Japan’s U-Turn on Nuclear Power: Reaction

Yesterday, Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan, announced that the government was scrapping a planned expansion of nuclear power, which currently provides about a third of Japanese electricity. Instead, the government would redouble efforts to expand its renewable energy portfolio, Kan said. The turnaround followed Kan’s urging last week that a reactor in Hamaoka, near an active seismic zone, be shut down; the company that runs the plant has agreed and is building a seawall to protect the plant from tsunamis when it reopens in 2 years. The Fukushima disaster “gives the Japanese an opportunity,” Japan business expert William Tsutsui of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, tells ScienceInsider. “It could be a shot in the arm for renewable technologies.”

BITSAT 2011 entrance exams from today

Birla Institute of Technology , Pilani conducted its Science Aptitude Test today. Almost hundreds of students gave the test all over India. Students saw no change in the pattern if examination. The test was online computer based.
 After the AIEEE -2011 paper leak, BITS ensured that no such mishappenings took place in its tests.
Students were happy with the level of diffulty of the examination. A Good student could easily score above 250 marks.
 This time the cut-offs of the Pilani campus could go as high as 290 to 295 , while for Computer Science the cut-off could elevate up to 360 to 370.