Disasters

"Federal panel's report blames PG&E for last year's deadly gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, but other agencies come in for criticism too."

"The U.S. East Coast is mopping up after Hurricane Irene's weekend battering that killed around 40 people and authorities and residents are looking out anxiously over the Atlantic and asking: Is another one coming?

Tropical Storm Katia is jogging west at a brisk 18 miles per hour (30 km per hour) and the U.S. National Hurricane Center says it is expected to become a hurricane by late Wednesday or early Thursday.

"An independent investigation panel has confirmed that [Japan's] Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency asked utilities in at least three cases to mobilize their employees for government-sponsored symposiums on nuclear power and express supportive or neutral opinions."

"The Vermont National Guard will try today to reach the town of Wardsboro, the only Vermont town without a road — even a makeshift one — to the outside world."

"The earthquake that prompted the shutdown of a Virginia nuclear power plant last week may have been more severe than the plant’s reactors were designed to withstand, federal regulators said."

"Beyond flooding and destruction, Hurricane Irene is likely to have caused less visible environmental damage by dumping sewage, pesticides and other contaminants into waterways along the East Coast, federal officials said.
High flows of water can also disturb sediment and make it settle out in new deposits that can clog oyster beds or require new dredging in shipping channels."

"The earthquake that rattled much of the East Coast last week is sparking angry calls from elected officials seeking an immediate reevaluation of seismic risks at two dozen or so commercial nuclear plants around the country, including two in California.

The frustration is directed at members of the federal agency charged with regulating commercial nuclear plants, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."

"LONG BEACH, Wash. -- When the next devastating earthquake strikes off the Northwest coast, it is expected to send a tsunami so fast that it could leave coastal communities with perhaps 20 minutes to escape the surge of water.

"A sudden collapse of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could mean a breakdown in controls over the country’s weapons, U.S. officials and weapons experts said in interviews. But while Libya’s chemical arsenal consists of unwieldy canisters filled mostly with mustard gas, the World War I-era blistering agent, Syria possesses some of the deadliest chemicals ever to be weaponized, dispersed in thousands of artillery shells and warheads that are easy to transport."