The Sydney Opera House is a distinctly recognisable shell-like building that has become a symbol of the city, if not the whole country. The shells are constructed from 1,056,000 glazed granite tiles which were imported from Sweden and cover over 1000 rooms, including five different theatres. More on the building, as ever, at Wikipedia.

Thanks: Google Blog

Over at the official Google blog is the announcement of Google Local now using the same image database as Google Earth, as well as gaining two extra zoom levels! Of course that means there’s even more cool places which we can visit via satellite sightseeing and perhaps re-visit some older sights with increased clarity.

If you find anywhere cool then make sure you get the kudos by letting us know via the Suggest a sight form.

Dover Airforce Base is home to the 436th Airlift Wing which flies 28 Lockheed C5 Galaxies, and absolutely monstrous aircraft which can fit a full eight-lane bowling alley in its cargo deck. I can only count 21 22, including the tail-fins sticking out of the hangers, so the other six must be out somewhere carrying very heavy things.

Thanks: Scott Quillen & Jonathan Hoppe

The last Nuclear Power Megapost proved successful so here is another! I’ve been collating all the nuclear power themed entries since then and here are the most interesting of them.

Shoreham Nuclear Power Station

This is a plant that was never completed due to community opposition. In the aftermath of the Three Mile Island accident residents were increasingly worried about proximity to nuclear power stations. Shoreham was never finished because residents argued that if anything did go wrong, the population of Long Island couldn’t be evacuated with only one direction to go (west) and only one major road to take (the Long Island Expressway).

Thanks Chris & Thomas Paul

Sequoyah Nuclear Plant

I know you’ve already done a “Nuclear Power Megapost,” but I just ran across this, and think it’s cool that you can almost see directly down the cooling towers. BTW, it’s TVA’s Sequoyah Nuclear Plant.

Thanks Jay K

Chinon Nuclear Power Plant

This is the nuclear power plant of Chinon, a french town best known for its Cabernet Franc wine, with four very pretty cooling towers churning out steam.

Thanks Julien

Weldon Springs

The Nuclear Waste Adventure Trail and Museum at Weldon Spring, Missouri is where the government opened the Weldon Spring site to the public in 2002. The huge waste tomb spans 45 acres and is seven stories tall.

Thanks Bill

Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant

This is Bohunice nuclear power plant in Slovakia. A proper old-skool soviet era reactor. In February 22, 1977, the reactor suffered a major accident during refueling. Because of its age and old design the plant is currently undergoing a decommissioning process.

Thanks FeroG

Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant

This is the Iranian nuclear power plant under construction near the city of Bushehr. These two plants are one of the reasons that Iran and the west don’t get along. In 1995, Russia signed a contract to supply a light water reactor for the plant. Although the agreement calls for the spent fuel rods to be sent back to Russia for reprocessing, the US has expressed concern that Iran would reprocess the rods itself, in order to obtain plutonium for atomic bombs.

Thanks Paul, Bunsen, Pejvak DehDari & Bubba

Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power Plant

This reactor is named after the first physicist to create a nuclear reactor and is located between Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio. On October 5, 1966 a 94MWe prototype fast breeder reactor called Fermi-1 suffered a partial nuclear meltdown here. Thankfully no radiation was released off-site, and no one was injured.

Thanks David & Joe

I’m sure there are still plenty more interesting nuclear power sites so keep them coming!

According to Mormons, the Garden of Eden was originally located near Temple Lot, a small piece of land which is now shared by three different sects of the religon. The largest of the three sects, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has a small presence; theirs is the white box building on the SE corner. The Church of Christ Temple Lot’s presence is even smaller; theirs is the yellow-roofed building in the NW corner.

The other two structures which dominate this area, a Copper-roofed Auditorium on the SW corner and a spiral church on the NE corner, are both owned by the second largest, but obviously better funded sect, the Community of Christ. The Temple spire is inspired by a nautilus shell which spirals upwards (good ground shots on the architect’s website) and there is a map of the world painted on the courtyard to the West.

Thanks: Kaley, Charles Eck, Scott McClare, Rob Ellis