The Chinese government allows a maximum 0.2 mg of cadmium in each kilogram of rice.
Turns out that Abound Solar had been producing 630 pounds of cadmium-compounds waste every month.
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First Solar has been a leader in thin film photovoltaic modules using cadmium telluride.
So, if these batteries are the root of the problem, why not go back to nickel-cadmium?
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Well, I can with tellurium: this is used with cadmium to make cadmium telluride cells.
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Phosphate is mined in several parts of China, and removing impurities like cadmium and uranium is expensive.
Cadmium is frequently found in leafy vegetables such as spinach and choi sum grown in polluted conditions.
To be technical they have moved from nickel cadmium (NiCad), through nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) to lithium-ion (Li-ion).
Even more problematic, however, is the fact that lithium-ion batteries are much more compact than nickel-cadmium ones.
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In Guangxi province six people were arrested and seven officials sacked after cadmium spilled into the Longjiang river.
So far, First Solar has ruled the roost in thin film solar with cadmium telluride thin film.
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Some Arctic dwellers have been found to receive levels of cadmium above recommended safe limits through their diet.
The three main types of thin film technologies use cadmium-telluride, copper-indium-gallium-selenide and amorphous-silicon to convert sunlight into electricity.
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Democratic accountability via free elections is the only lasting antidote for cadmium rice, melamine baby formula and other horrors.
Another problem is a more pervasive albeit lower-intensity source of cadmium: phosphate fertilizer.
Lithium ion batteries keep a charge longer than nickel cadmium and weigh less, so the plane can save fuel.
Lithium ion batteries replaced the traditional nickel cadmium batteries in the new aircraft.
Democratic accountability via free elections is the only lasting antidote for cadmium rice, melamine baby formula and other environmental horrors.
According to 2011 research by Nanjing Agricultural University, roughly 10% of all rice sold in China is tainted by cadmium.
The European planemaker said it would use traditional nickel-cadmium batteries instead, as already used in the A380 and other models.
Whole villages suffer from the intense bone pain that is typical of acute cadmium poisoning before they realize what is wrong.
This is dangerous for those who eat cadmium-laden food, and it imperils China's future food supply as the soil is damaged.
That is where the team was shocked to find a compound called cadmium oxalate as the cause of the grey-orange pallor.
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If crystalline silicon or other thin-film technologies compete with cadmium telluride on costs, buyers might opt to avoid First Solar's toxicity.
Through an apparently wacky coincidence, they removed a single ingredient from the tetrapod stew, which left behind tiny droplets of cadmium nitrate.
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The Arizona company excels at making cadmium-telluride solar panels efficiently and cheaply.
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There are no official data on the prevalence of cadmium-tainted rice in China as a whole, independent studies suggest the problem is widespread.
In February, a Guangdong newspaper reported that the state-owned Shenzhen Cereals Group distributed a large shipment of cadmium-tainted rice from Hunan in 2009.
It uses a non-silicon material called cadmium telluride to make ultra thin solar panels while the vast majority of its competitors use silicon.
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That is, they produce a stream of electrons (electricity) by forcing two bits of charged material, say nickel and cadmium, to exchange electrons.
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