Source: SF Gate

(10-01) 14:49 PDT Hanford -- At least 20 people were injured Monday when a big-rig truck slammed into the side of an Amtrak train on a rural Kings County roadway rail crossing, authorities said.

No serious injuries were reported in the wreck just south of Hanford, authorities said. The train, which left from Oakland and was bound for Bakersfield, was carrying 169 passengers.

It is unclear why the big-rig driver crashed into the train near the intersection of 10th and Kansas at 12:15 p.m. The intersection is marked with gates, gongs and flashing lights.

The truck is lying on its side across the railroad tracks and three of the five railroad cars have jumped off the tracks, authorities said.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Big-rig-slams-into-Amtrak-train-in-Central-Valley-3910064.php

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Returning the damaged Crystal River nuclear unit in Florida to service could cost $3 billion and take eight years, according to an independent review of repair options commissioned by Duke Energy as it pursued a merger with Progress Energy earlier this year, the utility said in a filing Monday.

The three-year shutdown of the 838-megawatt Crystal River reactor became an issue in the weeks before the merger was completed in July and played a role in the surprise ouster of Bill Johnson, the Progress executive who had been slated to lead the merged companies, executives and board members have said.

Progress Energy Florida supplied the Crystal River report prepared by Zapata to Florida regulators Monday, said incoming utility president Alex Glenn, adding that no decision has been made whether to fix Crystal River or to retire the unit.

Progress said the review found that a repair plan developed by Progress "appears to be technically feasible, but significant risks and technical issues" remain unresolved.

more
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/10/01/business/01reuters-utilities-duke-crystalriver.html?hp

Source: NYT

By DANIEL LEWIS
Published: October 1, 2012 43 Comments

Barry Commoner, a founder of modern ecology and one of its most provocative thinkers and mobilizers, died Sunday in Manhattan. He was 95 and lived in Brooklyn Heights.

His wife, Lisa Feiner, confirmed his death.

Dr. Commoner was a leader among a generation of scientist-activists who recognized the toxic consequences of America’s post-World War II technology boom, and one of the first to stir the national debate over the public’s right to comprehend the risks and make decisions about them.

Raised in Brooklyn during the Depression and trained as a biologist at Columbia and Harvard, he came armed with a combination of scientific expertise and leftist zeal. His work on the global effects of radioactive fallout, which included documenting concentrations of strontium 90 in the baby teeth of thousands of children, contributed materially to the adoption of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/us/barry-commoner-dies-at-95.html?hp

Congress





Senate




Refs





Fat



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Spain




Stalin

by JASON MAJOR on SEPTEMBER 30, 2012


On September 26-27 Cassini executed its latest flyby of Titan, T-86, coming within 594 miles (956 km) of the cloud-covered moon in order to measure the effects of the Sun’s energy on its dense atmosphere and determine its variations at different altitudes.

The image above was captured as Cassini approached Titan from its night side, traveling about 13,000 mph (5.9 km/s). It’s a color-composite made from three separate raw images acquired in red, green and blue visible light filters.
Titan’s upper-level hydrocarbon haze is easily visible as a blue-green “shell” above its orange-colored clouds.

Cassini captured this image as it approached Titan’s sunlit limb, grabbing a better view of the upper haze. Some banding can be seen in its highest reaches.
The haze is the result of UV light from the Sun breaking down nitrogen and methane in Titan’s atmosphere, forming hydrocarbons that rise up and collect at altitudes of 300-400 kilometers. The sea-green coloration is a denser photochemical layer that extends upwards from about 200 km altitude.


Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/97654/pictures-from-t-86-cassinis-latest-flyby-of-titan/#ixzz280KayJwL