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Tuesday, 29 March 2011

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Hazards of harnessing nuclear power

Nuclear power is produced by controlled (that is, non-explosive) nuclear reactions. Commercial and utility plants currently use nuclear fission reactions to heat water to produce steam, which is then used to generate electricity. According to the latest figures, nuclear power provides about six percent of the world’s total energy generation, and 13 to 14 percent of the world’s electricity generation.

Nuclear power is once again in focus due to the recent accident and radiation leak in the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan following the massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. However, the incident that occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on 26 April 1986 is still considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history - it is the only one classified as a ‘Level 7’ event on the International Nuclear Event Scale that ranks incidents from 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest). 

Today, we start off with a few questions on nuclear power and related accidents and then move on to other topics.

1. In April 2011, it will be 25 years since the Chernobyl nuclear accident, which contaminated a large area in Europe with radioactive fallout. At the time Chernobyl was located in the former Soviet Union. In which independent country is Chernobyl located today, after the break up of the Soviet Union?

2. Besides the former Soviet republic where it was located, two other Soviet Republics were most adversely affected by Chernobyl’s radioactive fall-out. That forced the evacuation of over 300,000 people. These are now independent states. One of them is Russia. What is the other country?

3. Two main nuclear isotopes that contaminated large areas around Chernobyl will take about 30 years to decay. One of them is Strontium-90. What was the other?

4. Levels of radioactivity are still higher than normal in the vicinity of the Chernobyl reactor 25 years after the accident. What is the international (or SI) unit for measuring radioactivity? Clue: The unit is named after a French physicist who shared a Nobel Prize discovering radioactivity.

5. Of all the countries that have nuclear power generation capability, the United States has the largest capacity, which is about 30 percent of the world’s total in 2008 according to the International Energy Agency, IEA. Japan came at the third place with 9.4 percent of the world total. Which European country had the second place in the total installed capacity to generate electricity from nuclear reactors?

6. This city can trace its history back over 3,000 years. It was established as the capital of the Yan state, one of the leaders of the Warring States Period of China. It is believed to have been the largest city in the world from 1425 to 1650 and again from 1710 to 1825. The name means ‘northern capital’ in Chinese. What is it?

7. This well known Russian writer was said to have been so ashamed of his nose that he often wore a piece of cloth which covered his face. His satirical short story, The Nose, was about an official who awakes one morning to find that his nose has left his face and is seen wandering around the town. Who was he?

8. This writer is of Czech origin, but he left his country of birth in 1975 because of communism and has since lived in Paris. His early books were originally written in Czech - The Joke was his first novel, released in 1967. His more recent books are written in French, but the author reserves the right to Czech translations just for himself. Who is this author?

9. Martin Wickramasinghe (1890 – 1976) was one of Sri Lanka’s greatest authors and intellectuals of the 20th Century. He wrote both in Sinhala and English for several decades covering a broad range of subjects, topics and literary genres. His first novel titled Leela was published in 1914 when he was only 24. His last (14th) novel, set in the time of Gautama Buddha, was published in 1973 three years before the author’s death. What was the title of this last novel, which caused a controversy at the time?

10. The Victoria Falls, one of the most famous water falls in the world, was so named by the Scott explorer David Livingstone in honour of Queen Victoria of Britain. The indigenous name of ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ - meaning the ‘Smoke that Thunders’ - is also well known. The Victoria Falls is on the African continent, located between two countries formerly known and North Rhodesia and South Rhodesia. What are these countries called today?

11. This rugby player led his country, South Africa, to win its first Rugby World Cup in 1995. It was a remarkable transformation for the newly independent, post-Apartheid South Africa where President Nelson Mandela worked closely with the national rugby team to use sports to unite the emotionally divided nation. The story behind the South African team’s victory was made into a 2009 movie called Invictus directed by Clint Eastwood, where the South African captain’s role was played by actor Matt Damon. Who is this sportsman?

12. World Cup Cricket is heading to its final stages. While millions cheer and follow the game, not everyone is equally enthusiastic about cricket. Those in non-playing countries sometimes wonder just what the cricket frenzy is all about, especially in South Asia! A witty Irish writer once described cricket as “eleven flannelled fools chasing a red ball, with eleven thousand fools cheering them”. Who uttered these words?

13. Firestone, Goodyear and BF Goodrich are among the names identified with the city once called the ‘Rubber Capital of the World’. Thanks to its location along canals, railroads and highways, it was once the fastest growing city in the entire United States. Name this city, located in the US state of Ohio.

14. The first patent issued for this item, now commonly found in stores worldwide, was back in 1952, when this item looked more like a bull’s eye with concentric circles than its present-day shape and form. Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver are credited with inventing this item, which is enormously helpful to wholesalers and retailers everywhere. What is this invention?

15. Who was he: a civil servant, he was appointed as the first Sri Lankan head of the Police Department in 1947. He later served as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India from 1957 to 1963.

Answers will be published next week


Last week’s answers

1. ‘Harbor wave’
2. The Mediterranean Sea
3. UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO
4. On Ewa Beach, near Honolulu, Hawai’i
5. Kalpakkam, 80 kilometres south of Chennai
6. Nippon Hoso Kyokai, which means Japan Broadcasting Corporation
7. Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)
8. King George V
9. Calcutta, which is now the capital of West Bengal state
10. Steven Spielberg
11. Jamie Bell
12. Muhammad Ali
13. Belgian national Jacques Rogge, holding office since 2001
14. Sandra Bullock
15. Cape Town, South Africa

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