter somewhere, and they were almost forced to enter through the stained glass windows, but VERY LUCKILY they finally were able to enter through the door. The crypt suffered minor damaged because of smoke.

The temple re-opened to visitors the same day later, except, of course, the sacrist.

It was bad, but it could be much worse