NEWSBridge, produced by the Technical Library staff at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Sun Apr 24 04:26:38 EDT 2011
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Energy Department Site Goes Down in Amazon Cloud - A cloud computing service managed by Amazon that crashed Wednesday also brought down an Energy Department site aimed at sharing clean technology practices with the private sector.

U.S. warns radiation near crippled plant could exceed upper limit - The United States has warned that radiation levels could exceed the upper limit on annual exposure set by the Japanese government in extensive areas around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. The U.S. Department of Energy released the estimation as part of a hazard map on cumulative radiation in areas near the Fukushima plant created by an affiliate, the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Perma-Fix Announces Completion of Rail Line Connecting DOE Hanford Site and Perma-Fix Northwest Richland Facility - ATLANTA - Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. today announced it has completed the new rail line connecting the Department of Energy's Hanford Site and the Perma-Fix Northwest Richland facility in Richland, Washington. (press release)

Governor signs landmark legislation improving Washington protection from major oil spills - OLYMPIA - On the anniversary of the catastrophic April 20, 2010, crude oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Gov. Chris Gregoire today signed landmark legislation that significantly advances protection of Washington state's environment, economy and cultural resources from the impacts of a potential major oil spill.

Legislature OKs WSU on EvCC campus - OLYMPIA - On a 38-10 vote, the state Senate gave final approval to a bill enabling WSU to move onto the Everett Community College campus in order to run the University Center of North Puget Sound.

Cyber-Security System Mimics Human Immune Response - Computer scientists and IT engineers are increasingly looking to the human immune system as a model for preventing attacks by cyber-hackers. They hope that in the near future computers will be able to communicate among themselves, recognize threats, and be able to monitor their own health - just like the cells inside our bodies.

Engaged workers report good health - WASHINGTON - Those engaged in their work tend to report excellent health but emotionally disconnected workers or the jobless tend to report poor health, a U.S. survey says.

Corporate Voices Launches Workplace Lactation Toolkit to Help Employers Support Nursing Mothers at Work - Washington, DC - Corporate Voices for Working Families has published an updated version of its workplace lactation toolkit to help employers establish workplace lactation programs, comply with new provisions to the Fair Labor Standards Act passed into law with health care reform and to help employers adopt management strategies for 21st century success. (press release)

Many feel bullied in workplace, study shows - CareerBuilder.com surveyed more than 5,000 full-time workers and found that more than one-in-four of the respondents have felt bullied at the workplace. (w/video)

Postal Service Delivers a Greener America; Stamps Encourage Protecting Public Health and the Environment - Albany, N.Y. - Today at a ceremony ... the Postmaster of Albany, Joseph Finan, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Judith Enck and CDTA Chief Executive Officer Carm Basile unveiled the U.S. Postal Service's new Go Green stamps. The stamps depict different ways that people can make a difference in protecting the environment.

Earth Day organizers aim for 'a billion acts of green' - In an effort dubbed "A Billion Acts of Green," organizers are encouraging people to observe Earth Day 2011 by pledging online at http://act.earthday.org/ to do something small but sustainable in their own lives to improve the planet's health - from switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs to reducing the use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals.

Laser Sparks Revolution in Internal Combustion Engines - For more than 150 years, spark plugs have powered internal combustion engines. Automakers are now one step closer to being able to replace this long-standing technology with laser igniters, which will enable cleaner, more efficient, and more economical vehicles.

LHC's record intensity speeds Higgs search - The Large Hadron Collider has surpassed a record set by Fermilab's rival particle accelerator for what's called luminosity, a milestone that improves the odds that the gargantuan scientific experiment will produce new physics discoveries.

On the hunt for green-tech game changers - To borrow a line from science fiction writer William Gibson, the future of green tech is already here, it's just not very evenly distributed. Today is Earth Day, a good time to consider how the technology meant to preserve our environment and natural resources is progressing.

Significant changes in Mars' atmosphere detected - NASA said today that new data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has demonstrated that the amount of atmosphere on the Red Planet depends entirely on the tilt of its axis. This is significant, the space agency said, because that axis tilt may well impact the stability of any liquid water that exists on Mars, as well as the frequency and strength of dust storms.

New Data Center Features Breakthrough Green Technology - Beaverton, Ore. - Oregon's IT landscape just got greener with EasyStreet Online Services Inc. unveiling its new commercial data center featuring breakthrough technologies to reduce energy consumption and increase sustainability. ... Seeing consumption potentially doubling in the coming years, the federal government wants the IT industry to find ways to ... reduce consumption through greater energy efficiency. (press release)

USDA Aims to Boost Cellulosic Biofuels Investments, But Algae Seen as Better Choice - The Department of Agriculture wants to boost investment in cellulosic biofuels by loosening some restrictions that have held the sector back. ... Meanwhile, a study raises questions about the economic viability of cellulosic biofuels ... DOE's Pacific Northwest National Lab released a study demonstrating that 17% of the oil the US imports for transportation could be replaced with American-grown biofuels from algae.

Gridflex plans grid-scale power storage in Oregon - With 3.3 GW of wind power now linked to the Northwest grid, Michael Kintner-Meyer, a staff scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, said many people believe storage facilities can balance the volatility and fluctuation wind and other types of renewable energy bring to the power supply, and do so cost-effectively.

Neutron dance: What happens at the heart of a nuclear reactor? - The [Department of Energy's] Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP) on Wednesday awarded 1.5 million [dollars] to researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., for a new nuclear engineering research program and laboratory dedicated to the careful measurement and analysis of how neutrons interact with different materials around them.