A rattan species new to Singapore
from lekowala!
Celebrating Dugongs in 2011!
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!
Fatal flightpath
from The annotated budak
Pink-necked Green Pigeon – call
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Time to infect with passion – Banded-leaf monkey girl speaks at TEdxNUS
from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS
Fifteen conservation issues to watch
from Mongabay.com news
Letter from Helen Lim Today Online 16 Mar 11;
WE REFER to Mr Ong Li Min's letter, "Road-building: Are other relevant authorities involved in decision?" (March 7).
We understand the concerns that the construction of the new access road into the Faber area could affect the environment in the area. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) had taken this into consideration when planning this new access road.
We are working closely with the Urban Redevelopment Authority and National Parks Board (NParks) to minimise any impact to the existing environment and the number of trees affected. This includes planting a dense row of trees along the new stretch of road.
NParks is also selecting the appropriate species of trees which not only provide shade but also attract birdlife.
We have taken a holistic approach in ensuring a quality living environment. It includes not just having a green environment but also a congestion-free one. The new access road is important in ensuring that the living environment is not affected as traffic increases in the future due to new housing developments in the area.
Prior to the start of this project, the LTA had consulted the Adviser, Neighbourhood Committee Members, Grassroots Leaders and residents on the new road at various dialogue sessions. As in many things, there are difficult trade-offs to be made and this access road is necessary for the wider public interest.
We thank Mr Ong for his feedback.
Road-building: Are other relevant authorities involved in decision?
Letter from Ong Li Min Today Online 7 Mar 11;
I AM writing in response to Daryl Yong's letter, "Some of us would rather have a road" (Feb 28), which addresses Ms Chow Bee Lin's letter "Bird sanctuary under threat" (Feb 24).
I am concerned with Mr Yong's statement that "conservationists should refrain from claiming to speak for unborn persons", made in response to Ms Chow's stand that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) should refrain from building the road which cuts across the bird sanctuary at Clementi, as nature should be preserved for future generations.
While I agree with Mr Yong that it is "anybody's guess what future generations would prefer", I am heartened that individuals such as Ms Chow take interest in issues of the environment. What is good for future generations is certainly up for debate and it is my belief that a healthy debate will help our policymakers consider stakeholders' viewpoints and ultimately arrive at better decisions. Hence, this should be encouraged.
I am not a conservationist but I applaud Ms Chow for challenging the LTA's decision so that Singaporeans can be aware of this environmental issue. Otherwise, this decision might pass unnoticed.
Personally, I prefer to preserve of the bird sanctuary in Clementi, particularly since it is home to a few endangered bird species. As other members on TodayOnline's Voices forum note, a sanctuary cannot be replaced once it is removed.
I wonder, when the LTA makes a decision that impacts outside of their scope (in this case, it touches on the environment), are the other relevant authorities such as the National Environment Agency, National Parks Board or Urban Redevelopment Authority involved in the process?
I would be interested to hear the LTA's and/or other authorities' comment on this matter.
Minimal nuclear risk in Singapore
Govt urges public calm as its agencies continue to monitor the situation
Straits Times 16 Mar 11;
THE Singapore Government last night urged the public not to be unduly alarmed by the Fukushima nuclear incident and said there was minimal risk of a radiological plume over the Republic.
It added that its agencies were monitoring radiation levels and food imports from Japan, and that there was currently no need for aircraft and passenger screening.
But as a precaution, returning Singaporeans who were within the evacuation zones on or after last Saturday should go for a medical consultation.
An inter-ministry statement said the Government has been closely monitoring the situation in Japan and assessing its possible impact here.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) is in contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other overseas experts to get the latest information available.
The IAEA currently categorises the nuclear incident in Fukushima as a Level 4 accident - on a scale that goes up in severity to 7. According to the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, this means that it is an 'accident with local consequences'.
'Although the current situation remains serious in Japan, the incident site is more than 5,000km away,' the statement said.
It added that NEA was conducting daily modelling studies.
Its simulations, and those carried out by the World Meteorological Organisation-designated Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres for Environmental Emergency Response in Tokyo and Melbourne, have shown that 'at such a distance, there is minimal risk of Singapore being affected by the radiological plume'.
Said the statement: 'The public is advised therefore not to be unduly alarmed about exposure to radiation in Singapore arising from the Fukushima accident.'
Nevertheless, the NEA has been tracking the impact on Singapore's radiation levels through its radiation monitoring stations, and 'no abnormal changes in Singapore's radiation levels have been detected so far'.
It said the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) was working with its counterparts in Japan and continued to keep a close watch on food imports from Japan.
On its part, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has been monitoring the potential impact of the incident on flights and airport operations. 'Developments so far do not necessitate the screening of aircraft or passengers for radiation,' it said.
But Changi Airport has in place contingency plans to deal with radioactive contamination, and developments are being monitored and reviewed.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) assesses that it is 'highly unlikely' that any Singaporean who was outside the evacuation zones - currently a 20km radius from the Fukushima Daiichi plant and a 10km radius from the Fukushima Daini plant - will need any form of medical assessment 'as there is negligible risk, if any, of impact on health'.
However, any returning Singaporean who was within the evacuation zones on or after last Saturday should visit the emergency department of a public restructured hospital for a medical consultation when he arrives.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) also reiterated its earlier advisory strongly urging Singaporeans to defer non-essential travel to Japan. Those who must travel there should register with the MFA at www.mfa.gov.sg
Singaporeans in Japan should also take precautions, monitor the local news and take heed of the Japanese government's advice. Those wishing to leave Japan should closely monitor the situation, check with the local authorities as the main access roads to airports may be closed and trains may not be running on schedule, and reconfirm their flights.
MFA has also dispatched additional staff to its embassy in Tokyo.
UN says winds blowing radioactivity to sea
Straits Times 16 Mar 11;
GENEVA: The UN weather agency said yesterday that winds are currently blowing radioactive material towards the ocean, and that there were 'no implications' for Japan or countries nearby.
'All the meteorological conditions are offshore, there are no implications inshore for Japan or other countries near Japan,' Dr Maryam Golnaraghi, who heads the weather agency's disaster risk reduction programme, told journalists.
A World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) spokesman warned, however, that the conditions 'will fluctuate as the weather systems progress'.
Winds yesterday and today in the stricken area will mainly blow towards the east to the open ocean. But if particles are released in the lower levels of the atmosphere today, 'they will be westerly, they will be towards inland (Japan)', Dr Golnaraghi said.
'So what it means is that depending on the concentration of the particles and depending on which level of the atmosphere they are issued, they could be taking a very different trajectory,' she added.
Explosions at Fukushima No.1 plant, about 270km north-east of Tokyo, have sent out low levels of radiation.
Officials in Ibaraki, a neighbouring prefecture just south of Fukushima, said that up to 100 times the normal levels of radiation were detected yesterday.
Tokyo also reported slightly elevated radiation levels, but officials said the increase was too small to threaten the 39 million people in and around the capital. Still, Austria said it was moving its embassy from Tokyo to Osaka, 400km away, due to radiation concerns.
China became the first government to organise a mass evacuation of its citizens from Japan's north-east yesterday. The Chinese embassy in Tokyo said it was preparing to send buses to remove its nationals from Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki and Iwate prefectures, the hardest-hit areas.
The number of Chinese affected is unclear, but the Commerce Ministry in Beijing said it had contacted 22,155 Chinese nationals in the quake-hit areas, while another 261 cannot be reached. Many Chinese work in factories in Japan, and the area around Fukushima is home to many small manufacturers.
China Southern Airlines said it will use larger, 272-seat aircraft on the route between Tokyo and the Chinese city of Shenyang to handle the evacuees.
Threat of winds possibly spreading radiation has put the region on alert.
Russia has been closely monitoring the radiation level since Friday.
Mr Sergei Kiriyenko, chief executive of Russian federal atomic energy agency Rosatom, said that the Far East region was not threatened by the nuclear accident in Japan - even in the worst-case scenario.
'Although the worst scenario of radiation coincides with the worst wind situation, no threat exists in Russia's Far East,' he said.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS
Malaysia: Readings show our radiation levels are normal, says ministry
Wong Pek Mei The Star 16 Mar 11;
PETALING JAYA: The environmental radiology monitoring system at six locations in the country shows that radiation levels are normal, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili.
“We are monitoring it hour by hour and everything seems to be normal,” he said.
The system is located in Chuping, Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu, Kuantan, Kudat and Senai.
The earthquake and tsunami in Japan had impacted the nuclear station in Fukushima Daiichi that has six units of nuclear reactors.
An explosion occurred at reactor 2 at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan yesterday. It was the third reactor to explode since Saturday.
Dr Ongkili also advised Malaysians not to believe speculation that radiation from a nuclear plant in Japan would reach the Philippines and other Asian countries.
“It is unfounded, based on the latest information obtained from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” he said.
Since yesterday, public concerns have been circulating through text messages and the Internet that radiation leaks from the nuclear plant would spread to Asian countries.
He said that radiation portal monitoring systems had been available at international entry points at the KL International Airport, Penang, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching airports since 2009 to detect if any passenger or baggage are contaminated with radioactive material.
Technical information on the catastrophe in Japan can also be accessed via the IAEA website at www.iaea.org, NISA website at www.nisa.meti.go.jp and at the Malaysian Atomic Energy Licencing Board (AELB) radiology information centre hotline at 1800-88-7999.
Meanwhile, radiological health and safety expert Prof Dr Ahmad Termizi Ramli said Malaysians should not worry despite the third explosion at the Japanese nuclear plant.
Expert: Winds heading toward west coast of US
Straits Times 16 Mar 11;
GEORGE TOWN: Malaysians need not worry about radiation particles heading here from Japan as prevailing winds are now drifting toward the west coast of the United States.
A spokesman from the Malaysian Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) said it obtained the information from the Japan Meteorological Agency.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also informed us that the situation remained under control in Japan, despite the fire at the Unit 4 reactor and explosion at the Unit 2 reactor of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant,” he said.
The spokesman added that the dose rate of up to 400 millisievert per hour detected at the site was reported to be dropping, according to IAEA.
The Health Ministry has moved quickly to quell rumours that radioactive winds were heading toward Malaysia.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai told reporters at Parliament lobby yesterday that the Malaysian Nuclear Agency was monitoring the situation.
“As for now, the radiation is contained to just a certain region in Japan. It is highly unlikely that it will reach Malaysia,” he said.
“I hope the public will not believe the rumours that are circulating through SMS.”
Fukushima is about 5,600km north-east of Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia: 'Leak won't affect us here'
Rozanna Latiff and Darshini Balan New Straits Times 16 Mar 11;
KUALA LUMPUR: Despite reports of radioactive leak at Japan's troubled plants, experts said adverse effects were unlikely to be felt here even in the case of a meltdown.
Malaysia Nuclear Agency deputy director-general Dr Muhd Noor Muhd Yunus said an emergency would only arise if a meltdown occurred in the core reactors, releasing dangerous levels of radiation into the air.
"This is the worst-case scenario. However, the likelihood of that happening is low as the power plant has already shut down the core reactors and has taken steps to reduce further damage.
"This is very different from the Chernobyl incident (in 1986) where there was no containment structure and the reactor was still active," Dr Noor said yesterday.
He said even if a leak occurred, it was unlikely for radioactive dust to travel to Malaysia before it dissipates as current weather conditions showed that the winds were travelling in the opposite direction.
"Given the distance and current wind directions, there shouldn't be anything to worry about."
He said radiation levels in Malaysia had so far remained normal despite reports of radioactive material being released at the Fukushima plant, where cooling systems were damaged when an 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck Japan last week.
"The authorities here are continuing to keep track of radiation levels in the air, rainwater and soil at their monitoring stations and will alert the public if the situation worsens."
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia nuclear physicist and radiological health and safety expert Prof Ahmad Termizi Ramli said even in the event of a nuclear meltdown, the effects on Malaysia were expected to be minimal due to the distance involved.
"Radiation dust can travel here via wind but with Malaysia being more than 5,000km away, any radioactive material would be diluted by the time it arrives.
"Trace amounts may be found but the effects would be so small as to make them indistinguishable from the effects created by the background radiation already present in our environment."
He said it was important to take news reports on increased radiation levels with the right perspective.
"Yes, radiation levels in the air have multiplied at the plant itself but the situation is localised and would not spread beyond short distances.
"The Japanese have only asked citizens within a 30km to evacuate the area. What more us Malaysians, who are 5,000km away?
"There will be some effect to our environment, but not to the extent of being a cause for concern."
He said it was impossible for "acid rain" to be formed as a result of a leak as nuclear power plants did not produce gaseous chemicals such as sulphur dioxide or nitrogen.
"Acid rain has got nothing to do with nuclear power plants which produce radioactive materials and not chemical pollutants such as sulphur."
He also said the chances of a full-scale nuclear meltdown occurring at the Fukushima plant was low due to the contingency measures in place.
"The Japanese had gone through the effects of two atomic bombs -- they take radiation exposure and containment very, very seriously and are well-prepared for any emergency.
"In fact, the only people who are in danger of high levels of radiation exposure are those working at the plant itself and those in the immediate vicinity. Even the general Japanese population are mostly safe."
Meanwhile, the Atomic Energy Licensing Board and the Malaysia Nuclear Agency assured that there was no rise in the level of radiation in the country.
The Science and Technology Ministry, in a press statement yesterday, said the monitoring was done at six locations nationwide at Chuping, Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu, Kuantan, Kudat, and Senai using the Electronic Records Management System.
'Contingency plan if country is put at nuclear fallout risk'
Maizatul Ranai New Straits Times 16 Mar 11;
KUALA LUMPUR: The government has a contingency plan should there be a nuclear meltdown in quake- and tsunami-ravaged Japan.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said the plan, which was based on International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guidelines, would be implemented if the country was put at risk.
"The plan will prepare us for any unwanted incidents should the situation get worse," he said after launching the Asean Youth Forum on Innovation and Creativity at the National Science Centre yesterday.
However, he declined to state what this contingency plan would entail.
Asked what efforts were under way to ensure the safety of Malaysians, he said the ministry had been assisting the National Security Council in monitoring the nuclear incidents in Japan.
He said the ministry's agencies -- the Atomic Energy Licensing Board and Nuclear Malaysia -- were also keeping a close watch on the situation by retrieving information and data from IAEA and Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa).
"The agencies regularly update us on the happenings and latest developments in the country to ensure Malaysians here are safe."
Ongkili said to date, the environmental radiology monitoring system at six locations throughout Malaysia -- in Chuping, Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu, Kuantan, Kudat and Senai -- did not show any significant rise in radiation levels here.
"The system shows that the current level is normal and people need not fear risk of radiation."
Experts Say Country Safe From ‘Radioactive Rain’
Ismira Lutfia Jakarta Globe 15 Mar 11;
Indonesian scientists gave assurances on Monday that there was no need for people here to worry about radiation leaking from a nuclear power plant in Japan.
Djarot Wisnubroto, deputy for nuclear technology development at the National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan), said Japan was simply too far away for possible radioactive dust to have an impact on Indonesia.
While the radiation resulting from a system failure at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, 240 kilometers north of Tokyo, might adversely affect those in close proximity to the reactor, he said those in areas further away were not in any danger.
“It is too insignificant to affect Indonesia, which lies thousands of kilometers away from Japan,” he told the Jakarta Globe.
The International Atomic Energy Agency announced on Monday that Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency had informed it of a hydrogen explosion that occurred at about 1 a.m. on Monday at the Unit 3 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi.
All personnel at the site have been accounted for, although six injuries were reported.
The UN nuclear monitoring agency also said the reactor building had suffered damage in the explosion but the primary containment vessel had not been damaged. Unit 3’s control room remained operational.
The explosion was the second to occur after a blast at the plant’s Unit 1 reactor on Saturday. That reactor’s cooling system, which should have operated automatically after it was shut down following Friday’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake, failed to function after the plant was struck by the quake-triggered tsunami.
In Indonesia, people have reported receiving a text message warning them about rain that may be carrying radioactive particles from the explosion at the Fukushima plant.
Natio Lasman, chairman of Indonesia’s Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (Bapeten), said the fact that Japan had not declared areas outside Fukushima as at risk indicated that there was no danger for people not in the immediate vicinity of the plant.
“They have doubled the emergency measures by evacuating residents from a 20-kilometer radius around the plant,” he said, but have not extended the evacuation zone beyond that.
The direction of the wind is also blowing possible radioactive dust in the opposite direction of Indonesia, he added.
Kukuh Ribudiyanto, from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), however, said the wind could still change direction and blow south.
Where the winds blow: Experts ponder fallout risks
Anthony Lucas Yahoo News 15 Mar 11;
PARIS (AFP) – Experts monitoring weather patterns for any fallout from Japan's stricken nuclear plant said Tuesday the winds had so far been favourable but they were less confident about the outlook later this week.
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said winds on Saturday and Monday -- when two blasts occurred at Fukushima -- were blowing to the northeast and east, in other words out over the Pacific.
"All the meteorological conditions are offshore, there are no implications inshore for Japan or other countries near Japan," said Maryam Golnaraghi, who heads the WMO's disaster risk reduction programme.
But on Tuesday, the winds temporarily shifted, coming instead from the northeast, the Geneva-based WMO said, quoting the Japanese Meteorological Agency.
For Wednesday, "the forecast is for northerly winds and later westerly, (for winds that are) near-surface and at 1,000 metres (3,250 feet)," it said. Thereafter, conditions "will fluctuate as weather systems develop and progress."
In Tokyo, 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest of Fukushima, the authorities said higher-than-normal radiation levels had been detected in the capital on Tuesday but not at harmful levels.
The WMO activated a so-called environmental emergency response mechanism on Saturday, with three regional centres in Beijing, Tokyo and Obninsk, Russia, monitoring weather patterns.
The benchmark for fallout from a nuclear disaster is the April 26, 1986, explosion at Chernobyl, which spewed radioactive dust across parts of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus and even reached as far as Ireland, more than 1,600 kilometres away.
In the Russian Far East, the meteorological service at Vladivostok, less than 1,000 kilometres west of Fukushima, said radiation levels were within normal limits.
The service's spokeswoman, Varvara Koridze, said that air samples "contained the usual background components. Radionuclides that would have been the result of an explosion were not found."
Boris Lamash, head of the climate department at Far Eastern Federal University, said prevailing winds at this time of year in the region were westerlies and northwesterlies, which helped push harmful material away.
In the United States, meteorologist Jeff Masters used a modelling program from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to determine where radioactivity would spread.
"The great majority of these runs have taken plumes of radioactivity emitted from Japan's east coast eastwards over the Pacific, with the plumes staying over water for at least five days," he said.
"It is highly unlikely that any radiation capable of causing harm to people will be left in the atmosphere after seven days and 2,000 miles-plus of travel," said Masters, founder of the Weather Underground online weather forecasting service.
Cyril Honore, deputy head of forecasting at the French state weather service, Meteo France, was cautious.
"Japan lies in temperate latitudes, so winds are generally west-to-east, but this prevailing direction does not rule out the possibility of very strong variations," he told AFP.
He also noted that contaminated dust from Fukushima could disperse in wide patterns.
"A cloud, or air mass, is not an enclosed bloc. It is exposed to horizontal and vertical turbulence, so matter is dispersed or diluted according to atmospheric directions," Honore said.
Radiation threat in Japan
Straits Times Forum 15 Mar 11;
MS CINDY LOW: 'The current threat of massive radiation in Japan as a result of the quake-triggered crippling of two nuclear reactors raises a question about Singapore's preparations for a nuclear power option ('Govt preparing for nuclear power option'; Nov 2, last year).
Japan's current nuclear crisis has seen emergency evacuations of people within a 20km radius of the plant. If a similar nuclear emergency strikes Singapore, it would mean that roughly half the country must be evacuated. Regardless of the safety precautions, the threat of mass radiation is a cause for concern. How does the current crisis affect the Government's consideration of building a nuclear plant in Singapore?'
Govts undeterred by Japanese incident, determined to carry on
Ravi Velloor Straits Times 16 Mar 11;
NEW DELHI: As Japanese engineers in Fukushima work to contain the worst nuclear incident in three decades, Asia, the region with the world's most frenetic nuclear reactor building programme, seems determined to ride out the storm and carry on.
Indeed, it may have little choice in the matter.
From Manila to New Delhi, governments had been increasingly looking to nuclear power as a solution to cut dependence on fossil fuels and the pressure to reduce carbon-emitting fuels that damage the environment.
Little wonder that most of the 155 reactors planned or being built are in Asia.
Although there is no nuclear power plant operating in Asean, almost every member, with the exception of oil rich Brunei and tiny Laos, are pondering the merits of adding nuclear power to the energy grid.
Vietnam plans eight nuclear power plants by 2030, producing as much as 16,000MW of power. Indonesia plans four plants producing 6,000MW by 2025.
For many neighbouring nations, there is nothing more worrisome than an accident in a future nuclear plant on the main island of Java, especially in seasons when the wind is blowing northwards.
The meltdown at Fukushima has come as a nightmare for national leaders and economic planners, who now have to factor in additional safeguards. They also have to assuage mounting concerns among a leery public who remain to be convinced about the merits - and safety - of nuclear power.
In Europe as well as the United States, calls have been made for governments to halt the expansion of nuclear power plants. Germany has ordered a provisional shutdown of some of its nuclear reactors until a three-month review is completed, and Switzerland has already put a halt to its plans.
Yet, with energy consumption growing apace, Asian governments cannot rule out the nuclear option, however dangerous it may seem.
Yesterday, Malaysia, which is eyeing its first nuclear plant by 2021, said the disaster in Fukushima will not affect the country's plans. But Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin, in a tilt to public sentiment, said: 'The government will not do it secretly without informing the public.'
Indonesian legislator Satya Yudha, from Parliament's Commission VII, which looks at energy issues, said the government should not 'write off' nuclear energy because of Japan.
'Sooner or later, we will need it,' he said. 'The government's task is to look at diversifying energy sources because without secure energy supply we cannot advance. In the meantime, we need to educate people properly about nuclear energy.'
Besides, said Mr Ferhat Aziz, a spokesman for the Indonesian National Nuclear Energy Agency, Indonesia is better prepared today than Japan and South Korea were at the start of their civilian nuclear energy programmes.
He told The Straits Times that the agency was looking closely at possible plant locations. These include Bangka-Belitung province off the east coast of Sumatra, the island of Kalimantan and the Muria Peninsula on the northern coast of Central Java.
In India, which has announced plans to spend some US$175 billion (S$225 billion) on building nuclear plants over the next 20 years, the Nuclear Power Corp (NPC) is reviewing safety at its 20 nuclear plants across the country. 'This event will be a big dampener for our programme,' says Mr Shreyans Jain, head of the NPC.
China is set to add 10 to 27 nuclear reactors over the next five years. 'China has to learn lessons from the accident in Japan but will not give up on nuclear energy,' says Mr Zhang Lijun, China's vice-minister for environment.
Countries such as China and India may have little choice. World energy consumption - still hugely dependent on fossil fuels - is rising by the day. The International Energy Agency says Asean's energy demand is going up at a rate of 3.3 per cent a year, compared with 2.5 per cent elsewhere.
Alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass can fill only so much of the gap and oil wells are drying up faster than the world can discover new sources.
It is for this reason that no significant nation in the world can really write off nuclear energy. But tell that to the man in the street. This week, a Malaysian microblogger summed up the scepticism that many Asians feel about the arguments for nuclear energy. 'I am quite happy to see Malaysia build a nuclear power plant,' he wrote on Twitter, 'as long as it is built next to the prime minister's house.'
With Lynn Lee in Jakarta, Teo Cheng Wee in Kuala Lumpur, Grace Ng in Beijing, and Nirmala Ganapathy in New Delhi
Indonesia unfazed by Japan nuclear crisis
Tifa Asrianti, The Jakarta Post 15 Mar 11;
Concerns over a possible nuclear disaster in Japan should not deter Indonesia from its ambition to build a nuclear power plant in the future, an official at the country’s atomic agency said.
Hudi Hastowo, head of the National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan), told The Jakarta Post that using nuclear energy was one of the best solutions to address the country’s power shortage issue. He played down the safety issue that anti-nuclear activists have been voicing, saying that it would be safe to have one.
“We should think 20 years ahead. What will we do then to fulfill the electricity demand?” he added.
Indonesia, located in the Ring of Fire and therefore prone to massive earthquakes that can trigger tsunamis, has been planning to build a nuclear power plant, although locals and environmental activists oppose the plan.
The country experiences frequent electricity shortages characterized by rolling blackouts. To address the problem, the government launched the first 10,000-megawatt power program, with all proposed power plants to be coal-fired.
Chalid Muhammad from environmental NGO Indonesia Green Institute said that the government should stop the plan to build the reactor because 83 percent of Indonesia’s area was prone to disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.
“The government should focus on building decentralized power plants that use renewable energy sources, such as microhydro and geothermal plants. Those small-scale plants can fulfill the electricity demand and are a lot safer compared to larger sized plants,” he said.
Hudi argued, however, that the government could not use only one or two energy sources, saying it needed to expand beyond these, emphasizing that nuclear energy could produce a large amount of electricity supply.
“People always say that we should use renewable energy sources such as geothermal energy, but to what extent can it meet the demand? We will use all kinds of energy sources, we need to diversify,” he insisted.
The government has conducted several feasibility studies on nuclear power plants, including those used in South Korea, which uses the Pressurized Water Reactor system.
The reactors used in the Fukushima Daiichi Plant in the northeast of Tokyo, Japan, is the Boiling Water Reactor, which is another type of light water reactor. The plant first began operation in October 1970 and was originally scheduled to be shut in February but had its operation license extended for another 10 years. Hudi said that the problem in Japan’s reactor was not caused by low-level technology, but the catastrophic tsunami following the 8.9-magnitude earthquake last Friday.
“The facility stopped operation when the earthquake hit. But the tsunami swept the cooling system away so the release of the residual heat inside the reactor could not be stopped as planned,” he said.
He assured that the technology used in an Indonesian nuclear plant would be the most up to date, adding that a safe location played an important role in the plant’s security. “If we use state-of-the art technology but place it in a dangerous location, the facility will face the same risk as a less sophisticated one. We have to find a location that suits international requirements, including one that is safe from tsunamis and other natural elements,” he said.
The government has been conducting a land analysis to find the best location for the plant. Among the location options are Muria Peninsula in East Java and Bangka Belitung province.
“Muria is just one of many options. If the people reject the facility, we can’t force the plan,” Hudi said.
After the nuclear crisis in Japan, environmental NGOs in France and Germany have been holding anti-nuclear rallies, saying that what happened in Japan could also happen in their countries too.
Brandon Keim Wired Science 15 Mar 11;
The famed albatrosses of Midway Atoll took a beating from the tsunami, but their population will survive, say biologists on the islands.
There are, of course, more pressing concerns in the tsunami’s aftermath than wildlife, and some might balk at paying attention to birds right now. But compassion isn’t a zero-sum game, and Midway Atoll is one of Earth’s natural treasures: 2.4 square miles of coral ringing a deep-sea mountaintop halfway between Honolulu and Tokyo, a flyspeck of dry land that’s home to several million seabirds.
Roughly two-thirds of all Laysan albatrosses live on Midway’s two islands, as do one-third of all black-footed albatrosses, and about 60 people. Many of them work at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. They had time to prepare for the tsunami, which struck late on the night of March 10. Nobody was hurt; after the waves receded, they checked on the wildlife.
An estimated 1,000 Laysan adults were killed, and tens of thousands of chicks, said Refuge official Barry Stieglitz. Those figures represent just the first wave of mortality, as adults who were at sea when the tsunami hit may be unable to find their young on returning. Chicks now wandering on shore may be doomed — but in the long run, the population as a whole will recover.
“The loss of all these chicks is horrible. It’s going to represent a significant portion of this year’s Laysan albatross hatch. But in terms of overall population health, the most important animals are the proven, breeding adults,” said Stieglitz. “In the long term, the greatest impact would be if we lost more adults. The population should come through this just fine.”
On a sadder note, however, one of the wandering chicks is the first short-tailed albatross to hatch on Midway in decades. The species was hunted to near-extinction in the 19th century, its feathers so fashionable that a population of millions was reduced to a handful of juveniles who stayed at sea during the carnage. (Young short-tailed albatrosses live in the open ocean for several years before mating.) About 3,000 of the species now survive, and a few have recently made a home on Midway.
“If the chick lost one parent, it could be in danger. If it lost both, it’s definitely out of luck,” Stieglitz said.
Another well-known avian denizen of Midway is Wisdom, a 60-year-old female Laysan albatross. Banded for identification in 1956, Wisdom is the oldest known wild bird. In February, she was spotted rearing a new chick.
“When I gaze at Wisdom, I feel as though I’ve entered a time machine,” wrote U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist John Klavitter in an email. “My mind races to the past and all the history she has observed through time.”
Midway’s Laysan albatrosses feed in waters off Alaska, flying about 50,000 miles each year as adults. Wisdom has flown between two and three million miles in her lifetime, compensating for age with smarts and efficiency. She hasn’t been spotted since the tsunami, but Stieglitz said the biologists haven’t looked for her yet. Wisdom’s nest is on high ground, and they’re not worried about her.
Tsunami killed thousands of seabirds at Midway
Yahoo News 15 Mar 11;
HONOLULU – Thousands of seabirds were killed when the tsunami generated by last week's massive earthquake off Japan flooded Midway, a remote atoll northwest of the main Hawaiian islands, a federal wildlife official said Tuesday.
At least 1,000 adult and adolescent Laysan albatross were killed, along with thousands of chicks, said Barry W. Stieglitz, the project leader for the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands National Wildlife Refuges.
Many drowned or were buried under debris as waves reaching 5 feet high rolled over the low-lying atoll about four hours after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck Friday.
The white-and-black feathered Laysan albatross is not in danger of becoming extinct. About 1 million of the birds live at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge about 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu, making it the largest Laysan albatross colony in the world.
But Stieglitz said the deaths could account for a significant share of Laysan albatross chicks hatched during the current season.
"We may see just a slight decline in breeding birds next year, next year and the year after that," he said. "There will be a gap in the breeding population when these birds that would have grown up this year, would have matured and started breeding for the first time."
The waves hit each of the three islands inside the atoll.
Spit Island, about 15 acres, was completely overrun. The tsunami washed over 60 percent of Eastern Island, an islet of nearly 370 acres. Waves also covered 20 percent of Sand Island, the largest of the three at almost 1,200 acres.
Biologists are less sure how many ground-nesting bonin petrels may have died, because these birds live in underground burrows and would have been buried in areas covered by waves. Stieglitz estimated the death toll would reach the thousands.
Since the bonin petrel feed at night, however, Stieglitz said he was hopeful many were out foraging when the tsunami hit before dawn.
Stieglitz said many wildlife populations rebound from natural disasters like this. But he said the tsunamis aren't helpful to species facing threats like climate change, a loss of habitat, and invasive species.
"When you start piling the natural catastrophe on top of invasive species invasions and all of these other things, it makes the population a lot less resilient and more susceptible to extinction," he said. "It's rather unfortunate timing, in our eyes. Not that there is ever a good time for this, but there are better times than worse times. And in this era, this is a worse time."
Japan tsunami: Thousands of seabirds killed near Hawaii
BBC News 16 Mar 11;
Thousands of albatrosses and other endangered species at a wildlife sanctuary north-west of Hawaii have been killed by the tsunami which devastated Japan, US officials say.
Thousands of petrels and fish were also killed as huge waves swept over parts of the remote, low-lying Midway atoll.
The sanctuary is home to more than two million birds.
One lucky survivor was Wisdom, an albatross about 60 years of age, who is the oldest-known bird in the US.
The Laysan albatross came to prominence recently when she was spotted with a chick, astounding scientists that she could still raise offspring at age 60-plus.
Midway is one of the most remote coral atolls on earth, developed as a wildlife sanctuary after the US Naval Air facility on Midway Island closed in 1993.
Midway was a key military base for the US during World War II, as well as during the Korean, Cold and Vietnam wars.
Rescue operation
The US Fish and Wildlife Service reported that 1,000 adult and adolescent Laysan albatross died when the tsunami generated by last Friday's powerful earthquake off the coast of Japan struck Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
Tens of thousands of chicks were also killed.
Waves reaching 5ft (1.5m) high smashed into the atoll just before midnight local time on 10 March and continued for the next few hours.
The waves washed over 60% of Eastern Island, an islet of nearly 150 hectares (370 acres) inside the refuge.
Residents at the atoll had four hours' warning and were able to take precautions.
One chick in a short-tailed albatross nest was found unharmed about 35m away, after its nest was washed over.
Other birds were less lucky - thousands of Bonin petrels were buried alive.
Thousands of dead fish were found in the interior of Eastern Island and the impact on Laysan ducks and monk seals is unknown, the wildlife service said.
Two live green turtles were rescued.
Antara 15 Mar 11;
Gorontalo, Northen Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - About 40 percent of coral reefs in the Gulf of Tomini in Gorontalo province waters is believed to have been damaged by blast fishing, a local environmental affairs official said.
Rugaya Biuki, head of the environmental management section at Gorontalo province`s environment office, said here Tuesday , the damage had mainly occurred to coral reefs in coastal areas, adjacent to the mainland.
Generally, the value of coral reef covers spread along the coast and local islands, had begun to shrink and become eroded due to human activities.
"Coral reefs at some islands such as in Asiangi, Lamua Daa, Raja and Popaya islands, still have relatively good covers which range from 50 to 80 percent," Rugaya said.
Coral reefs in the Gulf of Tomini, especially in Gorontalo province. consist of two types, namely ring coral reefs (atoll) and edge coral reef (fringing reef).
Coral reefs function as a protective coastal ecosystems to arrest and break up the energy of sea waves and thus prevents abrasion and damage to the coastal environment.
In addition, coral reefs also serve as home to many kinds of marine biota.
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 15 Mar 11;
The Center for Orangutan Protection called on the government on Monday to repatriate 12 primates smuggled into Thailand a few years ago, citing concerns about their living conditions.
Hardi Baktiantoro, principal of the COP, said he was concerned about reports that the orangutans, smuggled out of Kalimantan between 2008 and 2009, were set to be moved to a zoo that he claimed had a questionable animal welfare record.
“We have information that they will be moved to the Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo [near Bangkok], which has a bad reputation for [animal] cruelty and poor quality in terms of legal and welfare issues,” he said.
“This is still only a plan, but we need to stop it before it happens.”
The orangutans are currently being held in the Thai government’s Khao Phra rehabilitation center, about 100 kilometers from Bangkok. They have lived there since 11 of them were seized from a private zoo in Phuket and one from the Nong Nooch botanical gardens in Pattaya.
Previously, a batch of 48 orangutans were repatriated to Indonesia from Thailand after being rescued from the illegal wildlife trade, but Hardi has accused the government of failing to push for the return of the current 12.
“This isn’t about money but about lack of intent from the Indonesian government,” he said.
“There are plenty of environmental groups that care about this issue, so just divide [the costs] among them. I believe most nongovernmental organizations would gladly do that. It’s just a matter of will.”
He added it would cost roughly $80,000 to bring the animals back from Thailand.
However, Darori, the Forestry Ministry’s director general of forest protection and natural conservation, denied there was any plan to move the orangutans to Samutprakarn.
He also said the real issue at hand was not about bringing the apes back, but about the risks they faced once placed in rehabilitation centers.
“We still have at least 1,000 orangutans in a center waiting to be released back into the wild,” he said.
“From our observations the last time we were there, the center’s orangutans had been exposed to contagious diseases.”
He said this had raised concerns among officials that the repatriated apes would be prone to the same diseases if they placed in the rehabilitation center.
“It’s easy to get them back — we can just charter a plane and fly them back, but we’re more concerned about their future,” Darori said.
LiveScience.com Yahoo News 15 Mar 11;
Cold temperatures in the upper atmosphere and the lingering presence of ozone-destroying pollutants, called chlorofluorocarbons, have set the stage for what could be a record loss in protective ozone over the Arctic this spring.
"We have done everything to protect the atmosphere from CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), still we get record ozone loses once in a while," said Markus Rex, an ozone researcher with the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany.
"Right now, at the relevant altitude, we have lost about half of the ozone that should be there," Rex told LiveScience.com.
Rex and other researchers from Europe, Russia and North America came to this conclusion based on data collected by 30 stations in and slightly south of the Arctic.
Climate change connection?
Global warming is also a likely contributor. Scientists believe it is responsible for cooling the stratosphere, the layer of the atmosphere where the ozone layer is located, approximately 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) above the Earth's surface. By trapping heat lower down and warming the surface of the Earth, greenhouse gases actually cool the stratosphere. In recent years, the coldest of stratospheric winter temperatures have been getting colder, according to the researchers. [Earth's Atmosphere: Top to Bottom]
This year, more ozone has been lost over the Arctic due to unusually cold temperatures in the stratosphere, and these have been fed by a stronger circulation pattern called the polar vortex throughout the winter, according to Ross Salawitch, a professor at the University of Maryland, and one of Rex's collaborators.
The air inside this vortex, which is created by a combination of cold temperatures over the pole and the rotation of the Earth, is much colder than the air outside. That cooling leads to cloud formation inside the vortex and the ensuing chemical reactions that produce highly reactive molecules with unpaired electrons. These, in turn, react with ozone, breaking apart its three oxygen atoms.
This is problematic because ozone blocks harmful radiation — which can damage DNA and lead to skin cancer, among other problems — from reaching the Earth's surface.
The same dynamics are responsible for the more infamous hole in the ozone above Antarctica. However, over the South Pole, the vortex circulation system is larger, stronger and more predictable from year to year, Salawitch said.
In 1987, under the Montreal Protocol, countries agreed to end production of ozone-destroying substances, including chlorofluorocarbons — but because they linger in the atmosphere, ozone losses aren't expected to end for the next 50 years or so, Rex said.
Within the next few decades, any cooling of the stratosphere connected to global warming can be expected to lead to large ozone loss, Rex said. The Earth's average surface temperature is estimated to have warmed 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit (0.7 degrees Celsius) since humans accelerated greenhouse gas emissions around the time of the Industrial Revolution.
Almost a record
The ozone depletion over the Arctic this year is neck and neck with the loss experienced in 2005. The arrival of the spring sun causes the vortex to dissipate, and this happened in mid to early March of 2005, according to the scientists.
"We expect that the record will soon be broken," Rex said.
The remnants of the vortex — which contain the depleted ozone — typically pass overhead at about 45 to 50 degrees north latitude, over parts of Europe and North America, for a few days in spring, causing the potential for ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure to increase, said Rex.
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