Is a Camp of Saints scenario about to begin?
Italy has prevented a ferry carrying 1,800 people, mainly Moroccans fleeing the fighting in Libya, from docking in Sicily.
The ship had sailed from Tripoli and asked for permission to refuel on the island after being refused entry to Malta, Italian media said.
Meanwhile, 41 people are feared drowned after a boat carrying migrants capsized off Tunisia, UN officials say.
Five were rescued by another boat heading to the island of Lampedusa.
Since Monday, 21 boats have arrived on the Italian island from Tunisia carrying 1,600 migrants.
The boat which went down at around midnight on Sunday night, three hours after leaving the southern port of Zarzis, had been carrying 41 men and five boys.
Continued on Page 47
Here's hoping they do a better job stress testing them than that charade they performed on the banks
THE European Union has reached agreement to conduct "stress tests" on the continent's nuclear power plants, the bloc's energy chief Guenther Oettinger says. I'm all for nuclear safety, but as Bobby notes in the related post below, the Euros have more important things to do than to see if a reactor near Paris can withstand a tsunami.
Oettinger said the tests would be conducted on a "voluntary" basis. He said they would look at whether the 153 reactors housed in half as many plants across the continent could resist earthquakes, tsunamis and terrorist attacks.
"We want to look at the risk and safety issues in the light of events in Japan," he said.
The European commission spoke after emergency talks between ministers, national nuclear safety chiefs and industry leaders that were hastily called amid rising public concern in the wake of Japan's nuclear emergency.
Oettinger said there were no existing EU rules to make the tests binding.
"Recognised experts will be responsible for carrying out the tests in the course of this year," he added
Continued on Page 47
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has sacked his diversity adviser after he called on Muslims not to support the governing UMP party, reports say.
Abderrahmane Dahmane, a Muslim and former UMP official appointed to his post only in January, was protesting against a planned debate on Islam. He said Muslim members of the UMP should not renew their party membership unless the debate was cancelled. He condemned UMP leader Jean-Francois Cope as a "plague for Muslims".
The UMP (Union for a Popular Movement) is planning to hold a public debate on 5 April on "Islam and secularism". The debate will explore firstly how "the practice of religions may be compatible with the rules of the secular republic", and secondly "the question of Islam in France".
France has the largest Muslim minority of any EU country and controversies have arisen over the state's attempts to impose secular values in public institutions such as schools.
A public ban on face-covering veils comes into force on 11 April.
Continued on Page 47
Japan's nuclear reactor emergency triggered a wave of reactions in the European Union, with environment ministers urging stress tests on operating nuclear plants and MEPs calling for nuclear energy to be phased out. Since Luxembourg and Dusseldorf are such an earthquake-prone areas...
While awaiting clearer information from Japan, EU ministers and experts in charge of energy and nuclear issues will meet today (15 March) in Brussels at the request of EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger. They will mull the possible application of EU-wide stress tests for the 143 nuclear reactors currently operating on the bloc's territory, and debate the wider issue of nuclear security in Europe.
EU environment ministers, gathered yesterday (14 March) in Brussels for a regular meeting, expressed support for a proposal from Austria to check the security of operating nuclear plants.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the three-month suspension of a law aimed at prolonging the activity of old nuclear plants. Two of the 17 operating reactors in Germany are expected to be temporary shut down. Leading to temporary rolling brownouts, perchance?
During the moratorium "the security of the situation will be assessed in view of what happened in Japan," Merkel said during a press conference in Berlin. Tsunamis are a big threat in Germany, one supposes.
The two main parties in the European Parliament, the European People's Party (EPP) and the Social Democrats (S&D), called for security checks to be carried out at all nuclear plants in Europe. Spanish and Portuguese environment representatives (both from socialist governments) went further and called for the gradual phase-out of nuclear energy, echoing the position of the Greens. Solar. Cold-fusion. One windmill per farm. Whale-oil lamps.
Britain, France and Italy asked for "calm". France and the UK are the EU countries with the highest number of nuclear reactors, 58 and 19 respectively. Italy has no nuclear plants but has embarked on an ambitious nuclear programme to reduce its dependency on external energy sources. Shirley the oil exporters are supporters.
EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard gave assurances that "all necessary measures will be taken," but added that with 143 operating reactors, "nuclear power will be there for quite some time, whatever happens". See? Climate Action Commissioners are experts on everything!
A few of several positions:
German Socialist & Democrats MEP Jo Leinen said: "In the light of what happened in Japan, we need to look again at safety standards for Europe's nuclear reactors. They will not be hit by a tsunami, of course, but there are other risks, including terrorist attack. In the highly populated European continent, the consequences of a safety breakdown do not bear contemplation. Prudence requires that we re-evaluate our safety measures for nuclear reactors." Sounds calm and intelligent.
Then the wackos weigh in:
European Green Party (EGP) spokesperson Monica Frassoni said that "it is clear that these events only strengthen our determination to quickly phase out from this dangerous, costly and dirty energy source. We have alternatives and now governments should listen more to reality than to manipulative industry lobbies," she said in a note. Like government-supported wind and solar power, government-mandated energy conservation and rationing, government-sponsored electric cars charged by power from ... ummm ... tidal-action generators. Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2011 07:49 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11139 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Perhaps the U.S. would do well to worry about our own nuclear power plants. The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was supposedly designed to withstand a 7.0 quake because a 6.5 quake was apparently what they felt was the greatest magnitude quake that would occur here. The Northridge quake was a 6.9 and we're always being warned to be prepared for the 8.0. (Everyone but the nuclear power plants apparently).
And take a look at the tsunami protection from the photo at the link...yes, that's fencing above the wall. I feel warm and fuzzy looking at that, don't you?
#2
Harry Reid can go to hell! We need to get the spent rods away from our nuke plants and into the Nevada Waste Facility ASAP!
Reactor #4's fire is H and O burning from a boiling spent rod pit.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
03/15/2011 9:57 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The obvious solution for the Euros is to immediately start rolling blackouts, ration petrol, lay off 25% of all workers & evacuate Brussels. Then the Euros can worry about THAT.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
