Ukraine to open the zone of Chernobyl tourists in 2011 (USA TODAY)

Ukraine to open Chernobyl zone tourists 2011By Maria Danilova, Associated PressKIEV Ukraine - want a better understanding of the worst nuclear disaster of the world? Come tour Chernobyl nuclear plant.Beginning next year plans to open sealed around of the visitors who wish to learn more about the tragedy that took place close to a quarter of a century ago, the Department of the said reactor No. 4 of the Monday.Chernobyl emergency Chernobyl reactor area Ukraine exploded on 26 April 1986, releasing radiation on a broad swath of Northern Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people were resettled in areas contaminated by radiation Ukraine benefits, the Belarus and the Russia. Health problems still persist.The so-called zone of exclusion, a highly contaminated area within a radius of 30 miles from the reactor exploded, was evacuated and walled in the aftermath of the explosion. All tours were prohibited.Today, approximately 2,500 employees maintain the remains of the now-closed nuclear power, working in shifts to reduce their exposure to radiation. Disaster hundreds are returned to their villages in the region, despite a ban by the Government. Some companies now offers tours to the restricted area, but the Government says these visits are illegal and their security is not guaranteed.Emergency situations spokesman said Yulia Yershova Department experts develop routes of travel to be medically safe and informative for Ukrainians as well as foreign visitors. It does not give an exact date where visits should begin. "It y to see it if it follows the official track and move away from the group,"Yershova told the Associated Press." "But it's a very sad story."Development of the United Nations Chief Helen Clark visited Chernobyl Baloha on Sunday and said she supported the plan because it would raise funds and tell an important lesson for nuclear safety. "" Personally, I think the opportunity of telling a story here and of course the process of telling a story, even a sad story, is something which is positive in economic and positive terms very important messages "Clark said, according to his department office.The also said Monday he hopes to complete the construction of a new more secure shell for the reactor exploded by 2015. The new shelter will focus on the structure of concrete and iron original hastily constructed on the reactor was leakage radiation, cracking and threat of collapse.The new shell are 345 ft, 853 feet wide and 490 feet long. It weighs 20,000 tonnes and slipped into the former shelter to the track. The new structure will be large enough to accommodate the Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris or the statue of liberty in New York.The cost of a project, financed by international donors, has increased $ 505 million (euro380 million) 1.15 billion due to stricter safety requirements according to the Ukrainian officials.The Bank European reconstruction and development, who manages the project, said a final project cost estimate will be published after the consortium led by French Novarka puts to the point in the next months.Copyright building plan some 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guidelines: you share in the community today to the United States, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally and keep your decent language. Use the "Report abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.

SpaceX launch next Dragon spacecraft - see ISS (universe today)

SpaceX has brought together a long string of success since its inception in 2002. Photo credit: Alan Walters awaltersphoto.com

Successfully launches first and second rocket Falcon 9 and restoration of the spacecraft of the dragon, space exploration technologies (SpaceX) stated its intention to accelerate the pace of the commercial orbital transportation services (COTS) program of private with the NASA space company. Society has been inspecting elements of the spacecraft space dragon which launched in orbit on 8 December, possible changes to the next Dragon - in flight.

The company became the first private in the history of the launch vehicle successfully return safely and orbit then onshore organisation. Society, for some time, works at the stage the pace program available on the market. This program, three first flight of the dragon would be flight demonstration with the flight of the third and final demonstration docking with the international space station (ISS).

SpaceX has encountered delays in both of its Falcon 9 - but next forged in a manner reminiscent of the days of manned space flight eearly launches. Photo credit: Jason Rhian

As they want to combine the requirements of second and third flights - mission in a single SpaceX is, if anything, a young and restless, society on the move. In short, SpaceX hopes to send their next dragon - to the space station itself, cutting a flight demonstration in the process. However, while officials at SpaceX company CEO and CTO Elon Musk attempt to relive the golden age of manned space flight (effort is quite similar to the launch of the Apollo 8 mission accelerated) - NASA seems uncertain to speed up the process. NASA said if everything goes well with the first flight of the dragon would speed up the program.

The next flight of the Dragon spacecraft can take place as early as the middle of next year. Musk, there is little difference between manoeuvres Dragon led into orbit Wednesday passed - and those which would be necessary if the boat to rendezvous with the international space station. On a mission to the orbiting outpost, the dragon must be equipped with solar panels and some equipment aboard the vessel must be upgraded.

To date, NASA only stated assesses the ability to accelerate the program and recognizes that SpaceX has enjoyed success. Those in the community space notes that NASA has a philosophy of showers at the risk and the Agency will probably want to see the company to meet the requirements of the initial contract and fully demonstrate the capabilities of the dragon.

SpaceX has launched the second of its Falcon 9 launch complex 40 Cape Canaveral Air Station rockets on December 8 at 10: 43 a.m. EDT/15: 43 UDT. Photo credit: Alan Walters awaltersphoto.com

Warrior (USA TODAY) Road-tested gift ideas

Road Warriors are perpetual quest for simplicity and lightness in their travel ways.Gadget makers are more happy to oblige, launch new versions of product each year which become lighter weight and easier today asked its Panel of Road Warriors, which millions of miles from operate.USA combined annually in the air and on the road for recommendations on holiday gifts ideal for frequent travellers. Many leaned towards the consolidation of technology products allowing them to pack less object - ranging from embedded cameras GPS computers.Gadgets iPad-compressed like taking the pain of travel are also popular - items such as noise-canceling headphones, thermal neck pillows and defenders of the knee, a gadget pouch helps protect against air passenger knee tilt their seats. "I get on a plane without (my noise cancellation headphones). They have left the guy next to me know "I am not cat," ", explains Pat Makovitch, a medical sales leader of Fredericksburg, recommended less exotic products passenger Va.Some.". Ellen Davis of Peachtree City, GA, rents its small water spray bottle used clothes to spritz. "Spray shake apparel and hang up their in the closet in the night", she says. "No ironing required."As other travellers dependent on technology, Douglas Mapson, a Scout for the San Francisco Giants Baseball goes with a tangled mess cords and Chargers. "I would propose a small, soft-sided dinner to keep them in a single location) box." A good, cheap Don, "he says.Click here for other recommendations Road Warrior for donations to travellers: guidelines: you share in the community today to the United States, please keep your comments smart and civil." Don't attack other readers personally and keep your decent language. Use the "Report abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.

The captain to ask: what is - this sound like an Airgun NASCAR? (USA TODAY)

By John Cox, special for USA TODAY question: is - this sound in the Airbus (you hear) just after the push-back and just after landing? This looks like an Airgun used for take-off tires in NASCAR. I guess it is a sort of pressurizing or hydraulic locking door luggage. -presented by reader jaysku response: is transfer of hydraulic power unit (PTU). This device allows an independent hydraulic system provide energy to another. It activates when a low pressure condition is detected in one of the systems. When an engine is executed, it has a hydraulic system with no pressure pump engine, causing the PTU activate. This is most common at the door when an engine is closed and another continues to run until the power to the ground is provided. It has been described to me as survey as a dog bark, but is also your analogy with a pistol of NASCAR tires. Q: Commercial plans just below of the tail, it resembles an exhaust port. What is this for? -fourtyacres A: it is usually the exhaust for auxiliary power (APU) unit. The APU is a small turbine provides power and air for air conditioning system when normal sources, engines, do not run. In addition, many aircraft engines are started with compressed air supplied by the APU. If an electric generator fails, the APU can provide a backup power source. Q: I have a question about the APU: when and how are they used in the current market conditions? I know that the availability of the power to the ground can sometimes allow the crew to avoid starting the APU, but is still needed for things like starting engines? Recently, I was on a flight and that we've rolled after landing, flight attendants asked us to lower our shades to help preserve the cold of the cabin. This was an attempt to avoid using APU? I know that the least amount of fuel burned, better it will be a business point of view. -drhunterr A: as that gasoline prices went, use of the APU has decreased. Rather than use the APU to provide cooling air and electricity at the door, many airlines now use air conditioning of soil and ground power. The cost of execution of the APU is decreased and fuel is saved, which is obviously better for the company. On many aircraft line engines are started with the help of compressed air to turn the starter. Usually this is done with the APU air, but it can also be a cart air field. Lower grades help keep cold cabin, allowing the air conditioning on the ground to regulate the temperature in the cabin. Readers, please leave your questions for John Cox here and leave only the comments on column this week below. Read previous columnsJohn Cox is a retired with US Airways airline captain and runs his own consulting business, operating safety Systems.Guidelines aviation security: If you share in the community today to the United States, please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally and keep your decent language. Use the "Report abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.

Security Agency urges parents to put babies in aircraft (USA TODAY)

Server temporarily unavailable
"WASHINGTON - The nation's transportation safety watchdogs will try to persuade the public today to voluntarily buckle their infants into child-safety sous flat after failing for decades to get the government to order it.The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which monitors and advises on travel safety, has investigated several accidents in which airliners were buffeted so severely that babies sitting in parents' period were flung through the air, sometimes with tragic consequences.""If we are so careful to strap our children into because sous when we drive to the airport, then why are we not as diligent in securing them in a seat of their own on the aircraft?" NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman says.The agency is having a one - day forum on the importance of child safety restraints in aircraft and motor vehicles.Now, parents can hold their infants in their laps on planes and secure them with their own seatbelts. Goal accident investigators say that it's impossible to hold onto a baby in an accident, which could turn a 20-pound child into the equivalent of a 100-pound missile. "Was it hard holding onto a baby in a plane crash?" "Absolutely," says Jim Whitaker, who volunteered to safeguard the 9-month-old boy whose mother was sitting next to him on the US Airways flight that splashed down onto the Hudson River on Jan. "15, 2009.Tess Sosa, who handed baby Damian to Whitaker, says what she saw during the rough water landing convinced her that child restraints should be required.After decades of public debate between accident investigators and aviation regulators, there's little likelihood that the rules - which allow children age 2 and under to sit in a parent's lap - will change any time soon.The Federal Aviation Administration, the government agency that regulates airlines, agrees that babies should sit in approved because sous or other restraint devices when flying.Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last month in his blog urged parents traveling during the holidays to strap in their babies were planes.But the FAA concluded in 2004 that it wouldn't can't require families to buy an airline seat for babies because the increased cost would shift travel onto more dangerous highways, thereby causing more deaths than it would save.""There has not been a preventable commercial aviation fatality of a child under 2 in 16 years," says FAA Jakarta Alison Duquette.For Hersman and other child-safety advocates, the lack of recent fatalities is little solace.Whitaker successfully held baby onto Damian in the Hudson River crash landing last year. But a passenger aboard a Continental Airlines jet that skidded off a runway in Denver on Dec. 20, 2008, briefly lost her grasp on her child.The unidentified woman told investigators that NTSB comme jet bounced over gullies, her baby "Joseph" out of her arms toward the seat in front of her before she could grab the child out journal air.Patricia Friend, president of the Association of Flight Attendants union says that airlines and the FAA should do more to promote use of safety sous, such as providing training on how to correctly install the seats.Airlines encourages passengers to use the safety sous and have urged the FAA to require the sous, says David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents broad carriers.For more information: faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/crs/Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.

Radisson to end at about 20% of hotels in the revision of image United States (USA TODAY)

Comment 1 by Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY

$ 1.5 Billion revamp the Radisson Hotel at the United States chain involves the case of existing hotels - shooting Radisson Hotels that meet the new standards.

At the end of 2011, Radisson will be ended 12% of the hotels in his system, Thorsten Kirschke, CEO of Carlson Hotels says USA TODAY travel yesterday during a meeting.

Radisson, who has now 430 hotels, plans for next year to remove another 10% of hotels, he said.

Although the company would not identify hotels ended system, Radisson said that the list includes properties in Florida, Missouri and South Carolina.

Kirschke promises do step allow hoteliers to "bear our name" on the properties that either do meet the standards of Radisson quality or, in some cases, are not appropriate fees.

When emblematic Holiday Inn chain began to emerge from its past old, dusty, too, triggered the worst hotels in his system - approximately 1,200 hotels within a period of six years. More recently, the French channel, Sofitel, has also joined with hotels that do not match the image it wants to present ways.

More broadly, Kirschke said that the reorganization of the U.S. will more quickly than expected. For 10 months, hotels have already plowed by approximately one-third of the investment.

In addition, economy improved and Carlson stepped up pressure on the owners of the hotel, most hotels have agreed to spend money on renovation, he said.

Today, 77% of existing Radisson Hotels located in the United States are committed to improving their hotels, compared to only 25% in March.

Carlson Hotels operates approximately 1085 hotels around the world who owned trademarks such as Radisson, superior Radisson Blu and mi-prix Inns and suites. Radisson in competition with chains such as Hilton, Marriott, Westin, Sheraton.

Readers: comments?

Detached 2010 9 December 12 H 52