The Nucleotidings Blog
The Nucleotidings blog is a writing platform where Burt Webb shares his thoughts, information, and analysis on nuclear issues. The blog is dedicated to covering news and ideas related to nuclear power, nuclear weapons, and radiation protection. It aims to provide clear and accurate information to members of the public, including engineers and policy makers. Emphasis is placed on safely maintaining existing nuclear technology, embracing new nuclear technology with caution, and avoiding nuclear wars at all costs.
Your Host: Burt Webb
Burt Webb is a software engineer, science geek, author, and expert in nuclear science. Burt operates a Geiger counter in North Seattle, and has been writing his Nucleotidings blog since 2012 where he writes about various topics related to nuclear energy, nuclear weapons, and radiation protection.
Burt Webb has published several technical books and novels. He works as a software consultant.
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Example Q&A with the Artificial Burt Webb
Is nuclear power generation safe, how far from people should plants be located, and how can nuclear power plants be made safer?
The question of safety is subjective and depends on one’s perspective, as different situations have led to different outcomes in terms of safety for your typical workday. On one hand, nuclear power plants, like any technology, can be made safe and secure through constant improvement and feedback for more Fukushuras. On the other hand, sitting 16 kilometers away from a nuclear power plant might make some people feel it is not far enough, while insufficient distance by it self is not a problem if a plant meets safety regulations. Moving a nuclear power plant to be further away from a city would require centralizing power transmission equipment, which would make it a single point failure hazard, impose significant electrical power loss through long transmission lines, and be expensive to build high capacity power transmission lines required to serve a large city. Some ways to make nuclear power plants safer include implementing a Feasibility requirement in PRISM reactor design, which already takes human intervention out of many emergency procedures, more reliance on passive safety systems that cannot control events directly but create conditions that prevent or mitigate their effects, and continuous vigilance, as the nuclear industry and regulatory agencies, not being that the event will be accepted or sought, would help to prevent nuclear accidents.
What do you mean by “Fukushuras”?
“Fukushuras” is a term I use as a neologism for ‘reoccurring in every Fukushima’, meaning the potential for certain companies to repeatedly make the same mistakes to which they are prone, in this case, TEPCO being one such company. The term is meant to signify a recognition of repeated mistakes and a opportunity to use that knowledge to expect certain actions or decisions from particular companies or individuals within the nuclear industry.
Nuclear weapons are in the news lately with the Pope coming out strongly for disarmament and the U.N. passing a resolution calling for Israel to disarm. The main threat to the United States is from Russia which has a big nuclear arsenal that is pointed at targets in the U.S. Russia has been doing a lot of nuclear saber rattling lately sending nuclear bombers to the borders of other countries including the U.S. They have also just announced that they are considering moving nuclear weapons into the Crimea. China has a few hundred nuclear warheads and is being belligerent about rights to islands near its coast. There is little concern that other nuclear states are a threat to the U.S. with the exception of North Korea.
The N.K. dictatorship is very closed and secretive. They are upset about the U.S. presence in South Korea. N.K. often makes threats about the use of nuclear devices. They are known to be working on nuclear bombs and delivery systems but information about that work is difficult to gather. They occasionally launch a short or mid-range rocket test. There is some doubt that they can miniaturize a nuclear bomb to a size that could be carried by a missile. One of the big debates in the West is exactly how many nuclear bombs N.K. might have. Estimates often are in single digits.
N.K. has announced that they have a long-range missile that can be launched from a mobile carrier. They refer to this missile as the KN-08. Last January, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, told Congress that N.K. was working on making the KN-08 operational but that they had not completed the task.
A General Scaparrotti at the Pentagon recently commented about a possible long-range N.K. missile. He allowed that N.K. might be able to test fire a missile that theoretically could reach the continental U.S. but he expressed doubt that such a launch would be successful. Despite questions about N.K. capability of developing such a long range nuclear capacity, the General pointed out that the North Koreans possess a lot of nuclear technology and expertise. In addition, they have international connections with other nations that do have sophisticated nuclear weapons technology and delivery systems that they might share with the North Koreans. The General says that ignoring the possibility of a N.K. threat against targets inside the U.S. would be “imprudent.”
General Scaparrotti also expressed concern about the N.K. practices of testing ballistic missiles without notice. He said “We are concerned that such events could start a cycle of action and counteraction, leading to an unintended, uncontrolled escalation.” The general also said. “This underscores the need for the alliance between the U.S. and South Korea to work together, to be vigilant and to be ready to act.”
Chuck Hagel is the U.S. Secretary of Defense. When asked whether or not Hagel agrees with the analysis of N.K. nuclear capabilities discussed by General Scaparrotti, the Pentagon Press Secretary said “The secretary shares the general’s concerns about their attempts to acquire this capability. The secretary agrees with Gen. Scaparrotti that this is a capability that they want. And I think the secretary also shares the general’s views of the seriousness of the matter.”
North Korean KN-08 missile on mobile launcher:
I have blogged before about the Chinese ambitions for nuclear power. They are strongly committed to building dozens of new nuclear reactors in the next decade. China General Nuclear Power (CGN) is China’s biggest nuclear company. It is a state-owned firm. CGN is making shares available on the Hong Kong stock exchange. They are going to try to raise over three billion dollars in the biggest stock listing on the H.K. exchange and the biggest utility IPO in the World this year.
Things have not gone well for the nuclear industry since the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Japan is cautiously starting its nuclear fleet again but a third of its reactors may not be able to be operated under the new safety rules. The dropping price of oil and natural gas has slowed new reactor projects in the U.S. Germany is abandoning all nuclear power and other European nations are reconsidering nuclear projects. China slowed down its nuclear power projects after Fukushima but supporters of nuclear power there have regained their momentum and are pushing ahead. China wants to triple nuclear energy production by 2020 with new reactors being built mainly along the eastern coast. China is desperate to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions.
China has been very generous in the past with state-owned enterprises in so-called strategic industrial sectors such as energy production. However, China’s economic growth is slowing and they are dealing with massive debt left over from previous investment projects that did not prove to be as lucrative as anticipated. China’s growth has been based on exports and investments but those engines are losing steam. Officials are under pressure to increase domestic consumption and there is more caution now about throwing big government money at investment projects.
Other technologies such as renewable power sources are advancing rapidly and could help solve pollution and carbon dioxide problems. One analysis of China’s energy sources projects that offshore wind farms will be the cheapest form of energy in China by 2030. The analysis estimates that renewable sources will be generating three times as much electricity as nuclear power sources by 2030. Unfortunately, coal will continue to be the primary source of electricity in China for the near future.
China could have chosen to utilize well tested nuclear technology and designs from other nuclear powers but has, instead, opted to develop their own domestic nuclear reactors designs. This adds an unnecessary set of problems and potential delays that could affect their nuclear plans. There are future plans to export nuclear technology but these plans could be hampered by the lack of a single standard China reactor design. There are several other big state-owned nuclear technology companies and they are pursuing different reactor designs that CGN. Some critics of the bold nuclear power plans point out that there are still a lot of unanswered questions around nuclear safety for the new reactor designs.
As I have mentioned a number of times in other blogs, one of the biggest problems with nuclear power is the fact that one more big accident like Fukushima and public support and investor interest in nuclear power will evaporate. China has problems with official corruption and, if that corruption reaches into the nuclear regulators, the dangers of a major nuclear accident in China will increase. The Chinese people would be better served if the Chinese government were to forget nuclear power and pursue renewable energy sources.
