plants

The war in Ukraine has crossed a red line in Europe. They are no longer drones violating airspace, they are nuclear plants

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Ukraine has once again placed the nuclear alarm at the center of the European conflict after denouncing that Russia is deliberately attacking the electrical substations that feed the Khmelnitsky and Rivne power plants. According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, drone attacks are not isolated incidents, but planned operations to endanger continental nuclear security. It happens that drones are reaching European power plants. The drone offensive. Over the past weekend, Moscow launched more than 450 drones and 45 missiles against various regions of Ukraine, causing at least seven dead and damage to critical infrastructure. In Dnipro, a drone hit a residential building, killing three people, while other attacks occurred in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. kyiv accuses Russia of instrumentalizing the atomic risk as a psychological weapon and trying to cause an accident in plants that still depend on external electricity supply to avoid a collapse of the cooling system. Nuclear risk. In parallel, Moscow is advancing with its own nuclear agenda: the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, confirmed that the Kremlin is working on proposals for a possible nuclear test on the direct order of Vladimir Putin, a response to US President Donald Trump’s recent statement that Washington could resume their own tests. The atomic stress between both powers, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has plunged Europe into a scenario of unprecedented vulnerability since the Cold War. The epicenter of the threat: Belgium. While Ukraine try to contain the Russian offensive on its own territory, Western Europe has begun to feel the echoes of a hybrid war that expands beyond the front. In Belgium, one of the countries with the highest density of critical infrastructure on the continent, there has been a wave of raids of drones over strategic installations. The most alarming took place at the Doel nuclear power plant, located next to the port of Antwerp, when three drones were initially detected at dusk on November 9, which were later confirmed as five different devices flying over the complex for almost an hour. The energy company Engie, which manages the plant, assured that operations were not affected, but authorities activated the National Crisis Center and reinforced security in the area. Belgium nuclear plant near Doel And more. Hours before, air traffic at Liège airport was had suspended briefly after multiple reports of drones, and in the previous days both Brussels airport and the Kleine Brogel air base (where NATO nuclear weapons are stored) had been targeted of similar sightings. Research points to a coordinated pattern affecting several northern European countries, including Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, where unidentified aerial intrusions have also been reported. Suspicions of espionage. Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken has linked sightings with possible foreign espionage operations and pointed to Russia as the most plausible suspect, although without conclusive evidence. The country’s intelligence services consider that drones could be part of a recognition strategy aimed at evaluating the European response capacity to combined attacks on critical infrastructure. The accumulation of incidents led the Belgian government to convene a National Security Council, after which the Minister of the Interior, Bernard Quintin, assured that the situation was “under control”although he recognized the seriousness of the incursions. The United Kingdom, France and Germany announced sending specialized personnel and equipment to assist Belgium in the detection and neutralization of hostile drones, a gesture that underlines the shared fear that the border between visible war and covert war is becoming dangerously blurred. Technological epicenter. Faced with this new dimension of the conflict, Ukraine has positioned itself as a key actor in the technological response. President Volodymyr Zelensky advertisement the upcoming opening of defense production offices in Berlin and Copenhagen before the end of the year, with the aim of strengthening industrial cooperation on drones and electronic weapons. These “export capitals”, according to his wordsthey will finance the domestic production of scarce equipment and help European allies build their own defensive systems. kyiv, which has made the use of drones one of the pillars of its military strategy, now offers your experience to countries that are beginning to suffer firsthand the effects of the Russian hybrid war. Ukraine as a test. In parallel, Ukrainian creativity in the improvised field of defense is reflected even in unusual solutions: old fishing nets French drones, made from horse hair, are being reused to create tunnels where the propellers of Russian drones become trapped. In contemporary warfare, technology intersects with craftsmanship, and ingenuity has become a form of national survival. Nuclear vulnerability. The incidents in Belgium and Ukraine reveal the same constant: the European nuclear infrastructure (plant, wiring, energy, logistics) has become a target symbolic and strategic. The attacks on Ukrainian substations that feed power plants and the drones that fly over Belgian reactors expose the fragility of a continent that depends on complex systems where any sabotage can multiply its effects. The threat no longer comes only from missiles, but from invisible swarms of drones, of disinformation, of political and technological engineering that undermines stability from within. Russia, faced with isolation and with a still powerful military industry, seems willing to use this asymmetry as an instrument of prolonged pressure. The European responsestill fragmentary, is beginning to be articulated between military cooperation, technological innovation and civil defense. Plus: the lesson left by this sequence of attacks and suspicions seems clear. In the Europe of 2025, the border between energy security and military security has fadedand the future of continental stability could depend less on the size of armies than on how quickly a drone is detected on radar before reaching a nuclear power plant. Image | Trougnouf, Wwuyts In Xataka | The latest tactic of the Russians in Ukraine breaks with the previous one: they have gone from appearing “out of nowhere” to directly disappearing In Xataka | Orion was the Russian version of the US’s most lethal drone. Ukraine can’t believe it when it opens: it’s not a version, it’s the work of the US

that building nuclear power plants becomes increasingly cheaper

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While Western countries debated for or against nuclear energy, with the construction of new plants weighed down by decades of delays and cost overruns, China has not only continued building: He has done it against the trend of the sector. For the first time in more than 50 years, a country has made building nuclear reactors increasingly cheaper, faster and scalable. The difference is overwhelming. The only two reactors built in the United States this century (at the Vogtle plant in Georgia) took 11 years to complete and cost a whopping $35 billion, equivalent to about $15 per watt of capacity. According to a analysis published in NatureChina is building its new nuclear power plants for just $2 a watt. It is not an anomaly, but a trend. Construction costs in the United States have increased tenfold since the 1960s, and in France they have almost doubled. In China they halved during the 2000s and have remained stable since then. The big question is how they have achieved it, and whether the rest of the world can imitate them. The Chinese nuclear recipe. Building a nuclear power plant remains one of the most complex engineering projects on the planet. If China has managed to do this in an increasingly efficient way, it is thanks to a mix of standardization and unwavering state support. The three state nuclear giants receive low-interest loans, which greatly reduces the cost of financing. Unlike the West, where each project has been a new experiment with unique designs, China has often focused on building a handful of models, scaling its nuclear capability rapidly. But these are just the last steps of the recipe. To get here, Beijing had to invest in mastering each link in the supply chain. Made in China. As detailed in a extensive New York Times reportthe country has developed a robust national industry capable of forging everything from reactor vessels to the most critical components of each nuclear power plant. Components made in China, such as cargo pumps or ring cranes, cost half as much as their imported equivalents. A perfect example is the American-designed AP1000 reactor. Both the United States and China faced enormous challenges building this model. But as problems led to delays and skyrocketing costs that nearly buried the American industry, China paused, studied every flaw, and ended up developing an improved, nationalized version of the reactor: the CAP1000. It is now building nine reactors of this model within just five years, and at a drastically lower cost. The winning strategy. “China demonstrates that the construction and operation costs of nuclear power do not have to increase unabated,” explains Dan Kammenprofessor at Johns Hopkins University. Breaking the curse of cost overruns requires “more than technology: it requires an intelligent and strategic approach,” says Kammen. The result of this approach is that China is on track to overtake the United States as the largest nuclear power in the world in 2030. Today it has almost as many reactors under construction as the rest of the world combined. It is not a simple bet, but a State policy that does not end at its borders. China has already put two Hualong One reactors into operation in Pakistan, and has plans to continue expanding throughout Asia, Africa and South America. Waiting for the SMR. While China perfects the construction of large already proven reactors, Western countries follow a radically different path: betting on innovation through the private sector. Dozens of startups are working on a new generation of small modular reactors (SMR), theoretically cheaper and faster to build. Tech giants like Google, Amazon and Microsoft They have invested billions in them to power their energy-hungry data centers. The problem is not only that This technological advance will take years to maturebut China does not live apart from it. The country is already taking giant steps in future technologies, such as fourth-generation gas-cooled reactors or research into thorium reactors. And he could repeat the same strategies that have worked with traditional reactors. Image | CNNC In Xataka | China has turned the energy sector upside down: the first fusion-proof nuclear power plant is already a success

Amazon’s nuclear dream for AI continues to advance. This will be one of its first plants with modular reactors

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artificial intelligence electricity demand is multiplying of data centers, and with it, the interest of large technology companies in energy sources capable of keeping them running 24 hours a day. Amazon has gone one step further with Cascade, a new generation nuclear plant that aims to change the way the company powers its digital infrastructure. It is not a simple energy installation: it is the symbol of an ambition that combines autonomy and energy security in the midst of the AI ​​revolution. This industry is not only transforming the labor marketis also testing the global energy infrastructure. Large data centers that process millions of operations per second need a constant supply, and renewable sources, although clean, do not always guarantee that stability. Hence, nuclear energy is once again gaining prominence as a strong and carbon-free option. For companies like Amazon, the challenge is no longer just to innovate in algorithms, but to guarantee the energy that keeps them running without interruptions. What we know about the plant. Named Cascade Advanced Energy Facility, Amazon’s new nuclear plant will be built near Richland, Washington state. Over there, the company will work with Energy Northwest and X-energyresponsible for the design of the reactors. Cascade will be located near the current Columbia Generating Station. Amazon defines it as a key step to reduce emissions and provide constant electricity to the network that supports its global digital infrastructure. Cascade will rely on X-energy’s Xe-100 design, a next-generation modular reactor designed to be more efficient and safer than conventional models. The first phase adds 320 MW with four SMRs, and the plant can be expanded by up to 12 units to reach 960 MW. The scheme includes three 320 MW sections that will occupy only a few blocks. This modularity is one of the keys to the project: it allows production to be scaled according to demand and takes up much less space than a classic nuclear power plant, which can extend over more than 2.5 km². A different ‘campus’. Unlike traditional power plants, the Cascade plant will be organized as a small energy campus. Its modules will include reactor buildings, service areas, turbines, condensers and a space for temporary fuel storage. The complex, according to X-energy projections, will occupy a compact area that is more similar to an industrial estate than a classic nuclear facility. This modular approach allows you to build in phases and maintain operation without major interruptions in future expansions. Amazon’s schedule for Cascade moves forward in stages. The company plans to begin construction before the end of this decade and reach the operational phase in the 2030s. These are tentative goals, which depend on both the licensing process and the industrial development of the Xe-100 reactors. A project that needs labor. According to Amazon, Cascade will create more than 1,000 construction jobs and at least 100 permanent positions in areas such as engineering and operations. In parallel, Columbia Basin College will open the Energy Learning Center, funded by the Department of Energy, with a simulator that reproduces the control of the Xe-100 reactor. This program will allow young people in the region to access qualified jobs and reinforce Washington’s role in the transition to clean energy. More initiatives. Amazon is not the only technology company that sees nuclear energy as an ally for artificial intelligence. Microsoft has signed an agreement to reopen a plant and, in parallel, is studying long-term contracts with nuclear fusion projects, still in the experimental phase. Google, for its part, collaborates with companies in the sector to integrate small modular reactors (SMR) into its supply network. Although the paths differ, they all share the same challenge: powering a digital infrastructure that consumes more electricity every year. Although Amazon has shared many of the details of Cascade, the project is still in an early phase. There are no definitive dates for the start of construction or for the commissioning of the reactors. It has also not been specified what volume of energy will be allocated to its data centers and what part will be integrated into the local network. Everything indicates that the coming years will be decisive in testing whether modular nuclear energy can respond to the pace demanded by artificial intelligence. In Xataka | An open secret: far from being in decline, oil companies are doing business thanks to AI

Data centers do not want to depend on the conventional electrical grid. Solution: build your own plants

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AI data centers have sparked a new fever: the so-called “bring your own power.” The demand and consumption The pressure these plants impose is so enormous that they do not want to depend on external sources. The solution is theoretically simple, and we are already seeing how when a new data center is built, it is normal for some type of power plant to be built next to it. We are seeing it now. The data centers that OpenAI and Oracle are building in West Texas are accompanied by the creation of a natural gas-based power plant. Both xAI’s Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 in Memphis take advantage of gas turbines. And as they also indicate in The Wall Street Journalmore than a dozen Equinix data centers across the US are powered by stand-alone fuel cells. If the conventional electrical grid cannot be used, nothing happens: you create a power plant and that’s it. The US has an electrical problem. The technology giants would prefer to connect to the conventional grid, but bottlenecks in the supply chain, bureaucracy – permits, licenses – and the slowness in building the necessary transmission infrastructure prevent this. According to the ICV firmThe United States would need to add about 80 GW of new generation capacity per year to keep pace with AI, but right now less than 65 GW per year are being built. There is another direct consequence of this problem: the rise in the electricity bill. Data centers that look like cities. The needs and ambition of AI companies has made data centers become calculation and resource consumption monsters. One can only consume as much electricity as 10,000 stores in the Walmart electronics chain, WSJ estimates. Before 2020, data centers represented less than 2% of US energy consumption. By 2028 they are expected to represent up to 12%. A 1.5 GW data center, for example, would have consumption similar to that of the city of San Francisco, with about 800,000 inhabitants. China has a lot of advantage over the US in this. While the US deal with that lack of powerChina does not stop investing in new energy generation. According to data According to the National Energy Administration, the Asian country added 429 GW of new energy generation in 2024, while the US only added 50 GW. It is true that China has four times the population, but its centralized planning is helping to avoid problems that affect the US electrical grid. The white knight to the rescue. Faced with this shortage, natural gas has become the preferred resource for on-site energy generation. Although large turbines have long delivery times, smaller turbines or fuel cells that use natural gas are being used because of their rapid availability and installation. Renewables lose steam. Meanwhile, things are not promising for renewable energies (solar and wind, especially). There are about 214 GW of new generation theoretically in projectbut spending on such technologies could decline due to the potential loss of tax credits: the Trump administration criticizes that those clean energies do not provide a constant flow necessary for AI. The nuclear alternative. Faced with this apparent decline of nuclear energy, there is a growing interest in compact nuclear reactors (SMR), which allow us to provide the advantages of this type of center and a flexibility that can be very interesting for AI data centers. amazon, Google, Goal either Microsoft They are betting part of their future on nuclear powerbut that It doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges to overcome.. Image | Wolfgang Weiser In Xataka | World record in nuclear fusion: the German Wendelstein 7-X reactor has broken all records

Those who take lunch to the last plants

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China has been It has no rival When it comes to of megaconstructions. In fact, Beijing’s domain is such that they even have the Highest abandoned skyscraper of the planet. What very few could anticipate was the excessive size of many of these heaven giants. We do not exaggerate, in some cases even the elevator is a teeth pain. So a new trade (sub) has emerged. Improvised economy of the heights. I told this week The New York Times. In Shenzhen, symbol city of the Chinese economic experiment and today turned into a vibrant core of 18 million inhabitants, the daily life in skyscrapers as The Seg Plaza It has generated an unusual phenomenon that combines ingenuity, precariousness and entrepreneurial spirit. This 70 -storey building, headquarters of thousands of offices, has converted the simple act of delivering a lunch into A logistics challenge. In peak hours, the waiting for the elevator can be extended up to half an hourwhat for traditional castrs is a headache that erodes their ability to complete orders. The response to that difficulty has been the spontaneous appearance of an army of improvised runners, adolescents and retirees that are offered as intermediaries: they receive food bags at the entrance and, in exchange for a small commission, assume the last section to the client. An unexpected trade. The example of li linxinga 16 -year -old who spends full days in front of the building to win About 100 Yua Dailysummarize this emerging microeconomy. For just 28 euro cents per order, Linxing makes its way between dozens of colleagues, expects crowded elevators and travels labyrinthine halls to deliver meals. It is not a stable job not well paid, but it represents an opportunity for fast and direct incomesomething that in Shenzhen is enough to attract both students on vacation and older who find no other way to make a living. The mechanics is simple: the delivery man arrives on a motorcycle, delivers the bag, scan a QR code and follow its route, thus delegating to the “stand-in” the slowest and most expensive part in time. Trust networks. He Shao Ziyou case And his wife illustrates how this model has resulted in organized structures. Known as the first to establish himself at the entrance of the Seg Plaza, Shao has woven a network of assistants to which deliveries subcontracts, keeping a small fraction of each order. In normal days, coordinates between 600 and 700 orderstransforming what began as an occasional favor to a distributor lost in a parallel logistics system. The distributors recognize and trust him, which gives him a dominant position in front of other runners who try to capture orders offering lower rates. The 2020 pandemic, which paralyzed the electronic market of the building, consolidated this practice When firing the dependence on food cast. The Seg Plaza Competition and precariousness. The increase in runners has generated rivalry dynamics and frequent conflicts. Errors in deliveries They carry sanctionssince the distributors are fined by the platforms if the orders do not arrive, and transfer that pressure to the intermediaries. The Times told That discussions scenes in the middle of the street by wrong addresses or unsatisfied customers have become common, although they are generally resolved pragmatic. In parallel, the competition has hardened the conditions: some lower their prices per order, others develop tactics to optimize their routes, such as waiting to accumulate several bags before climbing in the elevator. The border of legality. The informal nature of this work also implies risks and limitations. Namely: none of the runners has a contract, insurance or labor rights; It is a tolerated activity in practice, but outside of any regulated framework. A void that has even allowed the Child participationsome of school age, attracted by viral fashion in social networks. The images of children with uniforms chasing distributors generated such controversy that local authorities intervened prohibiting the use of minors for security reasons. Since then, only those over 16, such as Linxing, can continue, although precariousness remains the norm. Shenzhen as a laboratory. If you want also, what happens in the Seg Plaza reflects the Shenzhen character as a permanent laboratory of improvised solutions to practical problems. The city, a pioneer in China’s opening to the global market, has turned each obstacle into an opportunity to create new trades, even if they are fragile and poorly paid. This luck of “Gig Economy within the Gig Economy” shows the ability to adapt its inhabitants, but also vulnerability of those who participate in a model based on immediacy and low cost. In the daily scenes of runners loaded with six or seven bags in each hand, retirees who see in it a way of staying active, or adolescents looking for fast money, a microcosm is drawn that combines ingenuity with unprotection. The good and the bad. In short, the history of Shenzhen’s “Delivery Stand-Ins” reveals both the creativity of a city that never stops and The cracks of a system which converts logistical needs into ephemeral jobs. The effectiveness with which they have solved the problem of slow elevators in a skyscraper demonstrates the agility of the Chinese informal economybut it also raises questions about the future of those who maintain these dynamics without contracts, without rights and with minimal remuneration. In other words, what is apparently an ingenious solution to the noon jam becomes, looking more closely, in a reminder of how the modern economy depends more and more of invisible gears, a dystopia of people who run between endless floors holding to the pulse, and without guarantees, the daily life of the metropolis. Hopefully they are not “those” works that AI cannot do. Image | Robert Anders, Picryl, Charlie Fong In Xataka | China has no rival in megaconstructions: it has even the highest abandoned skyscraper in the world In Xataka | For decades we rose to this skyscraper in New York without knowing that the screws that held it did not endure

Jaguar Land Rover was beaten by a cyber attack. The complicated thing came when trying to reactivate its production plants

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In Solihullnear Liverpool and in its plant in Slovakia, it is usual to see how every minute some of the vehicles that mark the top of the British industry leave the line. Today those chains are still, and not due to lack of pieces or demand. A computer attack He has forced To Jaguar Land Rover to stop the production and to review its systems with magnifying glass. The image is not just that of some detained factories, it is that of a sector that discovers how vulnerable it can become. Chronology helps dimension the magnitude of the case. On August 31, Jaguar Land Rover arrested operations in his British factories as a preventive measure, According to Financial Times. Days later, the company reported that the restoration of the systems would require more time than expected, with October 1 as a new horizon. The aforementioned medium, however, points out that the interruption could be extended for several months, leaving the production chains on the air. What do we know about the attack. The first thing that confirmedThe company was that their systems had been compromised and that some data were affected, although it pointed out that there was no evidence of theft of customer information. In parallel, a Telegram channel spread messages attributed to Lapsus $, Shinyhunters and Scatrtred Spider, with screenshots and the statement of having accessed the company’s source code. However, this type of displays should be taken cautiously. Specialists cited by The Wall Street Journal They estimate that each day without production is about seven million dollars in sales not made. The company has chosen to continue paying its workers despite the fact that the plants remain closed, a measure that mitigates work voltage but increases financial pressure. The result is an invoice that grows day by day, even before evaluating the technical damage of the attack. Domino effect. Beyond the factories, the crisis is transmitted to the workshops and suppliers that supply Jaguar Land Rover. Some 100,000 people work in that gear that delivers pieces to the exact rhythm required by the assembly line. Every day without production complicates the treasury of small and medium enterprises, which depend almost exclusively on keeping the connection with the JLR plants open. Safe against cyber attacks. According to Reutersthe company did not close a policy to cover losses and costs derived from a computer attack. It was being intermediate by Lockton, a global insurance broker. This suggests that JLR was without specific coverage when the incident occurred. The British government has been dragged into the crisis. Two ministers held meetings in JLR to analyze how to reactivate production. In parallel, the Executive considers an unusual plan: to acquire pieces of suppliers to support their treasury and place them in the market when production starts again. The sector, however, questions how to decide what to buy and where to store the components, which leaves the proposal in an exploratory phase. Will sales be lost? Despite the break, the company is not completely unfit. The aforementioned American newspaper indicated that their country’s dealers had an inventory equivalent to 113 days of sales, one of the highest levels in the sector. That mattress can absorb part of the commercial impact in the short term. The problem appears if unemployment extends until November, with losses of 3.5 billion pounds in revenues (about 4,009 million euros). Jaguar Land Rover’s crisis is not limited to a manufacturer stopped by a computer attack. It exposes to what extent the modern automotive depends on digital systems that can become invisible until the day they fail. In a sector accustomed to measuring every second of production, a blockade like this not only paralyzes factories and suppliers, it also introduces a new variable in the equation, resilience against threats that no longer arrive from markets or road, but from a system. Images | Loris Marie | Martin Katler In Xataka | China has the largest censorship system in the world. Now he has decided to export it and sell it to other countries

Now we are in the phase of ingesting “30 plants a week”

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For years, the public health message seemed clear: “five a day.” Five rations of fruits and vegetables were enough to take care of the body, although it was not always easy to fulfill it. The Zoe Williams columnist He remembered in his column for The Guardian That, when he took a food newspaper for a magazine, he discovered that in a week he had only eaten a vegetable, thanks to a hidden spinach sheet under a fried egg. Eating five daily rations was already a challenge for those who hated tomatoes or fruit. So when a new rule appeared – not five portions, but 30 plants other than week – the feeling was to be in front of an impossible challenge. 30 weekly plants? The idea is not to eat thirty giant salads. The “30 plan” consists in adding throughout the week 30 different plant foods: fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, herbs and spices. Even coffee, tea or olive oil tell, although just like a quarterfinal, According to BBC. A report at The Conversation They explained that the concept comes from American Gut Projecta massive 2018 study with more than 10,000 participants in the US, United Kingdom and Australia. The researchers observed that those who consumed 30 or more different plants each week had a much more diverse intestinal microbiome than those that barely reached ten. From there came the magical figure. The color palette on your plate. The variety of colors not only makes a dish more attractive: it also fulfills a function in intestinal health. A more varied microbiome is associated with less risk of chronic diseases, better immunity and even a better mood. Dietitian Catherine Rabess has summarized in Women’s Health: “The combination of 30 plants other than week and 30g fiber daily is the golden ticket to revolutionize intestinal health.” In addition, the different colors and types of plants contain polyphenols, antioxidant and anti -inflammatory plant compounds that act as “intestine bodyguards.” Are we facing one more fashion? Scientific evidence supports the benefit of plant diversity. But it is also true that following the classic recommendations – five rations per day, whole grains, less red and out -of -process meat – already improves intestinal health, According to The Conversation. In other words: you don’t have to become obsessed with the 30th figure. Even small and sustainable changes have an impact. The challenge, in addition, is not the same for everyone. Buy 30 different varieties each week can be expensive and demand planning, storage space and time to cook. As have warned in the same medium You can even accentuate inequalities: not all families have resources, space or time to organize such a diverse pantry. That is why it is suggested to resort to canned, frozen or mixtures (such as vegetables or varied berries) to lower and facilitate the task, As pointed out in BBC. Beyond the diet. Despite what promulgates this new way of feeding, the intestine not only depends on what we eat. Sleep well, move daily, practice mindfulness or simply chew more slowly They are habits that also improve digestive health. In addition to avoiding Ultraprocessreduce alcohol and add fermented (kefir, yogurt, kimchi) and natural prebiotics (garlic, artichoke, nuts) still reinforces plus positive effects. A possible challenge. Zoe Williams ironized in his column With that, if today the challenge are 30 plants, tomorrow someone will ask for 60, and we will end up looking for ortigas. However, as dietitians and doctors point out in BBC and Women’s Healthreaching 30 is not so impossible: an oatmeal with cinnamon and nuts, a salad with chickpeas, an integral paste with spinach and basil, a mid -afternoon coffee and an ounce of black chocolate … and the points are already accumulated. The challenge of the 30 weekly plants does not intend to replace the classic guides, but to take a motivating turn: instead of talking about restrictions, talking about adding. Not everyone may achieve 30, but point at 20 or 25 already makes a difference. As The conversation concludes: “The important thing is not perfection, but sustainable changes.” Image | Pexels Xataka | The Spanish cherry had been dreaming of a stage that has just come true: open the doors of China

If the question is what to do with the plants on vacation, more and more people are clear: nurseries for plants

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End of August. Summer is perhaps already in the last ones, but you have a promising first half of September on vacation ahead during which you plan to travel to some sun and beach destination. If you have a dog, cat or even a pogone as a pet there is no doubt what to do with them. In case you can’t leave it to a relative or friend There are hotels They are dedicated to caring for them. But … And the plants? What to do with the ficus of the room or that bonsai that your girlfriend gave you years ago? Do you ask for a neighbor to water him from time to time? Faced with that task, more and more people are clear: nurseries for plants. Wardrobe for plants? Exact. The concept may be shocking, but It is not entirely new. In 2004, the City of Pozuelo de Alarcón already launched a “hospital and nursery” service to help all those neighbors who had problems with their plants. The idea is to advise and offer phytosanitary treatments, but also, remember The Consistory, that the neighbors have a safe place to leave their cactus, ficus, potos and other domestic plants when they go on vacation. On its website, the City Council Clarify In fact, the nursery is open in summer between June 15 and September 15. What are they for? So that when you go on vacation, the care of your plants does not depend on a volunteer neighbor, friend or familiar between time to your home to water and go up and down the blinds. In the nurseries the plants are monitored, they receive care and (if necessary) the staff applies treatments against pests. Philosophy is not very different from that of dog hotels, a type of business that It has spread all over the country. The idea is that when you are not the living beings who are usually in your care do not be disregarded. All. “Plants are living beings, I can’t let them die, I have a responsibility,” I recognized Recently in The country Iván Giacomoni, a neighbor of Madrid who, before leaving his bonsai in a local nursery. “I prefer to take him to a professional rather than ask for favors.” Who use the service? The fan of casuistry is surprisingly broad. They take advantage of plant nurseries people who plan to go on vacation and be out of home for days, but also people who are moving or works and prefer to keep their plants in quiet spaces. There are even those who resort to the service in summer, when the temperature in their homes rises too much, to prevent embarrassment from punishing certain species. Giacomoni is A good example On another reason why people go to nurseries: he usually resorts to service for his Manzano bonsai, a delicate plant and with a high emotional value (it is a gift from his wife) that therefore requires special attention. Entrusting care for a relative or a friend who is not accustomed to that kind of tasks is a concern for the owner and a commitment for those who receive the order. Giacomoni admits that he often collects his bonsai of the nursery much better than he was when he delivered it. What services do they offer? It depends on the nursery. All are basically dedicated to the same thing: caring for plants while their owners cannot do it, but the level of care can vary greatly from one to another. Last year The voice of Galicia interviewed to the person responsible for a Florist of A Coruña with a nursery service that submits to plants an exam to know their status and act accordingly. If necessary, they apply treatments to eliminate pests. In another nursery in the Community of Madrid, they say that, “if necessary”, they even “speak” to plants. “We treat them as if they were family.” Excessive? Before the pandemic in Dubai a garden center decided to go further and offer A summer camp For plants with music and reading sessions. And how much do they cost? Depends. If we talk about the Dubaiti center the first plants can receive at the service without cost, although (At least in 2019) For the following, 7.5 euros must be paid. Here in Spain you can find businesses that take care of plants between 0.5 and € 1.5 a day or between 3 and 7 the week, depending on the establishment and especially the characteristics of the ‘guest’. In the case of the nursery of Galicia, for example, its manager Explain that the specific treatments “are part” and even a home care service is offered for the largest plants. Other nurseries, usually linked to groups and not to private businesses, offer Free services. But … are there so? A quick search on Google confirms that it is not (nor by Asomo) a business as widespread as that of Canine hotels, but it is making its way little by little. TO The initiative From the City of Pozuelo, others have been joining: in the Chamberí area, in Madrid, there is a florist that has decided to launch the service after verifying that many of its customers returned on vacation concerned about the state of their vegetables, and the Circle of Fine Arts also welcomes them Between July and September Without any cost as part of your Climate Refuge Program. Its number of places, yes, is limited. The service is not exclusive to Madrid, or Spain. Can be found in other countries, such as United Arab Emirates, Colombia or United Kingdom. There, in London, a company opened years ago A plant hotel With rooms designed for adapt to its tenants, which includes a spa service with nebulizers. And how are you doing? At least they show that there is a latent need. The web From the Circle of Fine Arts of Madrid it informs that its nursery “is full and there is not even one more pot”, … Read more

In Europe, gas and disused coal plants have unexpected suitors: technology companies

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The climatic commitments that It has acquired Europe They have condemned in the short or medium term the future of gas and coal power plants disseminated by the old continent. Many of them no longer serve, but, surprisingly, the rise of the artificial intelligence (AI) has the ability to save them. This does not mean at all that they will burn gas and coal again; The option on the table is to convert them in data centers. Microsoft and Amazon are, According to Reuterstwo of the large technology companies that are interested in transforming these old power plants into modern data centers equipped to the last one. In fact, its managers are already negotiating with the French energy company Engie, the German RWE and the Italian in the possibility of using their facilities for this purpose. For energy companies this option is very attractive because it allows them to kill two birds. On the one hand, the transformation of their old electric power plants into data centers guarantees them in income with which they did not count so far. And, in addition, the energy companies that I have mentioned in the previous paragraph and some others are negotiating with the technology companies the possibility of give them the supply of electricity that require your data centers. A priori seems like a fissure plan. An agreement in which everyone wins “You have all the necessary pieces, such as water infrastructure and heat recovery.” This Bobby Hollis statementVice President of Energy in Microsoft, repairs something very important: the old gas and coal centrals that are no longer operational have the water supply and the heat management infrastructure that data centers need. Presumably it will not be necessary to undertake a large adaptation to transform these facilities into operational data centers. Agility when putting up these data centers and moderation of costs is what makes them so attractive to large technology On the other hand, Lindsay Mcquade, director of Energy for the EMEA area (Europe, Middle East and Africa) at Amazon, Trust in that the permits that technology companies need to operate these converted data centers are available long before the new facilities. After all, most of Infrastructure are already installed In these buildings from the beginning. In fact, agility when pointing out these data centers and moderation of start -up costs is what makes them so attractive to large technological ones. In Europe and the United Kingdom since 2005 they have closed no less than 190 coal and lignite centralsand another 153 will follow this same path before the year 2038. It is evident that the possibility of reusing all these buildings transforming them into data centers for AI is very attractive. However, there is a challenge that is not yet resolved and that can condition this plan. It is not clear that the electrical infrastructure of some countries is capable of delivering The energy required by these facilities without previously undertaking a large -scale development. In this scenario renewable energies and nuclear will have the last word. Image | Marcin Jozwiak More information | Reuters In Xataka | We have a serious problem with air conditioning: it consumes much more electricity than data centers

The earthquake has revived the fear of a new Fukushima. This time, nuclear power plants are armed to teeth

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The red tsunami alert issued on the coast of Japan after a strong earthquake in Russia has served as a raw reminder of the 2011 disaster. Japanese televisions cut their usual programming to show an unequivocal order in capital letters: “Tsunami! Evacuate!“The message, shouted in unison by the presenters, resonated with those of 14 years ago. But this time, the nuclear power plants were much better prepared. Context. For millions of Japanese, The scene that was lived this Wednesday It was too familiar. The collective memory immediately returned to March 11, 2011, when an earthquake of magnitude 9 unleashed a tsunami that not only charged about 20,000 lives, but caused the worst nuclear accident of the 21st century in the Fukushima central. Yesterday, the workers of the own Fukushima plant They suspended their tasks and evacuated the nuclear power plant towards higher land, knowing that nuclear safety has suffered a radical transformation. The global nuclear industry not only learned Fukushima’s lessons: it made them concrete, steel and new protocols on an unprecedented scale. The turning point. To understand the magnitude of the changes, we must remember what exactly failed in Fukushima-Daiichi. The disaster It was not caused directly by the earthquakebut for the tsunami that followed. Waves of up to 15 meters far exceeded the containment wall of the plant, flooding the emergency diesel generators and cutting all the plant power of the plant. Without capacity to refrigerate reactors, Three of the nuclei merged. The lesson was brutal: the security margins, designed for probable events, were insufficient before an extreme event. Fukushima was a global attention call that unleashed a regulatory and technical revolution. The paradigm shift is summarized in moving from a probabilist approach (designing for what is expected) to a total resilience (being ready for the unexpected). Not only in Japan. Immediately after the accident, regulators around the world launched A thorough review of its facilities, creating international frames to ensure that the lessons learned will be applied everywhere. China and the United States They promoted strategies so that all nuclear power plants can support an indefinite loss of energy. In Europe, all plants passed Stress tests against earthquakes, floods and total loss of security systems, forcing each country to implement a national action plan in case of finding defects. Gravelines, the largest nuclear power plant in France, reinforced his dike and added new gates Mobile Concrete and steel. Japanese centrals have been working like none, investing billions of dollars. They sealed all possible water input routes with stagnant doors, installed high capacity Achique pumps and built higher walls. Onagawa, the central closest to the 2011 epicenter, survived thanks to its 14 -meter wall. After Fukushima’s accident, the Tohoku Electric Power energy company did not walk with little girls and built A new 2 meter high dikealmost like a 10 -story building. Hamooka raised his breakwater 22 meters above sea leveland relocated the emergency diesel generators in a hill at 25 meters high. Tokai-2 raised A slope 1.7 kilometers longprepared to resist a wave of 17.1 meters. The reactors of the future. These lessons have also moved to the new designs of third and fourth generation reactors, including compact modular reactors (SMR), which incorporate them as standard. The AP1000 and its Chinese CAP-1000 derivative They can keep safe for 72 hours without any human intervention or external energy thanks to passive cooling systems that work by gravity and convection. The European EPR-2 includes double containment, a filtered vent system and A “Core-Catcher” Designed to contain the molten nucleus in the hypothetical case of an accident. And the Nuscale or the BWRX-300 of Gen-Hitachi can be installed as underground reactors, which makes them intrinsically immune to tsunamis and other surface disasters. A safer world. Wednesday’s Tsunami alert is a reminder that we are still at the mercy of nature. But also an opportunity to verify that, in the 14 years that have passed since Fukushima, the defenses of nuclear power plants have become a real fortress. The 2011 disaster was not in vain. Image | IAEA In Xataka | People did not take the drills seriously, so Japan found something much more effective: video game drills

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