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Solar panels are an increasingly important source of renewable power that will play an essential role in fighting climate change. They are also complex pieces of technology that become big, bulky sheets of electronic waste at the end of their lives—and right now, most of the world doesn’t have a plan for dealing with that. But we’ll need to develop one soon, because the solar e-waste glut is coming. By 2050, the International Renewable Energy Agency projects that up to 78 million metric tons of solar panels will have reached the end of their life, and that the world will...

The last few years have seen growing concern over what happens to solar panels at the end of their life. Consider the following statements: The problem of solar panel disposal “will explode with full force in two or three decades and wreck the environment” because it “is a huge amount of waste and they are not easy to recycle.” “The reality is that there is a problem now, and it’s only going to get larger, expanding as rapidly as the PV industry expanded 10 years ago.” “Contrary to previous assumptions, pollutants such as lead or carcinogenic cadmium can be almost...

Russia Suspends US Plutonium Disposal Agreement http://www.ibtimes.com/russia-suspends-us-plutonium-disposal-agreement-2425250 Russia Suspends US Plutonium Disposal Agreement By Himanshu Goenka @HimGoJourno On 10/03/16 AT 7:37 AM Russia has suspended its 16-year-old agreement with the United States to dispose weapons-grade plutonium, citing “Washington’s unfriendly actions toward Russia, according to Tass news agency. A decree to that effect was issued by President Vladimir Putin. An official notification said the reason behind the decree was “a fundamental change of the circumstances and the emergence of a threat to strategic stability as a result of unfriendly actions by the United States towards Russia and the United States’ inability...

he Central Intelligence Agency, working with American troops during the occupation of Iraq, repeatedly purchased nerve-agent rockets from a secretive Iraqi seller, part of a previously undisclosed effort to ensure that old chemical weapons remaining in Iraq did not fall into the hands of terrorists or militant groups, according to current and former American officials. The extraordinary arms purchase plan, known as Operation Avarice, began in 2005 and continued into 2006, and the American military deemed it a nonproliferation success. It led to the United States’ acquiring and destroying at least 400 Borak rockets...

Waste from Ebola-Exposed Patient Incinerated at Ft. DetrickAn official with the union that represents workers at Maryland's Fort Detrick said he's troubled by the lack of details provided by officials about medical waste from an Ebola-exposed patient that was incinerated at the installation.

IENNA, May 21 — The United States has informed an international agency that oversees nuclear materials that it intends to move hundreds of tons of uranium from a sealed repository south of Baghdad to a more secure place outside Iraq, Western diplomats close to the agency say. But the organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has taken the position that the uranium is Iraqi property and that the agency cannot give permission to remove it, a diplomat said. The diplomat said that the United States was unlikely to be deterred by that position and that American officials had contacted the...

NEWPORT, Ind. (AP) - Army contractors halted operations Saturday at a western Indiana complex built to destroy a deadly nerve agent after nearly 500 gallons of caustic wastewater spilled in a contained area. No workers were injured or exposed to the hydrolysate, a byproduct of the destruction of the agent, when it leaked onto the floor of a sealed area at the Newport Chemical Depot, depot spokesman Dennis Lindsey said. The facility was to be shut down until the spill was cleaned up and its cause determined, Lindsey said. The western Indiana facility destroys the Cold War-era chemical weapon VX...

Pentagon: Ship Leaves for Italy to Destroy Syrian Chemical Weapons By: Sam LaGrone Published: June 25, 2014 12:48 PM Updated: June 25, 2014 12:52 PM The U.S. ship that was quickly put into service to neutralize Syrian chemical weapons has departed Rota, Spain to take on the arms at an Italian port, Pentagon officials announced on Wednesday. MV Cape Ray (T-AKR-9679) will take on the chemical weapons at Gioia Tauro and neutralize the weapons taken from the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad as part of a deal — negotiated by the United Nations — that prevented U.S. retaliatory strikes...

The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile has been completed, Barack Obama has said. The US President welcomed the development, but said Washington would seek to ensure Damascus fulfils all its commitments. "Today we mark an important achievement in our ongoing effort to counter the spread of weapons of mass destruction by eliminating Syria's declared chemical weapons stockpile," he said. He added that the destruction, carried out aboard a US Navy ship on the Mediterranean Sea, sent "a clear message that the use of these abhorrent weapons has consequences and will not be tolerated by the international community".

MADISON — In 2010, Sen. Russ Feingold raised $13.7 million in his bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate. The long-serving Democrat lost, but he finished with more than $900,000 on hand. The former senator — like all candidates in federal elections — has some options when it comes to handling leftover campaign funds, some allowances that may surprise donors and the electorate at large. With a flood of Republican presidential candidates bowing out of the nomination chase — and in Wisconsin, U.S. Senate candidate Frank Lasee, a GOP state senator from De Pere, doing the same — Wisconsin Reporter...

I'm writing this post to ask for some help from fellow veterans and anyone who loves our Flag. I recently went into a local car dealership to buy a new vehicle. While doing the deal I was asked if i wanted to buy a used factory cover for my truck. When I went into the storage room, my heart sunk. Over in the corner covered with dust (thick as dry wall dust), was LARGE flags that were previously flown laying in the dirt. I immediately went to the CEO and told them I wanted the flag, and I took them...

6/11/2010 - KANDAHAR CITY, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- "Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!" When Staff Sgt. Benjamin Stewart, an explosive ordnance disposal technician, yells these words, it's time for the boom. Sergeant Stewart and Airmen from the 755th Air Expeditionary Squadron, Operating Location-Bravo EOD are clearing bombs from land near Kandahar Airfield to help make safe a future training site for the Afghan National Army. "This is a great opportunity to help local citizens, by providing a site for the future training of ANA soldiers," said Tech. Sgt. David Niedzwiadek, a 755th AES OL-B...

You think solar electrical generation is going to save you or the Planet? Think again. While it is true that photovoltaic solar panels do not pollute while they are producing electricity -- what about the manufacturing process? What happens when these panels reach the end of their projected lifecycle in twenty-five years? (This is, by the way, an optimistic view of their useful life.) Those questions are addressed in a study by the watchdog group Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. "Green Power" is being hyped as the "Safe Solution." It is anything but safe -- when all factors are considered. Here...

City bans garbage disposal units Residents of Raleigh, N.C., face stiff penalties if they install garbage disposal units in their kitchen sinks or repair existing ones if they break. The City Council approved the ban on Wednesday, the Raleigh Chronicle reports. The ordinance includes a fine of up to $25,000 a day. Officials said that anyone caught with an illegal disposal unit could also face a lifetime ban on getting city water. The ban covers several municipalities around Raleigh. The garbage disposal units, which grind up leftover food and flush it into the sewer system, lead to pipes clogged with...

2/11/2008 - KAPISA PROVINCE, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- Airmen from the explosive ordnance disposal, 755th Air Expeditionary Group, assisted Kohistan II district Afghanistan National Police with unexploded ordnance disposal Feb. 2. "The police chief requested our assistance with removing the UXOs during our last visit," said Tech. Sgt. Francis Warren, Bagram Provincial Reconstruction Team Police Technical Advisory Team noncommissioned officer in charge. Sergeant Warren took action and contacted EOD for assistance. Tech. Sgt. Steven Nidzgorski, an EOD team leader, said UXO's and landmines pose a serious threat for locals and military personnel throughout Afghanistan. In the last six months, Sergeant Nidzgorski's...

CAMP HABBINIYAH, Iraq (May 10, 2006) -- While most service members do their best to avoid road-side bombs or walk in the opposite direction of a known landmine field, a small community of American troops seek such threats head on and are now training their Iraqi counterparts to do the same. American explosives ordnance disposal technicians are overseeing the development of an EOD company in the Iraqi Army's 1st Division, which is based out of nearby Camp Habbiniyah. The area surrounding Habbiniyah, where many military commanders believe insurgents transit or stage for attacks in Ramadi and Fallujah, has been a...

What is the proper way of disposing of a used US flag? Please help. Thanks.

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (NNS) -- The Naval School of Explosive Ordnance Disposal has intensified the training for experienced explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technicians with the addition of the Advanced Improvised Explosive Device Disposal (AIEDD) Training Facility. The new $7 million facility concluded its pilot course Nov. 23, and the first full class will begin Jan. 6. The facility is a joint course run by the Navy on Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. It is designed to train and evaluate the ability of Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team leaders, personnel of other key federal agencies and...

Tony Blair is believed to be convinced over the need for nuclear power to tackle the UK energy crisis.The government is to announce a review of energy policy, including nuclear power, after being urged by business leaders to tackle the UK energy crisis. Concerns have been growing over future power supplies and rising gas costs. The BBC's Nick Robinson said despite the prime minister's support, no decision has yet been made on Britain's nuclear future. Tony Blair's spokesman said: "The prime minister's view is that we need to look at all the options and everybody knows that is what we...

FAIRCHILD AFB, Wa., Nov. 16, 2005 — Explosive ordnance disposal personnel worked hand-in-hand with multiple federal agencies at the Grand Coulee Dam, Oct. 4 - 6, for an exercise titled "Watchful Sentinel." "The focus of the exercise was to evaluate Special Response Forces standard operation procedures, along with coordination between the Special Response Forces and supporting agencies, via a series of realistic events," said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jack Burleigh, explosive ordnance disposal craftsman, 92nd Civil Engineering Squadron. "Some of the calls we respond to involve ordnance left behind in a deceased veteran's war chest. Other times, we may...