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Last March, a powerful earthquake shook the Fukushima province of Japan and sparked a tsunami that caused three of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to shut down. Many followed the aftermath as these reactors experienced meltdowns and radiation was sent into the atmosphere, making it the second worst nuclear disaster after Chernobyl. In the months that followed, I wondered what happened to all that radiation: Is it was safe to visit the area? Is radiation making its way towards the U.S.?

Recently, I completed an assignment for another publication on Fukushima and got to learn more about the aftermath.

The meltdowns sent radioactive forms of iodine and cesium into the air and nearby water. Radioactive iodine is generally absorbed through food and has a half-life of a week. Half-life is the amount of time it takes for a material to decrease by half. The worry was that nearby grass was contaminated; meaning the milk produced by local cows contained the radioactive form of this element. From what I learned, authorities quickly stopped the production of milk in the province to ensure little exposure to iodine.

What's left now is the cancer causing radioactive cesium, which has a half-life of 30 years. Through air and water cesium will slowly spread to other countries and eventually globally, exposing many. But it will get so diluted in the process, that the scientists I spoke to believe that on an individual level, the chances of having cesium induced illnesses will be low.

What could be done as far as cleanup? Well, in addition to removing contaminated topsoil in the province and making sure similar disasters don't happen, not much. But authorities do need to closely monitor food and water supply to make sure what we ingest isn't contaminated.

The absence of debate about energy policy in the Republican primaries, a Quadrennial Technology Review that sparked little conversation, and the ongoing Solyndra drama may give some the impression that the U.S. has gotten out of the solar power game. In fact, U.S. companies and the U.S. government are in the midst of building a number of large-scale solar projects, it’s just that they’re building all of them outside of the United States.

In Namibia, a group of U.S. energy investment companies have begun building the largest solar plant in the Southern Hemisphere. The plant will cost between $1.5 and $2 billion to construct, take two years to finish, and turn out 500 megawatts of power.

Meanwhile, in Thailand, OPIC, the U.S. government’s foreign investment arm, recently approved $250 million for 51 solar plants in Thailand. Ranging in size from one megawatt to 50 megawatts, these plants would generate a total of 520 megawatts.

Also near the Equator, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency has put out a call for vendors to build a 20 megawatt hybrid wind/solar park in Columbia. While not nearly as large as the Namibia plant or as comprehensive as the Thailand plan, the Columbian park would almost double the renewable energy in the country, which currently only reaps 28 megawatts of power from non-hydropower renewable sources.

The message is clear: The U.S. government has fully and monetarily supports the expansion of solar power, just so long as that expansion occurs outside America’s borders.

With rebel forces routing out the final remnants of Qaddafi's regime, it appears as though the Libyan civil war has reached its end game. To avoid the violent chaos or return to autocracy that follows so many revolutions, Middle East professor Juan Cole has advocated that the new Free Libyan government turn to solar power. Cole argues that building up an alternative energy sector could put Libyans to work, utilize currently unprofitable stretches of Libya's vast desert, and help wean the country off of an undiversified petroleum economy.

Not only would this help Libya, but it could prove a useful model for Egypt and Tunisia, who also need increased employment and revenue to prevent their revolutions from devolving into chaos. For their part, European countries like Germany have both begun to shy away from nuclear power and faced problems with the importation of Russian oil and natural gas, making solar energy from across the Mediterranean a more attractive solution than ever before.

It's not the first time someone has proposed this. Before this year's tumult, the Libyan government had already unveiled plans for a $3 billion energy hub that would route solar power to Europe. Egypt has a similar program brewing 56 miles south of Cairo in Kuraymat.

If there's one thing Arab countries have in common, it's a lot of sun, and a lot of desert otherwise sitting around uselessly. By developing a solar power industry, the countries of the Arab Spring could help diversify their income, stabilize their political situations, generate revenue, work to reduce climate change, help Europe move to green energy, and put their newly free people to work. That's a lot of birds to kill with only one stone.

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Earlier this year, Germany announced that it would phase out nuclear power by 2020 in favor of renewable sources of energy. The announcement came at the right time; less than two months after the world had watched the failure of Japan's Fukushima plants. While the news of the Germany's vow to end nuclear power excited some, many wondered, what becomes of the spent plants? Here's one creative solution: turn it into an amusement park!

Germany's Wunderland Kalkar is one such project. Originally built in 1972, the plant was designed to output 327 megawatts of energy. However, safety concerns and accidents, such as the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, delayed and eventually ended operations. In 1991, the complex—whose area is about 80 soccer fields--was officially closed and remained unused until an investor purchased it and set up an amusement park.

Wunderland Kalkar's grounds offer 40 attractions that include a Ferris wheel and roller coaster. Making use of existing structure, a swing ride is mounted inside a cooling tower and a climbing wall is set up on the outside of the tower, giving the park's thousands of visitors each year a unique experience.

If Wunderland Kalkar is an indication, maybe there will be 17 nuclear-turned-amusement parks by 2020? Probably not, but it's a nice idea.