Volcano

Dormant undersea volcano near Kalpakkam atomic plant?

Bangalore: Even as massive protests have stalled the commissioning of the Kudankulam nuclear plant, activists have now raised concerns over the safety of another nuclear site in Tamil Nadu. The activists claim that there is documentary evidence that the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) in Kalpakkam near Chennai sits near an undersea volcano. They have demanded a thorough investigation of the hazard potential of the volcano by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

In a book first published in Tamil in March and recently translated to English under the title 'Kalpakkam Nuclear Reactors and Submarine Volcano', V Pughazhendi and R Ramesh of the Peoples Movement for Nuclear Radiation Safety have amassed documentary evidence showing that a submarine volcano is located 156 km southeast of Chennai and 100 km east of Pondicherry that could pose a risk to the nuclear plant in Kalpakkam.

Besides the two power plants in Kalpakkam, there are also a fast breeder test reactor, and a fuel reprocessing facility. There will also soon be a 500-MW prototype fast breeder. "Volcanic eruptions and submarine landslides have the potential to produce truly awesome tsunami waves," say the authors, who point out that the site of the fast breeder reactor, then under construction, was flooded when a tsunami struck the coast in 2004.

The threat to a nuclear plant from a volcano is something that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna recognises. The agency's safety guide, "Volcanic Hazards in Site Evaluation for Nuclear Installations" released 

Guatemala volcano erupts, thousands evacuated

Guatemala City: Guatemala's Fuego volcano erupted on Thursday, spewing smoke and ash into the sky and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people, local emergency services said. The volcano, 25 miles (40 km) southwest of the capital Guatemala City, erupted in the early afternoon, sending a cloud of ash one km (half a mile) above the crater, said Sergio Cabanas, director of emergency response in Guatemala's CONRED emergency agency. Some...  

Iceland on the wing

The T-shirt sums it up: Don't F**k with Iceland " We may not have cash but we've got ash! Cash refers to the fallout from an explosion: The effects of the global financial crisis on Iceland. Traditionally based on geothermal energy, fishing and agriculture, Iceland tried to reinvent its economy through financial services; one observer described it as "Wall Street on the tundra". The results were disastrous, with the economy...  

Indonesia volcano spews ash in biggest eruption

Tomohon, Indonesia: A volatile volcano in central Indonesia unleashed its most powerful eruption in days on Sunday, spewing hot ash and smoke high into the air and sending panicked villagers racing back to crowded government shelters. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Mount Lokon, located on northern Sulawesi island, rumbled back to life last week. A series of blasts late Thursday and early Friday claimed one life - a...  

Chile volcano ash circles globe, returns home

Santiago: The ash cloud from a Chilean volcano that has been erupting for nearly two weeks has circled the globe and come home again. The returning cloud - which has disrupted flights in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Australia and New Zealand on its around-the-world trip on Friday forced Chilean officials to cancel domestic flights for the first time since the Cordon Caulle volcano began erupting June 4. LAN airlines suspended flights...  

More flights halted by ash from Chilean volcano

Buenos Aires: The cloud of ash spewing from Chile's erupting volcano has grounded more flights in countries from Uruguay to Australia and is threatening to delay next month's start of the Copa America football tournament in Argentina. Argentine Football Association president Julio Grondona says the July 1 start of the Copa America could be pushed back due to cancelations of flights caused by the volcano. Grondona tells the Argentine broadcaster...  

Ash cloud from Chile volcano wreaks airline havoc

Buenos Aires: A cloud of ash spewing from a Chilean volcano caused chaos for air travelers in South America again on Monday and grounded flights as far away as New Zealand and Australia, stranding thousands of passengers. Two airports serving Argentina's capital and the main international airport in Uruguay were closed late on Sunday over safety fears sparked by the ash cloud, which has stretched some 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles)....  

Chile volcano ash grounds Australia, NZ flights

Ash from a Chilean volcano grounds hundreds of flights across Australia and New Zealand. ...

Chile volcano ash grounds Australia, NZ flights

Wellington: Thousands of passengers in Australia and New Zealand were affected when airlines suspended flights on Sunday as an ash cloud from an erupting volcano in southern Chile spread, threatening to damage engines. Australia's national carrier, Qantas Airways, said all the airline's flights in and out of the southeastern city of Melbourne would be grounded. Qantas also canceled 22 flights to and from New Zealand and the Australian island-state of...  

Chile: volcanic ash disrupts Aus, NZ flights

Wellington: Some airline flights to and from New Zealand were canceled on Sunday as an ash cloud from an erupting volcano in southern Chile spread. Australia's national carrier, Qantas Airways, said it canceled 22 flights to and from New Zealand and the Australian island-state of Tasmania, as well as eight flights within New Zealand's South Island, as the dust cloud from Chile's erupting Cordon Caulle volcano spread across the atmosphere....  

Chile volcano ash grounds flights in Argentina

Buenos Aires: Stiff winds blew ash from a Chilean volcano on Tuesday in a widening arc across Argentina to the capital, grounding most air travel to and from the country for much of the day. Since airborne ash can severely damage jet engines, Aerolineas Argentinas and Austral, the country's state-owned international and domestic airlines, canceled all flights within Argentina as well as to and from other countries. At least six...  

Chilean volcano grounds flights, coats ski slopes

Santiago: An erupting Chilean volcano sent a towering plume of ash across South America on Monday, forcing thousands from their homes, grounding airline flights in southern Argentina and coating ski resorts with a gritty layer of dust instead of snow. Booming explosions echoed across the Andes as toxic gases belched up from a three-mile-long fissure in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic complex - a ridge between two craters just west of...  

Iceland eruption ending, German airports reopen

Reykjavik: Iceland's volcanic eruption has died down and is no longer spewing out ash, officials said on Wednesday as airlines began to get back to normal after cancelling about 1,000 flights in northern Europe. The explosion of the Grimsvotn volcano on Saturday caused much less chaos than an eruption in 2010 at another Icelandic volcano thanks to new rules for airlines, but the incident showed problems remain with the regulations....  

Indian carriers to decide on flights to Europe

New Delhi: In the wake of the flight disruption in Europe due to ash spewing from an Icelandic volcano, officials of major Indian carriers on Wednesday held meetings to decide on diversion or cancellation of their flights. Officials of Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and Air India held separate meetings to take a decision on their flight schedules as hundreds of flights continued to be grounded for the second day today...  

Europe: flights cancelled as volcanic ash spreads

London: Ash spewing from an Icelandic volcano is causing disruption and days of uncertainty to more parts of Europe, as officials in Germany said that dozens of flight will be grounded on Wednesday because of levels of ash in the country's northern regions. Even though some say it's been a massive overreaction by badly prepared safety regulators one airline even claims the official scientific findings are simply wrong hundreds of...  

Volcanic ash leads to 500 flights cancellation

London: Dense ash from the erupting Icelandic volcano forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights on Tuesday, as airlines and passengers braced themselves for days of uncertainty and chaos. Some passengers spent the night at Edinburgh airport after airlines canceled flights in and out of Scotland. Britain's Civil Aviation Authority said there was high-density ash in the skies above parts of Scotland by late Tuesday morning, and that it was...  

Volcanic ash cloud moves to Europe, flights suspended

Thick volcanic ash is blowing over Iceland after the Grimsvotn volcano erupted on Saturday because of which several airlines including British Airways and KLM have suspended flights to the UK and the rest of the continent is on alert. ...

Iceland: Volcanic cloud spreads, flights canceled

London: British air traffic controllers say ash from the erupting Iceland volcano will affect flights out of Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland by Tuesday afternoon. The agency that controls air traffic over Britain and the eastern Atlantic said airports will remain open but flights will be affected between 5:30 pm IST and 11:30 pm IST. NATS said in a statement that the ash will affect airports in Londonderry in...  

Europe on alert for Icelandic volcano ash cloud

Reykjavik: An eruption by Iceland's most active volcano was set to keep the island's main airport shut on Monday, while other European nations watched for any impact on their air routes from a towering plume of smoke and ash. Experts said they saw little chance of a repeat of 2010's six-day closure of airspace, which also hit trans-Atlantic flights, when another Icelandic volcano erupted, although airlines have been warned the...