"U.S. officials say the nation’s health system is ill-prepared to cope with a catastrophic release of radiation, despite years of focus on the possibility of a terrorist 'dirty bomb' or an improvised nuclear device attack."
Floods are a predictable occurrence in many parts of the country, causing death, misery, and untold property damage. But they are more than a disaster story. The human toll can often be prevented, and there are stories about prevention, planning, response, and recovery.
"The 2011 Atlantic hurricane season will be above average in activity and there is a more than 70 percent chance of at least one major hurricane hitting the U.S. coastline, Colorado State University forecasters predicted on Wednesday."
The Japanese nuclear disaster is a reminder that the storage of spent fuel in temporary facilities across the United States may be a disaster waiting to happen.
"Japanese officials took some solace Wednesday in halting leaks of radioactive water from the nation's crippled nuclear plant. But in Washington, internal e-mails from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission revealed doubts within the organization about procedures for U.S. plants in a Fukushima-style event."
The intrepid Mac McClelland, who covered the spill and secrecy at its peak for Mother Jones, went back to see if anything had changed. But BP's cops tried to stop her.
"GATLINBURG, Tenn. -- Crews on Tuesday recovered the bodies of two workers from the rubble of a wastewater-treatment plant wall that collapsed earlier in the day, while officials continued to investigate what caused the breach that released sewage into a rain-swollen river at Great Smoky Mountains National Park."
Bill Poovey reports for the Associated Press April 5, 2011.
Five top executives at Transocean, the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, gave up some $250,000 of the $898,282 in bonuses they received this month. The firm had been criticized for claiming a "best year" in safety of operations after 11 people died on the rig. One quarter of the bonus amount was explicitly tied to safety.
"United States government engineers sent to help with the crisis in Japan are warning that the troubled nuclear plant there is facing a wide array of fresh threats that could persist indefinitely, and that in some cases are expected to increase as a result of the very measures being taken to keep the plant stable, according to a confidential assessment prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."
"Wildfires fed off what were described as 'perfect' conditions for burning again on Monday across drought-stricken Texas and nearby states."
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