title: Joko Widodo

text: He was criticised by PDI-P over perceived policy weaknesses, and PDI-P legislator Effendi Simbolon called for his impeachment. On 9 April 2015, during a PDI-P Congress, party leader Megawati Sukarnoputri referred to Jokowi as a functionary. She noted that presidential candidates are nominated by political parties, hinting that Jokowi owed his position to the party and should carry out its policy line. Several months prior, Megawati and Jokowi had disputed over the appointment of a new police chief, with Megawati supporting her former adjutant Budi Gunawan while Jokowi supported Badrodin Haiti.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Following his re-election, Jokowi announced his second cabinet on 23 October 2019. He retained several ministers such as Sri Mulyani and Luhut but also included Gojek founder Nadiem Makarim and two-time presidential rival Prabowo Subianto as education and defence ministers, respectively.


title: Joko Widodo

text: In the first year of his second presidential term, his approval rating fell to 45.2%, and the disapproval rating was 52%. His deputy, Ma'ruf Amin, had a 67% disapproval rating. The low ratings were attributed to unpopular policies.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Before taking office, Jokowi sought for outgoing president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) to take responsibility for the decision to further increase fuel prices by further removing subsidies. Previous attempts by SBY to do so had resulted in civil unrest. On 1 January 2015, Jokowi took measures that, on the surface, appeared to reduce fuel subsidies. The policy stirred up some demonstrations, with Jokowi citing it as necessary to increase funding for the infrastructure, education and health sectors. However, since March 2015, the government has set the price of Premium-branded gasoline far below the market price, causing the fuel subsidy to be incurred by state-owned oil company Pertamina instead of the direct government account. Additionally, the government also implemented a single-price program, aiming to sell fuel through official channels at the same price nationally, including in isolated parts of Kalimantan and Papua. The government claimed that this was achieved in 2017.


title: Joko Widodo

text: In the first quarter of 2015, year-on-year GDP grew 4.92%, and in the second quarter, it grew 4.6%, the lowest figure since 2009. Since then, growth has remained above the 5% mark, which is still below what is considered a healthy economic growth mark of 6%. The Indonesian rupiah (IDR) has also weakened throughout Jokowi's administration, with its exchange rate per US dollar briefly passing IDR 15,000 in 2018, the lowest level since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and sank lower to 16,700 in 2020. The year-on-year inflation in June 2015 was 7.26%, higher than in May (7.15%) and June the year before (6.7%).


title: Joko Widodo

text: Jokowi's administration continued the resource nationalism policy of its predecessor, nationalising some assets controlled by multinational companies such as Freeport McMoRan, TotalEnergies and Chevron. In 2018, in a move aimed to cut imports, oil companies operating in Indonesia were ordered to sell their crude oil to state-owned Pertamina. A ban was also enforced on the exports of raw nickel ore, intended to help promote the development of local nickel-related industries such as smelters and battery factories. The policy was further extended, with export bans of unprocessed copper, tin, bauxite and gold ores expected to come into force in mid 2023.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Infrastructure development has been a significant feature of the Jokowi administration, focusing on road and railway expansion, seaports and airports development, and irrigation. In 2016, the state budget allocated Rp 290 trillion (US$22 billion) for infrastructure, the biggest in Indonesian history. In total, his administration planned 265 infrastructure projects starting in 2016. In September 2015, Indonesia awarded a $5.5 billion high-speed rail project to China, to Japan's disappointment, which is also vying for the project. Indonesia's transportation ministry laid out a litany of shortcomings in plans for the project, casting doubt on the project and spotlighting Jokowi's limits in turning mega-projects into reality as he tries to draw foreign investors. Other significant projects include the completion of the 4,325-kilometer Trans Papua road and the Trans-Java Toll Road, initial construction of the Trans-Sulawesi Railway and the Trans-Sumatra Toll Road, a US$50 billion plan to develop the maritime sector including 24 "strategic ports", and expansion of airport capacity in remote areas. The ports' development and modernisation program, dubbed the "Sea Toll Road" program, was aimed to reduce price inequality between the better developed western parts of the country and the less populated eastern parts.


title: Joko Widodo

text: In addition to the major projects, the Jokowi administration also implemented a village fund program in which villages across the country received funding to allocate on basic infrastructures such as roads and water supply, tourism development and village enterprises to improve rural economies. The initial campaign promise was that IDR 1.4 billion (around US$100,000) would be allocated for every village annually, though as of 2019, less than a billion was allocated. Between 2015 and 2018, IDR 187 trillion (US$14 billion) had been reallocated through the program. The administration has targeted to streamline land certification across the country, aiming to distribute certificates of land ownership across the country completely. It involved increasing the issuing rate of certificates from around 500,000 to several million annually. In 2016, the administration signed into law a tax amnesty bill following a lengthy public debate and push back, giving wealthy Indonesians a chance to declare their unreported assets before the government would strengthen rules and oversight around imports and exports. It became the most successful program of its kind in history, with over IDR 4,865 trillion (approximately US$366 billion) of previously unreported assets declared to the tax office.


title: Joko Widodo

text: The opposition criticised the aggressive spending on infrastructure as it increased Indonesia's national debt by 48% between 2014 and March 2018 to US$181 billion. They also pointed out that most of the debt was allocated for remunerations rather than infrastructure development. In April 2018, Jokowi also issued a new policy that allows foreign workers in Indonesia without Indonesian language skills requirement, reasoning that it would increase investments. The policy faced significant opposition from local labour unions, who claimed that the policy would increase unemployment rates.


title: Joko Widodo

text: In 2020, the DPR passed the Omnibus Law on Job Creation. Though intended to boost investment and reduce red tape, it is also perceived as weakening labour and environmental protections, causing a series of protests in major cities. Jokowi defended the law by saying that it would be needed to create jobs and called for protesters to lodge a challenge instead to the Constitutional Court of Indonesia. The law, which revised over 70 previous laws and contained some 1,200 clauses, had been put forward by Jokowi following his 2019 re-election. Several groups had criticised the opaqueness of the government during the deliberation of the law. In the same year, Indonesia hit the lowest inflation level in history and faced the first economic recession since the 1997 Asian Financial crisis.


title: Joko Widodo

text: In November 2021, Jokowi promised to end and reverse deforestation in Indonesia by 2030, in the COP26 climate summit's first major agreement.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Early in his first term, the opposition coalition within the DPR attempted to revoke a regulation ("Perppu", Government Regulation in Lieu of Acts) issued by Jokowi's predecessor, which had guaranteed the holding of direct regional elections in Indonesia (and overrode a legislator-issued bill which arranged for indirect elections). Jokowi supported the direct regional elections and opposed attempts to revoke the regulation, stating that "direct regional elections was, in principle, non-negotiable". Within the first three years of his administration, Jokowi issued four such "Perppu".


title: Joko Widodo

text: Jokowi's government, including parties which opposed him during presidential elections, have been described as a big tent government, and by former Singaporean foreign minister George Yeo as "democracy with Javanese characteristics".


title: Joko Widodo

text: Judicial executions in Indonesia are carried out under a presidential decree following a death sentence imposed by a trial court. Jokowi in 2015 said he would not grant clemency for drug offenders sentenced to death, arguing Indonesia was in a state of emergency over drug-related crimes, citing statistics the "Jakarta Globe" reported to be faulty. His stance drew criticism as it could harm relations with the native countries of the condemned convicts, and also imperil Indonesians facing the death penalty abroad. Australia, Brazil and the Netherlands recalled their ambassadors from Indonesia following multiple executions in 2015. Australia reduced its foreign aid to Indonesia by nearly half, and Amnesty International issued a condemnation saying they showed a "complete disregard for due process and human rights safeguards". Former Indonesian Constitutional Court chief justice Jimly Asshiddiqie, who was a key player in the anti-death penalty lobby in Jakarta, said the push for the execution of Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan had come from Jokowi personally. "The Sydney Morning Herald" reported that Jokowi did not have or read related documents when he refused their clemency requests. In the same year, Jokowi granted Frenchman Serge Atlaoui and Filipino Mary Jane Veloso temporary reprieves due to pending legal appeals. As of 2017, around 260 people remain on death row in Indonesia.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Regarding terrorism, Jokowi's administration in early 2016 proposed replacing the 2003 anti-terrorism law. Following the 2018 Surabaya bombings, the worst terrorist attack on Indonesian soil since the 2002 Bali bombings, the controversial bill passed, allowing the Indonesian National Armed Forces to participate in counter-terrorism activities upon police request and presidential approval. It also allowed extended detention of terror suspects and permitted wiretapping without initial court approval. Jokowi had threatened to issue a presidential regulation in lieu of law ("perppu") if the bill did not pass the parliament by June that year.


title: Joko Widodo

text: During Jokowi's administration, there have been numerous instances where people were arrested or reported to police for activities deemed insulting to the president. Rights activists deem such arrests as a violation of the Constitution's guarantee of freedom of speech. A group claiming to be Jokowi's supporters reported "Tempo" magazine to police over a caricature of Jokowi as Pinocchio, after which the Presidential Palace issued a statement saying "the President respected freedom of press and speech". A book about Jokowi titled "Jokowi Undercover" was banned upon release and its author sentenced to three years in prison and buyers of the book being advised to surrender their copies to the authorities. "Tempo" magazine described the 436-page book as "trashy and tasteless, a compilation of hoax reports on President Joko Widodo, scattered across the internet and cyber chatrooms". The government's plans to resurrect a Dutch colonial law that would permit imprisonment for insulting the president resulted in widespread protests. A Law Firm and Public Interest Law Office (AMAR) institution later reported following the protests that they received many complaints of students regarding threats and sanctions of expulsion or suspension from their schools and universities. In addition, a remission granted to a journalist's murderer was revoked following media criticism.


title: Joko Widodo

text: In response to major protests, Jokowi's administration has generated some controversies. On 22 May 2019, amid post-election riots by supporters of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, the government limited the speed at which photos and videos could be shared on social media to stop people from being incited by fake news and calls for violence. In the aftermath, Amnesty International's Indonesian office denounced repressive measures against the demonstrators, condemned them as a grave human rights abuse and demanded the government investigate the extrajudicial executions in the clashes. In August and September 2019, the government blocked internet access in Papua and West Papua provinces amid violent protests against racism. Jakarta State Administrative Court in 2020 ruled the internet blocks in Papua illegal.


title: Joko Widodo

text: In 2017, Jokowi supported a controversial bill on mass organisations, which upon passing resulted in the disbandment of the Indonesian branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir. He argued the law was necessary to defend the national ideology, Pancasila. The 2020 banning of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) was also based on that law. Twenty-three days' earlier, police had shot dead six FPI members during a confrontation. The president's subsequent defence of the police during their duty and his statement that no citizens should break the law or harm the country was criticised by FPI secretary-general Munarman as a justification of human rights abuse and structural violence. A police chief involved in the car chase and subsequent murder claimed that the members were armed. After the passing of several controversial bills and repressive crackdowns from security officers on major protests since 2019, his presidency has been criticised for "Neo-Authoritarianism". The "South China Morning Post" even named him a 'Little Suharto'


title: Joko Widodo

text: A premium price hike of public health care BPJS Kesehatan through Executive Order ("Perpres") 64/2020 was criticised as a flagrant breach of permanent Supreme Court ("Mahkamah Agung") decision that nullified the Perpres 82/2018 about the price hike. The "Perpres" 64/2020 itself was signed amid the COVID-19 pandemic that had caused hardship among the population. His former deputy mayor of Surakarta, F. X. Hadi Rudyatmo, also voiced similar concerns.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Jokowi's presidency coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66 in 2015. A government-supported symposium to resolve human rights violations surrounding the event was held in 2016, but Jokowi said his government would not apologise to the victims of the mass purge. On LGBT rights, Jokowi stated that "there should be no discrimination against anyone", but added that "in terms of our beliefs, [the LGBT lifestyle] isn't allowed, Islam does not allow it." Under his presidency, the controversial transmigration program was cut once more, when in 2015, it was decided to end the migration program to the Papuan provinces.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Following the July 2022 killing of Brigadier Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, an Indonesian police officer, there were allegations of police involvement in a cover-up. Police chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo took over the investigation, forming a special team including members of the Human Rights Commission and Police Commissions. Jokowi was keen for the force to be open about what happens: "Open it as it is. No cover-up. Transparent. That’s it. This is important so that the people don’t have doubts over the incident that occurred. This is what has to be maintained. Public trust in the police must be maintained." In August 2022, Hutabarat's former boss, Inspector General Ferdy Sambo, head of internal affairs of the Indonesian National Police, along with three others, was charged with Hutabarat's murder.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Before Jokowi's election, Indonesia's foreign policy under former president SBY was moulded by the mission statement, "A thousand friends and zero enemies". Jokowi has mandated a three-pronged policy of maintaining Indonesia's sovereignty, enhancing the protection of Indonesian citizens, and intensifying economic diplomacy.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Jokowi aspires Indonesia to become a global maritime power ( or global maritime axis). He sees the sea as having an increasingly important role in Indonesia's future and that as a maritime country, Indonesia must assert itself as a force between the two oceans: the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The five pillars of this maritime-axis doctrine are rebuilding Indonesia's maritime culture, maintaining and managing marine resources, developing maritime infrastructure and connectivity as well as developing the shipping industry and maritime tourism, inviting other nations to cooperate in the marine field and eliminate the source of conflicts at sea, and developing maritime defence forces. As part of this vision, Jokowi has adopted a tougher stance on illegal fishing. He stated that Jakarta could no longer tolerate a situation where over 5,000 ships are operating illegally in its waters every day, making a mockery out of Indonesian sovereignty and resulting in annual losses of over $20 billion.


title: Joko Widodo

text: On the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, particularly in the Natuna Islands where China's nine-dash line intercepts Indonesian EEZ claims, Jokowi stated that "there will be no compromise on sovereignty", and renamed Indonesia's section of the waters in the South China Sea as "North Natuna Sea". In June 2016, he held a cabinet meeting off the islands aboard the Indonesian Navy corvette KRI "Imam Bonjol", calling to step up maritime patrols in the area. Under his administration, Indonesia has released an "Indo-Pacific Vision" for ASEAN countries, which calls for regional architecture and considers the Indian and Pacific Oceans as a single interconnected geostrategic area. Indonesia also entered a trilateral cooperation agreement with Malaysia and the Philippines, allowing coordinated patrols in the pirate-infested Sulu Sea.


title: Joko Widodo

text: In the Muslim world, Jokowi released a statement calling for the Muslim leaders at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit meeting in Jakarta to unite in reconciliation and push for Palestinian independence. Under Jokowi, Indonesia's Foreign Minister has visited Palestine but refused entreaties to establish bilateral diplomatic relations with Israel. An honorary consul was established in Ramallah in the West Bank though it had to be inaugurated in Amman, Jordan. Jokowi also condemned the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and oversaw the departure of four Indonesian Air Force transport planes with 34 tons of relief supplies for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. In October 2021, Jokowi advocated COVID-19 vaccine equity, urging richer countries to share their vaccines with poorer ones.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Responding to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Widodo visited both countries in July 2022, meeting with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, emphasizing in statements the need for peace and for the restoration of global food supply chains. As Indonesia hosted the 2022 G20 Summit that year, Widodo also invited Zelenskyy to attend, while resisting calls to revoke Russia's invitation to the summit.


title: Joko Widodo

text: By April 2019, it was made public that Jokowi had decided in a meeting with cabinet ministers to move the capital of Indonesia away from Jakarta to a location outside Java. On 25 August 2019, it was further announced that the new capital would be located in Kalimantan, between the regencies of North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara.


title: Joko Widodo

text: The Jokowi Effect () is a term coined to describe the influence of media popularity of Jokowi on Indonesian politics and the Indonesian economy. When Jokowi was declared as a presidential candidate in the 2014 Indonesian presidential election it is believed that the popularity of the Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle was boosted to 30% in the 2014 Indonesian legislative election. Meanwhile, in the capital market, the effect is said to have stimulated the Indonesian stock market and Rupiah, because Jokowi was regarded as having a clean track record.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Jokowi married his wife Iriana in 1986. The couple has two sons and one daughter. Their first son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka (born 1 October 1987), studied abroad in Sydney and Singapore (at the Management Development Institute of Singapore, MDIS) and currently runs a catering and wedding-planning business in Surakarta. Their only daughter, Kahiyang Ayu (born 20 April 1991), completed an undergraduate degree in food technology at the state-owned Sebelas Maret University in Surakarta. Their second son, Kaesang Pangarep (born 25 December 1994), completed his high school years in ACS International, Singapore, and is an online vlogger. Jokowi has five grandchildren: a grandson and a granddaughter from Gibran (born in 2016 and 2019 respectively) and a granddaughter and two grandsons from Kahiyang (born in 2018, 2020 and 2022 respectively).


title: Joko Widodo

text: Several members of Jokowi's family have declared their intentions to enter politics by running as candidates in 2020 local elections. Gibran has declared his candidacy for the mayorship of Surakarta, in addition to his son-in-law Bobby Nasution (Medan) and brother-in-law Wahyu Purwanto (Gunung Kidul Regency). Gibran and Bobby won their elections, and both took office in 2021.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Jokowi has been described as "Muslim but broadly secular in his outlook". His statement in 2019 that religion and politics should be separated prompted a public debate on whether he was promoting secularism in the country. In June 2013, a film titled "Jokowi", depicting Jokowi's childhood and youth, was released. He expressed some objections to the film, saying that he felt his life had been a simple one and was not worthy of being adapted into a film.


title: Joko Widodo

text: According to "The Economist", Jokowi "has a penchant for loud rock music" and owned a bass guitar signed by Robert Trujillo of heavy metal band Metallica which was confiscated by the KPK. In November 2017, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who was on an official visit to Jakarta, gave Jokowi a Metallica "Master of Puppets" vinyl box set as a diplomatic gift. It was signed by the band's drummer and co-founder, Lars Ulrich, a Danish native. Under his policy of transparency, Jokowi paid IDR 11 million ($800) out of his personal funds to claim the record, which had been declared a state asset to avoid accusations of gratification.


title: Joko Widodo

text: He has also been noted by many to be very similar in appearance to former US president Barack Obama; his outsider political profile also inspired comparisons to Obama.


title: Joko Widodo

text: Jokowi is a silat practitioner. He had been practicing Setia Hati Terate style from Persaudaraan Setia Hati Terate school since his time at junior high school and eventually mastering it. He attained first degree "pendekar warga" rank of the silat school on 16 November 2013.


title: Joko Widodo

text: 2012: Ranked 3rd at the 2012 World Mayor Prize for "transforming a crime-ridden city into a regional centre for art and culture and an attractive city to tourists".


title: Joko Widodo

text: 2013: Listed as one of "The Leading Global Thinkers of 2013" in "Foreign Policy" magazine. In February 2013, he was nominated as the global mayor of the month by the City Mayors Foundation, based in London.


title: Joko Widodo

text: 2016–2017: List by "The Muslim 500" as one of the most influential Muslims in the world, which ranked 11 in 2016 and 13 in 2017.


title: Joko Widodo

text: 2020: Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan renamed a street in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates after him.


title: Leslie Jordan

text: Leslie Allen Jordan (April 29, 1955 – October 24, 2022) was an American actor, comedian, writer, and singer. His television roles include Beverley Leslie on "Will & Grace" (2001–2006 and 2017–2020), several characters on television in the "American Horror Story" franchise (2013–2019), Sid on "The Cool Kids" (2018–2019), Phil on "Call Me Kat" (2021–2022), and Lonnie Garr on "Hearts Afire" (1993–1995). On stage, he played Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram in the 1996 play "Sordid Lives", later portraying the character in the 2000 film of the same name. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jordan became an Instagram contributor, amassing 5.8 million followers in 2020, and published his autobiography "How Y'all Doing? Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived" in April 2021.


title: Leslie Jordan

text: Jordan was born on April 29, 1955, and was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He graduated from Brainerd High School. Jordan said his mother, Peggy Ann Jordan (née Griffin; 1935–2022), was supportive and accepting, despite never truly understanding him. Jordan's father, Allen Bernard Jordan, was a major in the United States Army Reserve and died, along with two others, in the crash of a civilian Beechcraft Debonair airplane at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, on March 31, 1967, when Jordan was almost 12 years old. In a 2014 interview, Jordan said that he had a difficult time growing up Southern Baptist. "I was baptized 14 times. Every time the preacher would say, 'Come forward, sinners!' I'd say, 'Oooh, I was out in the woods with that boy. I better go forward.'"


title: Leslie Jordan

text: Jordan moved to Los Angeles in 1982, where he became involved with drugs and alcohol and was arrested several times. He began to journal daily, which helped him recover from drug and alcohol abuse. In 2010, Jordan told talk show host Wendy Williams that he had been sober for 13 years. In the same appearance, Jordan said that before he gave up drinking, he once shared a cell with Robert Downey Jr., and when they both appeared later on "Ally McBeal", Downey couldn't quite place where they had met before.


title: Leslie Jordan

text: He was openly gay. Early in the AIDS crisis, Jordan became involved in AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) as a buddy and as a food delivery-person for Project Angel Food.


title: Leslie Jordan

text: Jordan began his career in 1986, appearing as Malone in the adventure series "The Fall Guy". He quickly became recognizable in the industry for his diminutive size and Southern drawl. He appeared as newspaper editor Mr. Blackly in the movie "The Help". His television career includes guest appearances on "Murphy Brown", "Will & Grace", "", "", "Caroline in the City", "Pee-Wee's Playhouse", "Reba", "Boston Public", "Boston Legal", "Nash Bridges", "American Horror Story", and "Hearts Afire". In 1990, Jordan portrayed the ski patrol director in "Ski Patrol". In 2007, he guest-starred on the comedy drama "Ugly Betty" as celebrity-trasher Quincy Combs, and starred as Jesse Joe in the short-lived CW television program "Hidden Palms".


title: Leslie Jordan

text: On the television series "Will & Grace," Jordan played Beverley Leslie, Karen's pretentious, sexually ambiguous rival, for which he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series at the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 2006. His Emmy Award earned him an invitation to present the awards for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series at the 2006 Emmy Awards with Cloris Leachman a week later. Jordan starred in the pilot episode of "Laugh Out", the world's first interactive, gay-themed comedy show. On August 18, 2014, Jordan became a housemate in the fourteenth season of the British reality game show "Celebrity Big Brother". He was the second person to leave the Big Brother house (August 29, 2014). In January 2015, Jordan guest-starred in the British sitcom "Benidorm" for two episodes, as the character Buck A. Roo. On November 1, 2017, Jordan appeared in the new British television drama "Living the Dream", produced jointly by Sky and Big Talk Productions, but branded as a Sky Original Production. In 2018–2019, Jordan starred in the Fox sitcom "The Cool Kids", along with Martin Mull, Vicki Lawrence, and David Alan Grier.


title: Leslie Jordan

text: On April 2, 2020, it was announced Jordan would play the series regular role of Phil in the Fox sitcom "Call Me Kat", along with Mayim Bialik, Swoosie Kurtz, Kyla Pratt, and Cheyenne Jackson. The show premiered in January 2021. The same year, Jordan was a guest panelist on season six of "The Masked Singer" during Week 5 where he also did a performance of "This Little Light of Mine" as "Soft Serve". He later returned as a guest panelist in season seven and season 8. A posthumously-airing holiday episode of "Lego Masters" being one of his final works before his death.


title: Leslie Jordan

text: Jordan played Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram in "Sordid Lives", and also portrayed this character in the popular cult film of the same name. Jordan reprised the role in a of the movie, which aired on Logo, where he played a character who is institutionalized in a mental hospital. He wrote and starred in the autobiographical play "Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel", which was also made into a motion picture. In 2004, he toured the country performing his one-man stage comedy, "Like a Dog on Linoleum", to generally favorable reviews.


title: Leslie Jordan

text: Jordan's first autobiographical stage show was called "Hysterical Blindness and Other Southern Tragedies That Have Plagued My Life Thus Far", with music and lyrics by Joe Patrick Ward. The production, in which Jordan was backed by a gospel choir singing satirical songs about racism and homophobia, was produced off-Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse and ran for seven months. Next, he distilled his experiences growing up as an effeminate, tiny boy in the South and in show business into an autobiographical one-man show, "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet". During the opening of "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet", Jordan's microphone stopped working, but he kept on with the show like nothing happened; the show was a success. After touring the nation for several months with the production, the show opened off-Broadway at the Midtown Theater on April 19, 2010. The show was produced by Jordan's friend, actress Lily Tomlin. Jordan announced on "The Paul O'Grady Show" that he would be bringing his show to London's Apollo Theatre.


title: Leslie Jordan

text: At the time of his death, Jordan had accumulated 5.8 million Instagram followers. His following grew substantially in response to his comedy posts during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Leslie Jordan

text: On October 24, 2022, at approximately 9:30 am PDT, while driving en route to film scenes at the "Call Me Kat" set, Jordan's car hit the side of a building at Cahuenga Boulevard and Romaine Street in Hollywood. He was believed to have experienced a medical episode that led to the crash. Jordan was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 67 years old.


title: Leslie Jordan

text: In 2021, Jordan received GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics' Timeless Star award, the group's career achievement honor given to "an actor or performer whose exemplary career is marked by character, wisdom and wit." Jordan accepted the award, previously bestowed on Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep, John Waters, Harvey Fierstein, Lily Tomlin, Dame Angela Lansbury, and Sir Ian McKellen, in the Society's Dorian Awards 'Toast' TV


title: Leslie Jordan

text: He also won an Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy Award in 2006 for his part as Beverley Leslie in "Will & Grace".


title: Measles

text: Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, runny nose, and inflamed eyes. Small white spots known as Koplik's spots may form inside the mouth two or three days after the start of symptoms. A red, flat rash which usually starts on the face and then spreads to the rest of the body typically begins three to five days after the start of symptoms. Common complications include diarrhea (in 8% of cases), middle ear infection (7%), and pneumonia (6%). These occur in part due to measles-induced immunosuppression. Less commonly seizures, blindness, or inflammation of the brain may occur. Other names include "morbilli", "rubeola", "red measles", and "English measles". Both rubella, also known as "German measles", and roseola are different diseases caused by unrelated viruses.


title: Measles

text: Measles is an airborne disease which spreads easily from one person to the next through the coughs and sneezes of infected people. It may also be spread through direct contact with mouth or nasal secretions. It is extremely contagious: nine out of ten people who are not immune and share living space with an infected person will be infected. Furthermore, measles's reproductive number estimates vary beyond the frequently cited range of 12 to 18. The NIH quote this 2017 paper saying: "[a] review in 2017 identified feasible measles R values of 3.7–203.3". People are infectious to others from four days before to four days after the start of the rash. While often regarded as a childhood illness, it can affect people of any age. Most people do not get the disease more than once. Testing for the measles virus in suspected cases is important for public health efforts. Measles is not known to occur in other animals.


title: Measles

text: Once a person has become infected, no specific treatment is available, although supportive care may improve outcomes. Such care may include oral rehydration solution (slightly sweet and salty fluids), healthy food, and medications to control the fever. Antibiotics should be prescribed if secondary bacterial infections such as ear infections or pneumonia occur. Vitamin A supplementation is also recommended for children. Among cases reported in the U.S. between 1985 and 1992, death occurred in only 0.2% of cases, but may be up to 10% in people with malnutrition. Most of those who die from the infection are less than five years old.


title: Measles

text: The measles vaccine is effective at preventing the disease, is exceptionally safe, and is often delivered in combination with other vaccines. Vaccination resulted in an 80% decrease in deaths from measles between 2000 and 2017, with about 85% of children worldwide having received their first dose as of 2017.


title: Measles

text: Measles affects about 20 million people a year, primarily in the developing areas of Africa and Asia. It is one of the leading vaccine-preventable disease causes of death. In 1980, 2.6 million people died from measles, and in 1990, 545,000 died due to the disease; by 2014, global vaccination programs had reduced the number of deaths from measles to 73,000. Despite these trends, rates of disease and deaths increased from 2017 to 2019 due to a decrease in immunization.


title: Measles

text: Symptoms typically begin 10–14 days after exposure. The classic symptoms include a four-day fever (the 4 D's) and the three C's—cough, coryza (head cold, fever, sneezing), and conjunctivitis (red eyes)—along with a maculopapular rash. Fever is common and typically lasts for about one week; the fever seen with measles is often as high as .


title: Measles

text: Koplik's spots seen inside the mouth are diagnostic for measles, but are temporary and therefore rarely seen. Koplik spots are small white spots that are commonly seen on the inside of the cheeks opposite the molars. They appear as "grains of salt on a reddish background." Recognizing these spots before a person reaches their maximum infectiousness can help reduce the spread of the disease.


title: Measles

text: The characteristic measles rash is classically described as a generalized red maculopapular rash that begins several days after the fever starts. It starts on the back of the ears and, after a few hours, spreads to the head and neck before spreading to cover most of the body, often causing itching. The measles rash appears two to four days after the initial symptoms and lasts for up to eight days. The rash is said to "stain", changing color from red to dark brown, before disappearing. Overall, measles usually resolves after about three weeks.


title: Measles

text: People who have been vaccinated against measles but have incomplete protective immunity may experience a form of modified measles. Modified measles is characterized by a prolonged incubation period, milder, and less characteristic symptoms (sparse and discrete rash of short duration).


title: Measles

text: Complications of measles are relatively common, ranging from mild ones such as diarrhea to serious ones such as pneumonia (either direct viral pneumonia or secondary bacterial pneumonia), laryngotracheobronchitis (croup) (either direct viral laryngotracheobronchitis or secondary bacterial bronchitis), otitis media, acute brain inflammation (and very rarely subacute sclerosing panencephalitis), and corneal ulceration (leading to corneal scarring).


title: Measles

text: In addition, measles can suppress the immune system for weeks to months, and this can contribute to bacterial superinfections such as otitis media and bacterial pneumonia. Two months after recovery there is a 11–73% decrease in the number of antibodies against other bacteria and viruses.


title: Measles

text: The death rate in the 1920s was around 30% for measles pneumonia. People who are at high risk for complications are infants and children aged less than 5 years; adults aged over 20 years; pregnant women; people with compromised immune systems, such as from leukemia, HIV infection or innate immunodeficiency; and those who are malnourished or have vitamin A deficiency. Complications are usually more severe in adults. Between 1987 and 2000, the case fatality rate across the United States was three deaths per 1,000 cases attributable to measles, or 0.3%. In underdeveloped nations with high rates of malnutrition and poor healthcare, fatality rates have been as high as 28%. In immunocompromised persons (e.g., people with AIDS) the fatality rate is approximately 30%.


title: Measles

text: Even in previously healthy children, measles can cause serious illness requiring hospitalization. One out of every 1,000 measles cases progresses to acute encephalitis, which often results in permanent brain damage. One to three out of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurological complications.


title: Measles

text: Measles is caused by the measles virus, a single-stranded, negative-sense, enveloped RNA virus of the genus "Morbillivirus" within the family "Paramyxoviridae".


title: Measles

text: The virus is highly contagious and is spread by coughing and sneezing via close personal contact or direct contact with secretions. Measles is the most contagious transmissible virus known. It remains infective for up to two hours in that airspace or nearby surfaces. Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, 90% of non-immune people who have close contact with them (e.g., household members) will also become infected. Humans are the only natural hosts of the virus, and no other animal reservoirs are known to exist, although mountain gorillas are believed to be susceptible to the disease.


title: Measles

text: Risk factors for measles virus infection include immunodeficiency caused by HIV or AIDS, immunosuppression following receipt of an organ or a stem cell transplant, alkylating agents, or corticosteroid therapy, regardless of immunization status; travel to areas where measles commonly occurs or contact with travelers from such an area; and the loss of passive, inherited antibodies before the age of routine immunization.


title: Measles

text: Once the measles virus gets onto the mucosa, it infects the epithelial cells in the trachea or bronchi. Measles virus uses a protein on its surface called hemagglutinin (H protein), to bind to a target receptor on the host cell, which could be CD46, which is expressed on all nucleated human cells, CD150, "aka" signaling lymphocyte activation molecule or SLAM, which is found on immune cells like B or T cells, and antigen-presenting cells, or nectin-4, a cellular adhesion molecule. Once bound, the fusion, or F protein helps the virus fuse with the membrane and ultimately get inside the cell.


title: Measles

text: As the virus is a single-stranded negative-sense RNA virus, it includes the enzyme RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) which is used to transcribe its genome into a positive-sense mRNA strand.


title: Measles

text: After entering a cell, it is ready to be translated into viral proteins, wrapped in the cell's lipid envelope, and sent out of the cell as a newly made virus. Within days, the measles virus spreads through local tissue and is picked up by dendritic cells and alveolar macrophages, and carried from that local tissue in the lungs to the local lymph nodes. From there it continues to spread, eventually getting into the blood and spreading to more lung tissue, as well as other organs like the intestines and the brain. Functional impairment of the infected dendritic cells by the measles virus is thought to contribute to measles-induced immunosuppression.


title: Measles

text: Typically, clinical diagnosis begins with the onset of fever and malaise about 10 days after exposure to the measles virus, followed by the emergence of cough, coryza, and conjunctivitis that worsen in severity over 4 days of appearing. Observation of Koplik's spots is also diagnostic. Other possible condition that can result in these symptoms include parvovirus, dengue fever, Kawasaki disease, and scarlet fever. Laboratory confirmation is however strongly recommended.


title: Measles

text: Laboratory diagnosis of measles can be done with confirmation of positive measles IgM antibodies or detection of measles virus RNA from throat, nasal or urine specimen by using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay. This method is particularly useful to confirm cases when the IgM antibodies results are inconclusive. For people unable to have their blood drawn, saliva can be collected for salivary measles-specific IgA testing. Salivary tests used to diagnose measles involve collecting a saliva sample and testing for the presence of measles antibodies. This method is not ideal, as saliva contains many other fluids and proteins which may make it difficult to collect samples and detect measles antibodies. Saliva also contains 800 times fewer antibodies than blood samples do, which makes salivary testing additionally difficult. Positive contact with other people known to have measles adds evidence to the diagnosis.


title: Measles

text: Mothers who are immune to measles pass antibodies to their children while they are still in the womb, especially if the mother acquired immunity through infection rather than vaccination. Such antibodies will usually give newborn infants some immunity against measles, but these antibodies are gradually lost over the course of the first nine months of life. Infants under one year of age whose maternal anti-measles antibodies have disappeared become susceptible to infection with the measles virus.


title: Measles

text: In developed countries, it is recommended that children be immunized against measles at 12 months, generally as part of a three-part MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, and rubella). The vaccine is generally not given before this age because such infants respond inadequately to the vaccine due to an immature immune system. A second dose of the vaccine is usually given to children between the ages of four and five, to increase rates of immunity. Measles vaccines have been given to over a billion people. Vaccination rates have been high enough to make measles relatively uncommon. Adverse reactions to vaccination are rare, with fever and pain at the injection site being the most common. Life-threatening adverse reactions occur in less than one per million vaccinations (<0.0001%).


title: Measles

text: In developing countries where measles is common, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends two doses of vaccine be given, at six and nine months of age. The vaccine should be given whether the child is HIV-infected or not. The vaccine is less effective in HIV-infected infants than in the general population, but early treatment with antiretroviral drugs can increase its effectiveness. Measles vaccination programs are often used to deliver other child health interventions as well, such as bed nets to protect against malaria, antiparasite medicine and vitamin A supplements, and so contribute to the reduction of child deaths from other causes.


title: Measles

text: The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that all adult international travelers who do not have positive evidence of previous measles immunity receive two doses of MMR vaccine before traveling, although birth before 1957 is presumptive evidence of immunity. Those born in the United States before 1957 are likely to have been naturally infected with measles virus and generally need not be considered susceptible.


title: Measles

text: There have been false claims of an association between the measles vaccine and autism; this incorrect concern has reduced the rate of vaccination and increased the number of cases of measles where immunization rates became too low to maintain herd immunity. Additionally, there have been false claims that measles infection protects against cancer.


title: Measles

text: Administration of the MMR vaccine may prevent measles after exposure to the virus (post-exposure prophylaxis). Post-exposure prophylaxis guidelines are specific to jurisdiction and population. Passive immunization against measles by an intramuscular injection of antibodies could be effective up to the seventh day after exposure. Compared to no treatment, the risk of measles infection is reduced by 83%, and the risk of death by measles is reduced by 76%. However, the effectiveness of passive immunization in comparison to active measles vaccine is not clear.


title: Measles

text: The MMR vaccine is 95% effective for preventing measles after one dose if the vaccine is given to a child who is 12 months or older; if a second dose of the MMR vaccine is given, it will provide immunity in 99% of children.


title: Measles

text: There is no specific antiviral treatment if measles develops. Instead the medications are generally aimed at treating superinfections, maintaining good hydration with adequate fluids, and pain relief. Some groups, like young children and the severely malnourished, are also given vitamin A, which acts as an immunomodulator that boosts the antibody responses to measles and decreases the risk of serious complications.


title: Measles

text: Treatment is supportive, with ibuprofen or paracetamol (acetaminophen) to reduce fever and pain and, if required, a fast-acting medication to dilate the airways for cough. As for aspirin, some research has suggested a correlation between children who take aspirin and the development of Reye syndrome.


title: Measles

text: The use of vitamin A during treatment is recommended to decrease the risk of blindness; however, it does not prevent or cure the disease. A systematic review of trials into its use found no reduction in overall mortality, but two doses (200 000 IU) of vitamin A was shown to reduce mortality for measles in children younger than two years of age. It is unclear if zinc supplementation in children with measles affects outcomes as it has not been sufficiently studied. There are no adequate studies on whether Chinese medicinal herbs are effective.


title: Measles

text: Most people survive measles, though in some cases, complications may occur. About 1 in 4 individuals will be hospitalized and 1–2 in 1000 will die. Complications are more likely in children under age 5 and adults over age 20. Pneumonia is the most common fatal complication of measles infection and accounts for 56-86% of measles-related deaths.


title: Measles

text: Possible consequences of measles virus infection include laryngotracheobronchitis, sensorineural hearing loss, and—in about 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 300,000 cases—panencephalitis, which is usually fatal. Acute measles encephalitis is another serious risk of measles virus infection. It typically occurs two days to one week after the measles rash breaks out and begins with very high fever, severe headache, convulsions and altered mentation. A person with measles encephalitis may become comatose, and death or brain injury may occur.


title: Measles

text: The measles virus can deplete previously acquired immune memory by killing cells that make antibodies, and thus weakens the immune system which can cause deaths from other diseases. Suppression of the immune system by measles lasts about two years and has been epidemiologically implicated in up to 90% of childhood deaths in third world countries, and historically may have caused rather more deaths in the United States, the UK and Denmark than were directly caused by measles. Although the measles vaccine contains an attenuated strain, it does not deplete immune memory.


title: Measles

text: Measles is extremely infectious and its continued circulation in a community depends on the generation of susceptible hosts by birth of children. In communities that generate insufficient new hosts the disease will die out. This concept was first recognized in measles by Bartlett in 1957, who referred to the minimum number supporting measles as the critical community size (CCS). Analysis of outbreaks in island communities suggested that the CCS for measles is around 250,000. To achieve herd immunity, more than 95% of the community must be vaccinated due to the ease with which measles is transmitted from person to person.


title: Measles

text: In 2011, the WHO estimated that 158,000 deaths were caused by measles. This is down from 630,000 deaths in 1990. As of 2018, measles remains a leading cause of vaccine-preventable deaths in the world. In developed countries the mortality rate is lower, for example in England and Wales from 2007 to 2017 death occurred between two and three cases out of 10,000. In children one to three cases out of every 1,000 die in the United States (0.1–0.2%). In populations with high levels of malnutrition and a lack of adequate healthcare, mortality can be as high as 10%. In cases with complications, the rate may rise to 20–30%. In 2012, the number of deaths due to measles was 78% lower than in 2000 due to increased rates of immunization among UN member states.


title: Measles

text: Even in countries where vaccination has been introduced, rates may remain high. Measles is a leading cause of vaccine-preventable childhood mortality. Worldwide, the fatality rate has been significantly reduced by a vaccination campaign led by partners in the Measles Initiative: the American Red Cross, the United States CDC, the United Nations Foundation, UNICEF and the WHO. Globally, measles fell 60% from an estimated 873,000 deaths in 1999 to 345,000 in 2005. Estimates for 2008 indicate deaths fell further to 164,000 globally, with 77% of the remaining measles deaths in 2008 occurring within the Southeast Asian region. There were 142,300 measles related deaths globally in 2018, of which most cases were reported from African and eastern Mediterranean regions. These estimates were slightly higher than that of 2017, when 124,000 deaths were reported due to measles infection globally.


title: Measles

text: In 2000, the WHO established the Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network (GMRLN) to provide laboratory surveillance for measles, rubella, and congenital rubella syndrome. Data from 2016 to 2018 show that the most frequently detected measles virus genotypes are decreasing, suggesting that increasing global population immunity has decreased the number of chains of transmission.


title: Measles

text: Cases reported in the first three months of 2019, were 300% higher than in the first three months of 2018, with outbreaks in every region of the world, even in countries with high overall vaccination coverage where it spread among clusters of unvaccinated people. The numbers of reported cases as of mid-November is over 413,000 globally, with an additional 250,000 cases in DRC (as reported through their national system), similar to the increasing trends of infection reported in the earlier months of 2019, compared to 2018. In 2019, the total number of cases worldwide climbed to 869,770. The number of cases reported for 2020 is lower compare to 2019. According to the WHO, the COVID-19 pandemic hindered vaccination campaigns in at least 68 countries, including in countries that were experiencing outbreaks, which caused increased risk of additional cases.


title: Measles

text: In England and Wales, though deaths from measles were uncommon, they averaged about 500 per year in the 1940s. Deaths diminished with the improvement of medical care in the 1950s but the incidence of the disease did not retreat until vaccination was introduced in the late 1960s. Wider coverage was achieved in the 1980s with the measles, mumps and rubella, MMR vaccine.


title: Measles

text: In 2013–14, there were almost 10,000 cases in 30 European countries. Most cases occurred in unvaccinated individuals and over 90% of cases occurred in Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, and United Kingdom. Between October 2014 and March 2015, a measles outbreak in the German capital of Berlin resulted in at least 782 cases. In 2017, numbers continued to increase in Europe to 21,315 cases, with 35 deaths. In preliminary figures for 2018, reported cases in the region increased 3-fold to 82,596 in 47 countries, with 72 deaths; Ukraine had the most cases (53,218), with the highest incidence rates being in Ukraine (1209 cases per million), Serbia (579), Georgia (564) and Albania (500). The previous year (2017) saw an estimated measles vaccine coverage of 95% for the first dose and 90% for the second dose in the region, the latter figure being the highest-ever estimated second-dose coverage.


title: Measles

text: In 2019, the United Kingdom, Albania, the Czech Republic, and Greece lost their measles-free status due to ongoing and prolonged spread of the disease in these countries. In the first 6 months of 2019, 90,000 cases occurred in Europe.


title: Measles

text: As a result of widespread vaccination, the disease was declared eliminated from the Americas in 2016. However, there were cases again in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 in this region.


title: Measles

text: In the United States, measles affected approximately 3,000 people per million in the 1960s before the vaccine was available. With consistent widespread childhood vaccination, this figure fell to 13 cases per million by the 1980s, and to about 1 case per million by 2000.


title: Measles

text: In 1991, an outbreak of measles in Philadelphia was centered at the Faith Tabernacle Congregation, a faith healing church that actively discouraged parishioners from vaccinating their children. Over 1400 people were infected with measles and nine children died.


title: Measles

text: Before immunization in the United States, between three and four million cases occurred each year. The United States was declared free of circulating measles in 2000, with 911 cases from 2001 to 2011. In 2014 the CDC said endemic measles, rubella, and congenital rubella syndrome had not returned to the United States. Occasional measles outbreaks persist, however, because of cases imported from abroad, of which more than half are the result of unvaccinated U.S. residents who are infected abroad and infect others upon return to the United States. The CDC continues to recommend measles vaccination throughout the population to prevent outbreaks like these.


title: Measles

text: In 2014, an outbreak was initiated in Ohio when two unvaccinated Amish men harboring asymptomatic measles returned to the United States from missionary work in the Philippines. Their return to a community with low vaccination rates led to an outbreak that rose to include a total of 383 cases across nine counties. Of the 383 cases, 340 (89%) occurred in unvaccinated individuals.


title: Measles

text: From 4 January, to 2 April 2015, there were 159 cases of measles reported to the CDC. Of those 159 cases, 111 (70%) were determined to have come from an earlier exposure in late December 2014. This outbreak was believed to have originated from the Disneyland theme park in California. The Disneyland outbreak was held responsible for the infection of 147 people in seven U.S. states as well as Mexico and Canada, the majority of which were either unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status. Of the cases 48% were unvaccinated and 38% were unsure of their vaccination status. The initial exposure to the virus was never identified.


title: Measles

text: In 2015, a U.S. woman in Washington state died of pneumonia, as a result of measles. She was the first fatality in the U.S. from measles since 2003. The woman had been vaccinated for measles and was taking immunosuppressive drugs for another condition. The drugs suppressed the woman's immunity to measles, and the woman became infected with measles; she did not develop a rash, but contracted pneumonia, which caused her death.


title: Measles

text: In June 2017, the Maine Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory confirmed a case of measles in Franklin County. This instance marks the first case of measles in 20 years for the state of Maine. In 2018 one case occurred in Portland, Oregon, with 500 people exposed; 40 of them lacked immunity to the virus and were being monitored by county health officials as of 2 July 2018. There were 273 cases of measles reported throughout the United States in 2018, including an outbreak in Brooklyn with more than 200 reported cases from October 2018 to February 2019. The outbreak was tied with population density of the Orthodox Jewish community, with the initial exposure from an unvaccinated child that caught measles while visiting Israel.


title: Measles

text: A resurgence of measles occurred during 2019, which has been generally tied to parents choosing not to have their children vaccinated as most of the reported cases have occurred in people 19 years old or younger. Cases were first reported in Washington state in January, with an outbreak of at least 58 confirmed cases most within Clark County, which has a higher rate of vaccination exemptions compared to the rest of the state; nearly one in four kindergartners in Clark did not receive vaccinations, according to state data. This led Washington state governor Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency, and the state's congress to introduce legislation to disallow vaccination exemption for personal or philosophical reasons. In April 2019, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency because of "a huge spike" in cases of measles where there were 285 cases centred on the Orthodox Jewish areas of Brooklyn in 2018, while there were only two cases in 2017. There were 168 more in neighboring Rockland County. Other outbreaks have included Santa Cruz County and Butte County in California, and the states of New Jersey and Michigan. , there have been 695 cases of measles reported in 22 states. This is the highest number of measles cases since it was declared eradicated in 2000. From 1 January, to 31 December 2019, 1,282 individual cases of measles were confirmed in 31 states. This is the greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1992. Of the 1,282 cases, 128 of the people who got measles were hospitalized, and 61 reported having complications, including pneumonia and encephalitis.


title: Measles

text: The spread of measles had been interrupted in Brazil in 2016, with the last known case twelve months earlier. This last case was in the state of Ceará.


title: Measles

text: Brazil won a measles elimination certificate by the Pan American Health Organization in 2016, but the Ministry of Health has proclaimed that the country has struggled to keep this certificate, since two outbreaks had already been identified in 2018, one in the state of Amazonas and another one in Roraima, in addition to cases in other states (Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Pará, São Paulo and Rondônia), totaling 1053 confirmed cases until 1 August 2018. In these outbreaks, and in most other cases, the contagion was related to the importation of the virus, especially from Venezuela. This was confirmed by the genotype of the virus (D8) that was identified, which is the same that circulates in Venezuela.


title: Measles

text: In the Vietnamese measles epidemic in spring of 2014, an estimated 8,500 measles cases were reported as of 19 April, with 114 fatalities; as of 30 May, 21,639 suspected measles cases had been reported, with 142 measles-related fatalities. In the Naga Self-Administered Zone in a remote northern region of Myanmar, at least 40 children died during a measles outbreak in August 2016 that was probably caused by lack of vaccination in an area of poor health infrastructure. Following the 2019 Philippines measles outbreak, 23,563 measles cases have been reported in the country with 338 fatalities. A measles outbreak also happened among the Malaysian Orang Asli sub-group of Batek people in the state of Kelantan from May 2019, causing the deaths of 15 from the tribe.


title: Measles

text: A measles outbreak in New Zealand has 2193 confirmed cases and two deaths. A measles outbreak in Tonga has 612 cases of measles.


title: Measles

text: A measles outbreak in Samoa in late 2019 has over 5,700 cases of measles and 83 deaths, out of a Samoan population of 200,000. Over three percent of the population were infected, and a state of emergency was declared from 17 November to 7 December. A vaccination campaign brought the measles vaccination rate from 31 to 34% in 2018 to an estimated 94% of the eligible population in December 2019.


title: Measles

text: The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar have reported the highest numbers of cases in 2019. However, cases have decreased in Madagascar as a result of nationwide emergency measles vaccine campaigns. As of August 2019 outbreaks were occurring in Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, South Sudan and Sudan.


title: Measles

text: An outbreak of measles in 2018 has resulted in 118,000 cases and 1,688 deaths. This followed outbreaks of bubonic and pneumonic plague in 2017 (2575 cases, 221 deaths) and 2014 (263 confirmed cases, 71 deaths).


title: Measles

text: An outbreak of measles with nearly 5,000 deaths and 250,000 infections occurred in 2019, after the disease spread to all the provinces in the country. Most deaths were among children under five years of age. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported this as the world's largest and fastest-moving epidemic.


title: Measles

text: Measles is of zoonotic origin, having evolved from rinderpest, which infects cattle. A precursor of the measles began causing infections in humans as early as the 4th century BC or as late as after AD 500. The Antonine Plague of AD 165–180 has been speculated to have been measles, but the actual cause of this plague is unknown and smallpox is a more likely cause. The first systematic description of measles, and its distinction from smallpox and chickenpox, is credited to the Persian physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (860–932), who published "The Book of Smallpox and Measles". At the time of Razi's book, it is believed that outbreaks were still limited and that the virus was not fully adapted to humans. Sometime between AD 1100 and 1200, the measles virus fully diverged from rinderpest, becoming a distinct virus that infects humans. This agrees with the observation that measles requires a susceptible population of >500,000 to sustain an epidemic, a situation that occurred in historic times following the growth of medieval European cities.


title: Measles

text: Measles is an endemic disease, meaning it has been continually present in a community and many people develop resistance. In populations not exposed to measles, exposure to the new disease can be devastating. In 1529, a measles outbreak in Cuba killed two-thirds of those indigenous people who had previously survived smallpox. Two years later, measles was responsible for the deaths of half the population of Honduras, and it has ravaged Mexico, Central America, and the Inca civilization.


title: Measles

text: Between roughly 1855 and 2005, measles is estimated to have killed about 200 million people worldwide.


title: Measles

text: The 1846 measles outbreak in the Faroe Islands was unusual for being well-studied. Measles had not been seen on the islands for 60 years, so almost no residents had any acquired immunity. Three-quarters of the residents got sick, and more than 100 (1–2%) died from it before the epidemic burned itself out. Peter Ludvig Panum observed the outbreak and determined that measles was spread through direct contact of contagious people with people who had never had measles.


title: Measles

text: Measles killed 20 percent of Hawaii's population in the 1850s. In 1875, measles killed over 40,000 Fijians, approximately one-third of the population. In the 19th century, the disease killed more than half of the Great Andamanese population. Seven to eight million children are thought to have died from measles each year before the vaccine was introduced.


title: Measles

text: In 1914, a statistician for the Prudential Insurance Company estimated from a survey of 22 countries that 1% of all deaths in the temperate zone were caused by measles. He observed also that 1–6% of cases of measles ended fatally, the difference depending on age (0–3 being the worst), social conditions (e.g. overcrowded tenements) and pre-existing health conditions.


title: Measles

text: In 1954, the virus causing the disease was isolated from a 13-year-old boy from the United States, David Edmonston, and adapted and propagated on chick embryo tissue culture. The World Health Organization recognizes eight clades, named A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H. Twenty-three strains of the measles virus have been identified and designated within these clades. While at Merck, Maurice Hilleman developed the first successful vaccine. Licensed vaccines to prevent the disease became available in 1963. An improved measles vaccine became available in 1968. Measles as an endemic disease was eliminated from the United States in 2000, but continues to be reintroduced by international travelers. In 2019 there were at least 1,241 cases of measles in the United States distributed across 31 states, with over three quarters in New York.


title: Measles

text: German anti-vaccination campaigner and HIV/AIDS denialist Stefan Lanka posed a challenge on his website in 2011, offering a sum of €100,000 for anyone who could scientifically prove that measles is caused by a virus and determine the diameter of the virus. He posited that the illness is psychosomatic and that the measles virus does not exist. When provided with overwhelming scientific evidence from various medical studies by German physician David Bardens, Lanka did not accept the findings, forcing Bardens to appeal in court. The initial legal case ended with the ruling that Lanka was to pay the prize. However, on appeal, Lanka was ultimately not required to pay the award because the submitted evidence did not meet his exact requirements. The case received wide international coverage that prompted many to comment on it, including neurologist, well-known skeptic and science-based medicine advocate Steven Novella, who called Lanka "a crank".


title: Measles

text: As outbreaks easily occur in under-vaccinated populations, the disease is seen as a test of sufficient vaccination within a population. Measles outbreaks have been on the rise in the United States, especially in communities with lower rates of vaccination. A different vaccine distribution within a single territory by age or social class may define different general perceptions of vaccination efficacy. It is often introduced to a region by travelers from other countries and it typically spreads to those who have not received the measles vaccination.


title: Measles

text: In May 2015, the journal "Science" published a report in which researchers found that the measles infection can leave a population at increased risk for mortality from other diseases for two to three years. Results from additional studies that show the measles virus can kill cells that make antibodies were published in November 2019.


title: Measles

text: A specific drug treatment for measles, ERDRP-0519, has shown promising results in animal studies, but has not yet been tested in humans.


title: Nuclear power

text: Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear "fission" of uranium and plutonium in nuclear power plants. Nuclear "decay" processes are used in niche applications such as radioisotope thermoelectric generators in some space probes such as "Voyager 2". Generating electricity from "fusion" power remains the focus of international research.


title: Nuclear power

text: Most nuclear power plants use thermal reactors with enriched uranium in a once-through fuel cycle. Fuel is removed when the percentage of neutron absorbing atoms becomes so large that a chain reaction can no longer be sustained, typically three years. It is then cooled for several years in on-site spent fuel pools before being transferred to long term storage. The spent fuel, though low in volume, is high-level radioactive waste. While its radioactivity decreases exponentially it must be isolated from the biosphere for hundreds of thousands of years, though newer technologies (like fast reactors) have the potential to reduce this significantly. Because the spent fuel is still mostly fissionable material, some countries (e.g. France and Russia) reprocess their spent fuel by extracting fissile and fertile elements for fabrication in new fuel, although this process is more expensive than producing new fuel from mined uranium. All reactors breed some plutonium-239, which is found in the spent fuel, and because Pu-239 is the preferred material for nuclear weapons, reprocessing is seen as a weapon proliferation risk.


title: Nuclear power

text: The first nuclear power plant was built in the 1950s. The global installed nuclear capacity grew to 100GW in the late 1970s, and then expanded rapidly during the 1980s, reaching 300GW by 1990. The 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the United States and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union resulted in increased regulation and public opposition to nuclear plants. These factors, along with high cost of construction, resulted in the global installed capacity only increasing to 390GW by 2022. These plants supplied 2,586 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2019, equivalent to about 10% of global electricity generation, and were the second-largest low-carbon power source after hydroelectricity. there are 437 civilian fission reactors in the world, with overall capacity of 393GW, 57 under construction and 102 planned, with a combined capacity of 62GW and 96GW, respectively. The United States has the largest fleet of nuclear reactors, generating over 800TWh of zero-emissions electricity per year with an average capacity factor of 92%. Average global capacity factor is 89%. Most new reactors under construction are generation III reactors in Asia.


title: Nuclear power

text: Nuclear power generation causes one of the lowest levels of fatalities per unit of energy generated compared to other energy sources. Coal, petroleum, natural gas and hydroelectricity each have caused more fatalities per unit of energy due to air pollution and accidents. Nuclear power plants emit no greenhouse gases. One of the dangers of nuclear power is the potential for accidents like the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011.


title: Nuclear power

text: There is a debate about nuclear power. Proponents contend that nuclear power is a safe, sustainable energy source that reduces carbon emissions. The anti-nuclear movement contends that nuclear power poses many threats to people and the environment and is too expensive and slow to deploy when compared to alternative sustainable energy sources.


title: Nuclear power

text: The discovery of nuclear fission occurred in 1938 following over four decades of work on the science of radioactivity and the elaboration of new nuclear physics that described the components of atoms.


title: Nuclear power

text: Soon after the discovery of the fission process, it was realized that a fissioning nucleus can induce further nucleus fissions, thus inducing a self-sustaining chain reaction.


title: Nuclear power

text: Once this was experimentally confirmed in 1939, scientists in many countries petitioned their governments for support of nuclear fission research, just on the cusp of World War II, for the development of a nuclear weapon.


title: Nuclear power

text: In the United States, these research efforts led to the creation of the first man-made nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, which achieved criticality on December 2, 1942. The reactor's development was part of the Manhattan Project, the Allied effort to create atomic bombs during World War II. It led to the building of larger single-purpose production reactors for the production of weapons-grade plutonium for use in the first nuclear weapons. The United States tested the first nuclear weapon in July 1945, the Trinity test, with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki taking place one month later.


title: Nuclear power

text: Despite the military nature of the first nuclear devices, the 1940s and 1950s were characterized by strong optimism for the potential of nuclear power to provide cheap and endless energy.


title: Nuclear power

text: Electricity was generated for the first time by a nuclear reactor on December 20, 1951, at the EBR-I experimental station near Arco, Idaho, which initially produced about 100kW.


title: Nuclear power

text: In 1953, American President Dwight Eisenhower gave his "Atoms for Peace" speech at the United Nations, emphasizing the need to develop "peaceful" uses of nuclear power quickly. This was followed by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 which allowed rapid declassification of U.S. reactor technology and encouraged development by the private sector.


title: Nuclear power

text: The first organization to develop practical nuclear power was the U.S. Navy, with the S1W reactor for the purpose of propelling submarines and aircraft carriers. The first nuclear-powered submarine, , was put to sea in January 1954.


title: Nuclear power

text: The S1W reactor was a pressurized water reactor. This design was chosen because it was simpler, more compact, and easier to operate compared to alternative designs, thus more suitable to be used in submarines. This decision would result in the PWR being the reactor of choice also for power generation, thus having a lasting impact on the civilian electricity market in the years to come.


title: Nuclear power

text: On June 27, 1954, the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant in the USSR became the world's first nuclear power plant to generate electricity for a power grid, producing around 5 megawatts of electric power.


title: Nuclear power

text: The world's first commercial nuclear power station, Calder Hall at Windscale, England was connected to the national power grid on 27 August 1956. In common with a number of other generation I reactors, the plant had the dual purpose of producing electricity and plutonium-239, the latter for the nascent nuclear weapons program in Britain.


title: Nuclear power

text: The total global installed nuclear capacity initially rose relatively quickly, rising from less than 1 gigawatt (GW) in 1960 to 100GW in the late 1970s.


title: Nuclear power

text: During the 1970s and 1980s rising economic costs (related to extended construction times largely due to regulatory changes and pressure-group litigation) and falling fossil fuel prices made nuclear power plants then under construction less attractive. In the 1980s in the U.S. and 1990s in Europe, the flat electric grid growth and electricity liberalization also made the addition of large new baseload energy generators economically unattractive.


title: Nuclear power

text: The 1973 oil crisis had a significant effect on countries, such as France and Japan, which had relied more heavily on oil for electric generation to invest in nuclear power.


title: Nuclear power

text: France would construct 25 nuclear power plants over the next 15 years, and as of 2019, 71% of French electricity was generated by nuclear power, the highest percentage by any nation in the world.


title: Nuclear power

text: Some local opposition to nuclear power emerged in the United States in the early 1960s. In the late 1960s some members of the scientific community began to express pointed concerns. These anti-nuclear concerns related to nuclear accidents, nuclear proliferation, nuclear terrorism and radioactive waste disposal.


title: Nuclear power

text: In the early 1970s, there were large protests about a proposed nuclear power plant in Wyhl, Germany. The project was cancelled in 1975. The anti-nuclear success at Wyhl inspired opposition to nuclear power in other parts of Europe and North America.


title: Nuclear power

text: By the mid-1970s anti-nuclear activism gained a wider appeal and influence, and nuclear power began to become an issue of major public protest.


title: Nuclear power

text: In some countries, the nuclear power conflict "reached an intensity unprecedented in the history of technology controversies". The increased public hostility to nuclear power led to a longer license procurement process, regulations and increased requirements for safety equipment, which made new construction much more expensive.


title: Nuclear power

text: In the United States, over 120 LWR reactor proposals were ultimately cancelled and the construction of new reactors ground to a halt.


title: Nuclear power

text: The 1979 accident at Three Mile Island with no fatalities, played a major part in the reduction in the number of new plant constructions in many countries.


title: Nuclear power

text: During the 1980s one new nuclear reactor started up every 17 days on average. By the end of the decade, global installed nuclear capacity reached 300GW. Since the late 1980s, new capacity additions slowed down significantly, with the installed nuclear capacity reaching 366GW in 2005.


title: Nuclear power

text: The 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the USSR, involving an RBMK reactor, altered the development of nuclear power and led to a greater focus on meeting international safety and regulatory standards.


title: Nuclear power

text: It is considered the worst nuclear disaster in history both in total casualties, with 56 direct deaths, and financially, with the cleanup and the cost estimated at 18billionRbls (US$68billion in 2019, adjusted for inflation). The international organization to promote safety awareness and the professional development of operators in nuclear facilities, the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), was created as a direct outcome of the 1986 Chernobyl accident.


title: Nuclear power

text: The Chernobyl disaster played a major part in the reduction in the number of new plant constructions in the following years. Influenced by these events, Italy voted against nuclear power in a 1987 referendum, becoming the first country to completely phase out nuclear power in 1990.


title: Nuclear power

text: In the early 2000s, nuclear energy was expecting a nuclear renaissance, an increase in the construction of new reactors, due to concerns about carbon dioxide emissions.


title: Nuclear power

text: The 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident was caused by a large tsunami triggered by the Tōhoku earthquake, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant suffered three core meltdowns due to failure of the emergency cooling system for lack of electricity supply. This resulted in the most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster. The accident prompted a re-examination of nuclear safety and nuclear energy policy in many countries.


title: Nuclear power

text: Germany approved plans to close all its reactors by 2022, and many other countries reviewed their nuclear power programs.


title: Nuclear power

text: Following the disaster, Japan shut down all of its nuclear power reactors, some of them permanently, and in 2015 began a gradual process to restart the remaining 40 reactors, following safety checks and based on revised criteria for operations and public approval.


title: Nuclear power

text: In 2022, the Japanese government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, has declared that 10 more nuclear power plants be reopened since the 2011 disaster. Kishida is also pushing for research and construction of new safer nuclear plants to safeguard Japanese consumers from the fluctuating fossil fuel market and reduce Japan's greenhouse gas emissions. Prime Minister Kishida intends to have Japan become a significant exporter of nuclear energy and technology to developing countries around the world..


title: Nuclear power

text: By 2015, the IAEA's outlook for nuclear energy had become more promising, recognizing the importance of low-carbon generation for mitigating climate change.


title: Nuclear power

text: , the global trend was for new nuclear power stations coming online to be balanced by the number of old plants being retired.


title: Nuclear power

text: In 2016, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected for its "base case" that world nuclear power generation would increase from 2,344 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2012 to 4,500TWh in 2040. Most of the predicted increase was expected to be in Asia. As of 2018, there are over 150 nuclear reactors planned including 50 under construction. In January 2019, China had 45 reactors in operation, 13 under construction, and plans to build 43 more, which would make it the world's largest generator of nuclear electricity. As of 2021, 17 reactors were reported to be under construction. China built significantly fewer reactors than originally planned, its share of electricity from nuclear power was 5% in 2019 and observers have cautioned that, along with the risks, the changing economics of energy generation may cause new nuclear energy plants to "no longer make sense in a world that is leaning toward cheaper, more reliable renewable energy".


title: Nuclear power

text: In October 2021, the Japanese cabinet approved the new Plan for Electricity Generation to 2030 prepared by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) and an advisory committee, following public consultation. The nuclear target for 2030 requires the restart of another ten reactors. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in July 2022 announced that the country should consider building advanced reactors and extending operating licences beyond 60 years.


title: Nuclear power

text: As of 2022, with world oil and gas prices on the rise, while Germany is restarting its coal plants to deal with loss of Russian gas that it needs to supplement its Energiwende, many other countries have announced ambitious plans to reinvigorate ageing nuclear generating capacity with new investments. French President Emmanuel Macron announced his intention to build six new reactors in coming decades, placing nuclear at the heart of France's drive for carbon neutrality by 2050.


title: Nuclear power

text: Nuclear power plants are thermal power stations that generate electricity by harnessing the thermal energy released from nuclear fission.


title: Nuclear power

text: A fission nuclear power plant is generally composed of: a nuclear reactor, in which the nuclear reactions generating heat take place; a cooling system, which removes the heat from inside the reactor; a steam turbine, which transforms the heat into mechanical energy; an electric generator, which transforms the mechanical energy into electrical energy.


title: Nuclear power

text: When a neutron hits the nucleus of a uranium-235 or plutonium atom, it can split the nucleus into two smaller nuclei, which is a nuclear fission reaction. The reaction releases energy and neutrons. The released neutrons can hit other uranium or plutonium nuclei, causing new fission reactions, which release more energy and more neutrons. This is called a chain reaction.


title: Nuclear power

text: In most commercial reactors, the reaction rate is contained by control rods that absorb excess neutrons.


title: Nuclear power

text: The controllability of nuclear reactors depends on the fact that a small fraction of neutrons resulting from fission are delayed. The time delay between the fission and the release of the neutrons slows down changes in reaction rates and gives time for moving the control rods to adjust the reaction rate.


title: Nuclear power

text: The life cycle of nuclear fuel starts with uranium mining. The uranium ore is then converted into a compact ore concentrate form, known as yellowcake (UO), to facilitate transport.


title: Nuclear power

text: The concentration of uranium-235 in natural uranium is very low (about 0.7%). Some reactors can use this natural uranium as fuel, depending on their neutron economy. These reactors generally have graphite or heavy water moderators.


title: Nuclear power

text: For light water reactors, the most common type of reactor, this concentration is too low, and it must be increased by a process called uranium enrichment. In civilian light water reactors, uranium is typically enriched to 3.55% uranium-235.


title: Nuclear power

text: The uranium is then generally converted into uranium oxide (UO), a ceramic, that is then compressively sintered into fuel pellets, a stack of which forms fuel rods of the proper composition and geometry for the particular reactor.


title: Nuclear power

text: After some time in the reactor, the fuel will have reduced fissile material and increased fission products, until its use becomes impractical. At this point, the spent fuel will be moved to a spent fuel pool which provides cooling for the thermal heat and shielding for ionizing radiation. After several months or years, the spent fuel is radioactively and thermally cool enough to be moved to dry storage casks or reprocessed.


title: Nuclear power

text: Uranium is a fairly common element in the Earth's crust: it is approximately as common as tin or germanium, and is about 40 times more common than silver.


title: Nuclear power

text: Uranium is present in trace concentrations in most rocks, dirt, and ocean water, but is generally economically extracted only where it is present in high concentrations.


title: Nuclear power

text: Uranium mining can be underground, open-pit, or in-situ leach mining. An increasing number of the highest output mines are remote underground operations, such as McArthur River uranium mine, in Canada, which by itself accounts for 13% of global production.


title: Nuclear power

text: As of 2011 the world's known resources of uranium, economically recoverable at the arbitrary price ceiling of US$130/kg, were enough to last for between 70 and 100 years.


title: Nuclear power

text: In 2007, the OECD estimated 670 years of economically recoverable uranium in total conventional resources and phosphate ores assuming the then-current use rate.


title: Nuclear power

text: Light water reactors make relatively inefficient use of nuclear fuel, mostly using only the very rare uranium-235 isotope. Nuclear reprocessing can make this waste reusable, and newer reactors also achieve a more efficient use of the available resources than older ones. With a pure fast reactor fuel cycle with a burn up of all the uranium and actinides (which presently make up the most hazardous substances in nuclear waste), there is an estimated 160,000 years worth of uranium in total conventional resources and phosphate ore at the price of 60–100 US$/kg. However, reprocessing is expensive, possibly dangerous and can be used to manufacture nuclear weapons. One analysis found that for uranium prices could increase by two orders of magnitudes between 2035 and 2100 and that there could be a shortage near the end of the century. A 2017 study by researchers from MIT and WHOI found that "at the current consumption rate, global conventional reserves of terrestrial uranium (approximately 7.6 million tonnes) could be depleted in a little over a century". Limited uranium-235 supply may inhibit substantial expansion with the current nuclear technology. While various ways to reduce dependence on such resources are being explored, new nuclear technologies are considered to not be available in time for climate change mitigation purposes or competition with alternatives of renewables in addition to being more expensive and require costly research and development. A study found it to be uncertain whether identified resources will be developed quickly enough to provide uninterrupted fuel supply to expanded nuclear facilities and various forms of mining may be challenged by ecological barriers, costs, and land requirements. Researchers also report considerable import dependence of nuclear energy.


title: Nuclear power

text: Unconventional uranium resources also exist. Uranium is naturally present in seawater at a concentration of about 3 micrograms per liter, with 4.4 billion tons of uranium considered present in seawater at any time.


title: Nuclear power

text: In 2014 it was suggested that it would be economically competitive to produce nuclear fuel from seawater if the process was implemented at large scale.


title: Nuclear power

text: Like fossil fuels, over geological timescales, uranium extracted on an industrial scale from seawater would be replenished by both river erosion of rocks and the natural process of uranium dissolved from the surface area of the ocean floor, both of which maintain the solubility equilibria of seawater concentration at a stable level.


title: Nuclear power

text: Some commentators have argued that this strengthens the case for nuclear power to be considered a renewable energy.


title: Nuclear power

text: The normal operation of nuclear power plants and facilities produce radioactive waste, or nuclear waste. This type of waste is also produced during plant decommissioning. There are two broad categories of nuclear waste: low-level waste and high-level waste. The first has low radioactivity and includes contaminated items such as clothing, which poses limited threat. High-level waste is mainly the spent fuel from nuclear reactors, which is very radioactive and must be cooled and then safely disposed of or reprocessed.


title: Nuclear power

text: The most important waste stream from nuclear power reactors is spent nuclear fuel, which is considered high-level waste. For LWRs, spent fuel is typically composed of 95% uranium, 4% fission products, and about 1% transuranic actinides (mostly plutonium, neptunium and americium). The fission products are responsible for the bulk of the short-term radioactivity, whereas the plutonium and other transuranics are responsible for the bulk of the long-term radioactivity.


title: Nuclear power

text: High-level waste (HLW) must be stored isolated from the biosphere with sufficient shielding so as to limit radiation exposure. After being removed from the reactors, used fuel bundles are stored for six to ten years in spent fuel pools, which provide cooling and shielding against radiation. After that, the fuel is cool enough that it can be safely transferred to dry cask storage. The radioactivity decreases exponentially with time, such that it will have decreased by 99.5% after 100 years. The more intensely radioactive short-lived fission products (SLFPs) decay into stable elements in approximately 300 years, and after about 100,000 years, the spent fuel becomes less radioactive than natural uranium ore.


title: Nuclear power

text: Commonly suggested methods to isolate LLFP waste from the biosphere include separation and transmutation, synroc treatments, or deep geological storage.


title: Nuclear power

text: Thermal-neutron reactors, which presently constitute the majority of the world fleet, cannot burn up the reactor grade plutonium that is generated during the reactor operation. This limits the life of nuclear fuel to a few years.


title: Nuclear power

text: In some countries, such as the United States, spent fuel is classified in its entirety as a nuclear waste.


title: Nuclear power

text: In other countries, such as France, it is largely reprocessed to produce a partially recycled fuel, known as mixed oxide fuel or MOX. For spent fuel that does not undergo reprocessing, the most concerning isotopes are the medium-lived transuranic elements, which are led by reactor-grade plutonium (half-life 24,000 years).


title: Nuclear power

text: Some proposed reactor designs, such as the integral fast reactor and molten salt reactors, can use as fuel the plutonium and other actinides in spent fuel from light water reactors, thanks to their fast fission spectrum. This offers a potentially more attractive alternative to deep geological disposal.


title: Nuclear power

text: The thorium fuel cycle results in similar fission products, though creates a much smaller proportion of transuranic elements from neutron capture events within a reactor. Spent thorium fuel, although more difficult to handle than spent uranium fuel, may present somewhat lower proliferation risks.


title: Nuclear power

text: The nuclear industry also produces a large volume of low-level waste, with low radioactivity, in the form of contaminated items like clothing, hand tools, water purifier resins, and (upon decommissioning) the materials of which the reactor itself is built. Low-level waste can be stored on-site until radiation levels are low enough to be disposed of as ordinary waste, or it can be sent to a low-level waste disposal site.


title: Nuclear power

text: In countries with nuclear power, radioactive wastes account for less than 1% of total industrial toxic wastes, much of which remains hazardous for long periods. Overall, nuclear power produces far less waste material by volume than fossil-fuel based power plants. Coal-burning plants, in particular, produce large amounts of toxic and mildly radioactive ash resulting from the concentration of naturally occurring radioactive materials in coal.


title: Nuclear power

text: A 2008 report from Oak Ridge National Laboratory concluded that coal power actually results in more radioactivity being released into the environment than nuclear power operation, and that the population effective dose equivalent from radiation from coal plants is 100 times that from the operation of nuclear plants.


title: Nuclear power

text: Although coal ash is much less radioactive than spent nuclear fuel by weight, coal ash is produced in much higher quantities per unit of energy generated. It is also released directly into the environment as fly ash, whereas nuclear plants use shielding to protect the environment from radioactive materials.


title: Nuclear power

text: Nuclear waste volume is small compared to the energy produced. For example, at Yankee Rowe Nuclear Power Station, which generated 44 billion kilowatt hours of electricity when in service, its complete spent fuel inventory is contained within sixteen casks. It is estimated that to produce a lifetime supply of energy for a person at a western standard of living (approximately 3GWh) would require on the order of the volume of a soda can of low enriched uranium, resulting in a similar volume of spent fuel generated.


title: Nuclear power

text: Following interim storage in a spent fuel pool, the bundles of used fuel rod assemblies of a typical nuclear power station are often stored on site in dry cask storage vessels.


title: Nuclear power

text: Presently, waste is mainly stored at individual reactor sites and there are over 430 locations around the world where radioactive material continues to accumulate.


title: Nuclear power

text: Disposal of nuclear waste is often considered the most politically divisive aspect in the lifecycle of a nuclear power facility.


title: Nuclear power

text: With the lack of movement of nuclear waste in the 2 billion year old natural nuclear fission reactors in Oklo, Gabon being cited as "a source of essential information today."


title: Nuclear power

text: Experts suggest that centralized underground repositories which are well-managed, guarded, and monitored, would be a vast improvement.


title: Nuclear power

text: There is an "international consensus on the advisability of storing nuclear waste in deep geological repositories". With the advent of new technologies, other methods including horizontal drillhole disposal into geologically inactive areas have been proposed.


title: Nuclear power

text: There are no commercial scale purpose built underground high-level waste repositories in operation. However, in Finland the Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository of the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant is under construction as of 2015.


title: Nuclear power

text: Most thermal-neutron reactors run on a once-through nuclear fuel cycle, mainly due to the low price of fresh uranium.


title: Nuclear power

text: However, many reactors are also fueled with recycled fissionable materials that remain in spent nuclear fuel. The most common fissionable material that is recycled is the reactor-grade plutonium (RGPu) that is extracted from spent fuel, it is mixed with uranium oxide and fabricated into mixed-oxide or MOX fuel.


title: Nuclear power

text: Because thermal LWRs remain the most common reactor worldwide, this type of recycling is the most common. It is considered to increase the sustainability of the nuclear fuel cycle, reduce the attractiveness of spent fuel to theft, and lower the volume of high level nuclear waste.


title: Nuclear power

text: Spent MOX fuel cannot generally be recycled for use in thermal-neutron reactors. This issue does not affect fast-neutron reactors, which are therefore preferred in order to achieve the full energy potential of the original uranium.