Aside from the obvious typo, this is a very disturbing - but some would say not entirely unexpected - development in the brave new world of ever scarcer energy resources. In what must seem a slap in the face to the Sea Shepherds and Australian Environment departments, Japan has announced plans to build nuclear reactors inside minke whales.
This is an enormous engineering challenge, with the Japanese team commencing construction next month inside the gastrointestinal system of four whales currently in captivity. When the reactors come online in 2013, the whales will be released into the ocean and controlled remotely using microcontroller technology.
Shipping and transport are the fastest growing sources of greenhouse emissions, so we can at least say the Japanese Government is taking seriously their duty to reduce these emissions by providing a mobile source of clean energy. The engineering team pointed out that the project neatly avoids the major obstacle in nuclear energy – waste disposal. When the minke whales die, presumably in their sleep of old age, their carcasses will fall to the bottom of the ocean, safely storing the nuclear waste for tens of weeks.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
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