Obama’s outlined a New Energy Policy as he periodically does without any far reaching national goals on to reduce America’s dependence on billions of barrels of imported oil which cause global warming,finance terrorist and prop up brutal regimes in the Middle East.However his periodic bursts of rhetoric on the US Energy Policy is nothing but a lot of empty gas without any specifics.Earlier he used to stress on nuclear energy which has been thrown out of the window with the Fukushima nuclear disaster.His plans of supporting the nuclear energy industry with $36 billion in DOE loans seems a bad if not a gruesome joke.Similarly last year his plans of allowing offshore drilling for Oil also fell flat after the massive BP Oil Spill ecological disaster.
The Reactor 1 of the failed Fukushima Daichi plant might be recritical as Radioactive Chlorine has been detected suggesting chain reactions continued after the reactor shut down.This is quite alarming and has made Japan thing about pouring concrete into its crippled Fukushima atomic plant IEAE warned that a potential uncontrolled chain reaction could cause further radiation leaks.The risk to workers might be greater than previously thought because melted fuel in the No. 1 reactor building may be causing isolated, uncontrolled nuclear chain reactions.Dumping concrete on the plant would serve a second purpose: it would trap contaminated water, said Tony Roulstone, an atomic engineer who directs the University of Cambridge’s masters program in nuclear energy.
Solar and Wind Energy are the two most widely used forms of Renewable Energy amongst others like Geothermal,Tidal,Biomass etc.While Hydro and Nuclear Energy are also considered by some to be Alternative forms of Energy,most governments do not count these two in their renewable targets.Wind Energy has been the dominant amongst the 2 in the last 2 decades as falling prices of Wind Power has made it more widely used.However the rapidly declining costs of Solar Energy has made it the faster growing of the two with 50% annual growth being seen in the last decade.Solar Energy also has a much larger potential than any other form of Energy.However its higher costs have inhibited its growth till now,however the entry of low cost Asian producers and fast technology innovation has already brought solar power on parity with fossil fuels in some places like Italy,Turkey,Hawai etc.
The radioactive fallout from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster is not only keeping Japan on high alert but also its neighbours.China has said that it has detected trace radiation levels from the spreading radiation in its provincial regions bordering Japan.Note most of the Chinese economic centres are situation near the eastern coast near Japan.Its 2 main cities of Guangdong and Shanghai have also detected trace levels of radioactive elements like iodine and caesium.Note China has turned back vessels and people from Japan in the last week because of high radiation levels.
The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster shows more dangerous radiation signs each day.While Plutonium Poisoning was found in the soil near the Nuclear Reactors,a more alarming development is the high levels of Caesium being found in areas far away from the plant.Note Caesium is a heavy element which is found in areas of radioactivity like Iodine 130.Caesium has a much bigger half life than iodine and can cause radiation poisoning for a much longer period.
Hydroelectricity power plants are the biggest power stations in the world dwarfing the biggest nuclear and coal power projects.The world’s biggest power plant is the Three Gorge Dam in China which at 22.5 GW is more than 50% larger than the 2nd biggest power station in the world.Most of the world’s largest hydroelectricity plants in the world are situation in China and South America.North America also has some of the larger hydro power plants.China is the by far the world leader in hydro power plant capacity with around 200 GW which it aims to double to around 400 GW by 2020.Other major hydroelectricity countries are Canada,USA,Brazil and India.Note Hydroelectricity is responsible for producing around 20% of the world’s electricity.Here are some of the major world hydroelectricity power plants .