Deadly tornadoes and tsunamis ask questions of Smart Grid resilience

As the Fukushima disaster unfolded, Barack Obama was quick to order a review into nuclear safety in the United States. His aim was to assure the American public the 104 nuclear reactors in the country could withstand “extreme events” such as tsunamis.

But once the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed its review, it may well be harder to convince the American public that the country's nuclear sites which supply 20% of its electricity are safe.

Much of the NRC’s focus so far has understandably been on earthquakes and tsunamis. The NRC is already quite convinced that an earthquake of the magnitude of the Honshu earthquake could not happen in the US because the only subduction zone, that could cause that magnitude of earthquake lies around 50 miles off the coast of northern California, Oregon and Washington.

Obama's Sputnik moment boosts clean energy in state of the union

The bed had barely grown cold from Hu Jintao's visit to Washington and Chicago, than Barack Obama has invoked China's enthusiasm for renewable energy technology in his state of the union address. After comparing Google and Facebook to other innovators such as the Wright Brothers and Thomas Edison, he said:

"This is our generation’s Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven’t seen since the height of the Space Race. In a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal. We’ll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology – an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people."