Tag: technology

  • Deep Trouble in the Gulf of Mexico: ‘A Disaster of Epic Proportions’

    The oil spill from the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico could turn into the biggest environmental catastrophe in US history. It could take months to stop the oil flow, and the damage to the local economy and wildlife could be huge. The accident is likely to hamper US President Barack Obama’s plans to extend offshore drilling.

    Orange booms made of resilient rubber, filling with floating foam, serve as the front line in the battle against the oil. Workers are loading meter after meter of the booms from the pier at Bud’s Boat Rental onto Miss Katherine, a supply ship that normally carries crews and materials to the oil rigs.

    Captain Leonard Murrel glances sullenly over at his men and wrinkles his nose. A brisk ocean breeze is laden with the heavy odor of crude oil. “It’s really a huge mess out there,” says the weather-beaten American, who has been working in the coastal town of Venice on the southeastern tip of the Mississippi Delta for the last 10 years. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”… More

  • The Best Translation Program Yet: Google Delivers Foreign Tongues at the Press of a Button

    A German scientist has developed one of the first translation programs suitable for everyday use. Sheer computing power gives the Google software surprisingly good results — perhaps the best yet seen created by a machine.

    It’s a good sign when the creator of a piece of software ends up using it. On a recent trip to Japan, Franz Och, who doesn’t speak Japanese, was able to decipher restaurant menus and even read local news — using his mobile phone, which provided him with the translations within seconds.

    Och spent the last six years developing Google Translate, a translation program, at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, “and so far I’ve never really used it myself,” Och admits. But then the 38-year-old research scientist has a change of heart and adds, “I am very happy with what we have achieved.”

    Och, a German citizen, is the behind-the-scenes star of a segment of the software industry that has taken on a challenge no less daunting than tearing down global language barriers. In his job at Google, …. More

  • Small Is Beautiful: Nuclear Industry Pins Hopes on Mini-Reactors

    The nuclear energy industry hopes to secure its future through miniature nuclear reactors. The small underground plants will supposedly be safer than large plants, and would lower the cost of electricity from nuclear power. But critics say that the electricity the plants produce will be too expensive and warn of the risk of proliferation.

    By Philip Bethge

    In Galena, a town in icy central Alaska, energy is indispensable — but expensive. Although diesel generators provide plenty of electricity, the town’s roughly 600 residents regularly receive monthly electric bills in the hundreds of dollars.

    But the future could soon arrive in this tiny town on the Yukon River. “Super-Safe, Small and Simple,” or “4S,” is the name of a machine that could soon be buried 30 meters (98 feet) below the icy soil and placed into service.

    The hot core of the device, developed by the Japanese company Toshiba, measures only 2 meters by 0.7 meters (6 feet 7 inches by 2 feet 4 inches). But despite its diminutive size, it is expected to deliver 10 megawatts of electricity. “4S” is a nuclear reactor, and Galena could become a test case for a new kind of electricity generation.

    The nuclear power industry hopes to secure its future with miniature reactors for civilian use. The concept of mini nukes that could produce up to 300 megawatts of electricity has been remarkably well received, particularly in the United States. Nine designs are competing for the attention of electric utilities and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the government agency that regulates nuclear power plants.

    The Nuclear PR Machine

    Critics, like physicist Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, are convinced that the projects are all in the “stage of fantasy.” Jim Riccio, a nuclear expert with the environmental organization Greenpeace, blames the “hype” on the “well-oiled PR machine of the nuclear industry.”

    But the movement has prominent supporters. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, for example, has invested in a company called TerraPower, which plans to build innovative small reactors. US President Barack Obama has pledged to provide $54 billion (€40 billion) in loan guarantees for the nuclear industry.

    And for Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who is a winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, it goes without saying that a portion of these loan guarantees will be available for miniature reactors of what he calls the “plug and play” variety. Small modular reactors are “one of the most promising areas” in the nuclear industry, Chu wrote recently in an enthusiastic opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.

    Proponents of nuclear power present the following arguments in favor of the idea:

    • Small reactors could become available in the future at bargain prices of less than $600 million, and they would only take two to three years to build. By comparison, reactors in the gigawatt range cost more than $5 billion, and financing is often a challenge. Some projects, such as the current construction of a new reactor in Olkiluoto, Finland, are years behind schedule and vastly over budget.
    • Because they are delivered pre-assembled, mini-reactors could also be used in countries without domestic nuclear experts. The plants produce about as much energy as gas or coal power plants and could therefore simply replace them. Existing power grids and turbines could still be used.
    • The miniature reactors unleash their fissile power from locations deep underground, which would make it difficult for terrorists to steal fissile material.

    “Small nuclear reactors are cheaper, safer and more flexible,” raves Tom Sanders, president of the American Nuclear Society. Sanders wants to mass-produce nuclear power plants, just as Henry Ford did with cars in his time, and make them available around the world, particularly in developing countries.

    ‘Global Interest’

    “There is certainly a global interest in these kinds of systems,” says Chris Mowry of Babcock & Wilcox, a producer of nuclear power plants based in Lynchburg, Virginia. In the past, the company earned much of its revenue with reactors that power nuclear submarines, but now it has developed one of the most promising mini-reactors for civilian energy use.

    The mPower reactor is a conventional, 125-megawatt pressurized water reactor. Once it has been buried underground, it is expected to continue producing electricity for 60 years. One of the device’s most appealing features is that spent fuel assemblies are stored in the reactor shell, making them virtually inaccessible. The steam generator is also integrated into the unit.

    “All key components can be manufactured in one single factory,” Mowry says enthusiastically. Three large US electric utilities have shown interest in the technology. The utilities are particularly attracted to the idea of building nuclear power plants in modular fashion in the future. When one reactor has run its course, the next one can be ordered. However, the mPower reactor has yet to obtain NRC approval, which could take years.

    A consortium led by US nuclear power producer Westinghouse is pursuing a similar approach. Its Iris reactor would produce 335 megawatts of power and is one of the leading candidates for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP).

    Part 2: Old Reactors Returned Like Empty Deposit Bottles

     Since 2006, the US government has championed the GNEP project, which it hopes could meet the growing energy demands of developing countries. Under GNEP, the nuclear powers would ship complete mini-reactors with sealed reactor cores to developing countries. The plants would be designed to operate without maintenance for close to 30 years. After that, they would simply be returned, like empty deposit bottles, to the country where they were manufactured.

    The United Kingdom, France, Canada, China and Japan are among the GNEP donor nations. Countries like Jordan, Kazakhstan and Senegal have shown interest in the small reactors. In return for receiving the plants, they would pledge not to engage in reprocessing or uranium enrichment.

    Critics are horrified. They fear that fissile material could end up in the wrong hands all too easily. “Anyone who ships this stuff all over the world shouldn’t be surprised if it comes back in the form of dirty bombs,” says Greenpeace expert Jim Riccio.

    Physicist Edwin Lyman agrees, saying that it is preferable to concentrate the technology in only a few places. “I am concerned about exporting these plants to countries that have no experience with nuclear energy and where there are security concerns and corruption.”

    Reusing Old Reactors

    Critics are also concerned about the plans of Akme, a Russian company. The firm, which was established in December 2009, engages in the typically Russian practice of reusing old equipment: It intends to convert a reactor used in Soviet nuclear submarines into a civilian reactor.

    The project is extremely controversial. The reactors operate with relatively highly enriched uranium, which is more easily used to build bombs. In addition, they are cooled in a toxic lead-bismuth alloy.

    In addition to safety and security concerns, there are doubts about the mini-reactor’s economic efficiency. In the United States, the costs of licensing a nuclear power plant alone range from $50 million to $100 million. In addition, strict safety requirements make small reactors disproportionately more expensive than larger plants.

    This leads physicist Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado to believe that small reactors will “never be competitive.” Reactor manufacturers expect to see costs of between $3,500 and $5,000 per kilowatt of installed power for the dwarf nuclear power plants. The same value ranges from $900 to $2,800 for coal power plants and $520 to $1,800 for natural gas power plants. Even wind turbines can be built for $1,900 to $3,700 per kilowatt.

    ‘Not a Sign of Economic Health’

    The nuclear industry expects CO2 emissions trading to make nuclear technology, which is largely climate-neutral, more competitive soon. “But the same also applies to hydroelectric power, wind and solar energy,” says Lovins.

    “The nuclear industry is desperately trying to make itself look vital,” says the professor. “But government loan guarantees are not a sign of economic health, just as blood transfusions are not a sign for medical health.”

    Fans of the new miniature reactor world aren’t allowing the grumblers to spoil their mood. Instead, they are developing bolder and bolder projects for the future. For example, nuclear scientist Tom Sanders and a team at the Sandia National Laboratory are developing a reactor that would cost only about $250 million at a planned production rate of 50 reactors per year. Liquid sodium cools the uranium core of the plant, which resembles a sort of replaceable cartridge.

    TerraPower, the company Bill Gates has invested in, is working on a so-called traveling-wave reactor. In this type of reactor, the fission zone travels slowly through an elongated fuel core. Plutonium is bred from depleted uranium and then immediately burned off. The engineers rhapsodize over the system, saying that this “wave of fission” could generate electricity continuously “for 50 to 100 years without refueling or removing any used fuel from the reactor.”

    Is it the holy grail of nuclear engineering? The traveling-wave reactor still doesn’t exist outside supercomputers. TerraPower has just entered into a joint venture agreement with Toshiba. The two companies plan to move forward together with the development of a mini-nuke future.

    Renewable Energy

    The Japanese might already be finding proof of their capacity for innovation in Galena, the town on Alaska’s Yukon River, if only they hadn’t run into problems with approval for their “4S” reactor.

    For now, the residents of Galena have turned to another innovative energy source, paid for with subsidies from Alaska’s renewable energy fund: wood-burning stoves.

    Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

    –> read original story at SPIEGEL Online International

  • Google Co-Founder on Pulling out of China: ‘It Was a Real Step Backward’

    Last week, Google announced it would withdraw its Chinese operations from Beijing and instead serve the market from freer Hong Kong. The Internet giant’s co-founder, Sergey Brin, 36, discusses his company’s troubles in China and its controversial decision to pull up stakes and leave.

    SPIEGEL: With your decision to close Google’s Chinese Web site, you are the first major company to have challenged the government in Beijing in this way. Are you powerful enough to take on an entire country?

    Brin: I don’t think it’s a question of taking on China. In fact, I am a great admirer of both China and the Chinese government for the progress they have made. It is really opposing censorship and speaking out for the freedom of political dissent, and that’s the key issue from our side.

    SPIEGEL: Four years ago, you allowed your service to be censored. Why have you changed your mind now?

    Brin: The hacking attacks were the straw that broke the camel’s back. … More

  • Saving Moon Trash: Urine Containers, ‘Space Boots’ and Artifacts Aren’t Just Junk, Argue Archaeologists

    California has named the remains of the Apollo 11 mission a state historical resource — to the delight of the young profession of space archaeologists. They fear that the trash and equipment left behind by the United States’ journeys to the moon could someday wind up for sale on eBay if they aren’t protected.

    There is an unwritten law in America’s national parks: Carry out what you bring in.

    When they visited the moon, though, the Americans weren’t nearly as considerate or in touch with nature. Astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong left behind more than 100 items when they left the moon on July 21, 1969, at 5:54 p.m., Earth Time. The items included four urine containers, several airsickness bags, a Hasselblad camera, lunar overshoes and a complete moon-landing step.

    The mission was historically significant. But are the urine containers? (more…)

  • Tribulations at Toyota: The Search for the Gas Pedal Flaw

    Toyota has recalled millions of vehicles due to reports of sticking gas pedals and unintended acceleration. But finding out exactly what causes the problem has proven difficult. An explanation for why most of the accidents have occurred in the US has likewise proven elusive.

    It is an agonizing predicament that Toyota finds itself in — the most excruciating in the company’s history. Vehicles accelerating on their own continue to cause problems, and the inability to bring the matter to a close could spell ruin for the company.

    Worn down Toyota managers wanted to bring a little optimism to the Geneva Motor Show last week, but the latest bad news — that repairs failed to solve the carmaker’s gas pedal problem — ruined the mood. Numerous Toyota drivers in the United States … More

  • Germany’s Early Warning System: Waiting for the Next Tsunami

    German scientists have designed a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean. The project aims to protect Indonesians by giving them enough time to escape the danger. The ultimate goal is speed.

    Nils Goseberg is very worried about the Siti Nurbaya Bridge in Padang. The 80-meter (262-foot) bridge spans the Arau River and anyone fleeing a tsunami would most likely need to cross it.

    Goseberg, who works at the Franzius Institute of Hydraulics, Waterways and Coastal Engineering in the northern German city of Hanover, faces a problem that seems borderline absurd: How to evacuate Padang, a city of 800,000 people, in just 20 minutes? … More

  • RoboCup 2006: Silicon Players of the Beautiful Game

    Never mind chess — the cool game for smart machines now is soccer. Humanoid robots stumble around the field but learn quickly. They’re playing their own World Cup this week in Germany, and scientists hope machines will beat human champions in less than 50 years.

    Paul, Franz, Gerd, and the shapely Lara aren’t exactly soccer stars. In fact, they’re not even human. They have feet made of carbon fibers and hips with double AC servomotors, powered by lithium-ion batteries with just enough juice for two ten-minute halves. But they’re preparing for a World Cup of their own this week in Germany. “Look at this — that was no coincidence,” says their inventor, Sven Behnke, pointing at a computer screen displaying the moves from a game last year against Japan’s “Team Osaka.” The fact that his protégés scored a single goal still makes Behnke proud.

    He’s a computer scientist from the University of Freiburg who also serves as head coach of the team “NimbRo,” a group of robot athletes that may make soccer history this week. Last year the Freiburg side placed second in their league. Only the Japanese team beat them, 2-1 — in spite of a heroic goal in the second-to-last minute. … More