Science and Technology:
¶ Engineers at ITER, an international nuclear fusion research project, are hoping to build the first experimental nuclear fusion reactor to generate more energy than it consumes, by using a new blanket system to line the inside of a 500 MW tokamak. [The Engineer]
¶ Researchers have genetically modified E. coli bacteria to convert sugar into an oil that is almost identical to conventional diesel. [DigitalJournal.com]
World:
¶ Smart Wind, a joint venture of Mainstream Renewable Power and Siemens Financial Services, has signed a lease for UK wind projects with a planned total capacity of 1,800 MW. [NewsNet]
¶ Edinburgh College is being powered by Scotland’s first “solar meadow.” [BBC News]
¶ Mongolia is planning to increase renewable power production to meet increasing demand. [Bernama]
US:
¶ Three fuel barges carrying natural gas on the Mobile River in Alabama exploded, killing at least three people. [Huffington Post]
¶ The State of Vermont is not satisfied by the response it got from the NRC about the questions it raised over recent incidents that took place during refueling at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. [Barre Montpelier Times Argus]
¶ Berkshire East, in Charlemont, Massachusetts, will be the world’s first ski area to be powered entirely from on-site renewables. [RenewablesBiz]
¶ For the time being, North Carolina’s renewable energy industry is safe from legislative threats. A bipartisan group in the sponsor’s own committee voted down his bill that would have repealed the state’s clean energy standard. [ThinkProgress]
¶ The US EPA has released a draft Protective Action Guideline setting standards and making recommendations for the response to a large release of radioactive material into the environment. [Energy Collective]
¶ Senator Lindsey Graham kept in place his block on Ernest Moniz’s nomination for energy secretary after a meeting failed to clear up the lawmaker’s concern over proposed budget cuts to a plutonium processing plant in his state. [Businessweek]
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