Japan

America's nuclear industry has been held up as an example of exemplary safety and regulation. But more than 20 percent of U.S. reactors are similar in design and age to Japan's troubled Fukushima Daiichi reactors.

As Japan continues to grapple with the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, governments around the world are reviewing industry safety standards and

Although vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) have the potential to be “the next big thing” that would enable economical storage of wind and solar energy, there are no existing or planned utility-scale installations after more than 25 years of development. One small venture capital-funded private company, Prudent Energy Corporation, is leading development.

Following a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, one of its nuclear power plants is on the verge of multiple meltdowns. Now, many in this country are asking whether U.S. plants can withstand such a disaster. In “Nuclear Nation,” energyNOW chief correspondent Tyler Suiters looks at how American nuclear plants could be vulnerable.

In its recently released Marketbuzz® 2011, Solarbuzz, an energy consulting firm, reports the global solar photovoltaic (PV) industry had a record year in 2010.

Australia has the fastest growing liquified natural gas (LNG) industry in the world and is on track to eclipse Qatar as the world’s largest producer by the end of the decade. It is, therefore, ideally positioned to fill much of the energy void in Japan if that country reduces its use of nuclear energy in the aftermath of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

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Japanese firefighters, police and soldiers continue to put themselves at serious risk of radiation poisoning as they spray nuclear reactors with with water from firetrucks.  Officials from the country's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency raised the situation's "events scale" from 4 to 5. Chernobyl was rated a 7, the highest level in the international scaling system.

The rapidly growing Australian liquified natural gas (LNG) industry is ideally positioned to fill much of the energy void in Japan if that country reduces its use of nuclear energy in the wake of the deepening crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

In his first public address regarding the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan, President Obama made it abundantly clear that U.S. authorities do not expect radiation to make it to the western United States, Hawaii, or any American territories in the Pacific.