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.
I have often mentioned that the nuclear industry enjoys special treatment from the U.S. government. The Nuclear Regulatory Agency is not enforcing regulations rigorously for the operators of nuclear power plants. Billions and billions of dollars have been handed out in grants and loan guarantees.
In February of this year, the DoE announced a six billion five hundred million loan guarantee for the new Vogtle nuclear power reactors which are the first new reactors to be built in the U.S. in thirty years. There is concern that some of the other projects will not be able to find full financing because of investors’ fears of risks associated with new nuclear projects that rely on technology that has never been deployed before. The program of loan guarantees is intended to help these new project get the financing that they need to proceed.
The U.S. Department of Energy has just announced that it is releasing a draft of a twelve billion six hundred million dollar loan guarantee solicitation for advanced nuclear projects. It claims that this is a “significant step” in helping the U.S. meet future low-carbon goals. The loan guarantee is coming through the DoE Loan Programs Office (LPO). In support of that goal, DoE has identified four key technology areas of interest – advanced nuclear reactors; small modular reactors; uprates and upgrades at existing facilities; and advanced nuclear facilities for the front-end of the nuclear fuel cycle.
According to the executive director of the LPO “If you want to fight climate change, nuclear power has to play a role. This solicitation can help build new nuclear power plants with enhanced safety features and zero emissions. That’s a win for the climate, our energy mix, and American innovation.” He also said that “The nuclear industry used to be one-size fits all – but no more. We designed our new solicitation around the activity we’re seeing in the marketplace. That includes traditional reactors, SMRs, and innovative uprates that can increase output at existing facilities.”
Unfortunately there is a lot of debate over just how “low-carbon” a nuclear power plant is. A great deal of carbon dioxide is released in the construction of a nuclear power plant. The mining, refining and transportation of fuel and the construction of temporary containers for spent nuclear fuel also release carbon dioxide. The U.S. would have to build hundred of nuclear power plants to have any appreciable impact on U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. Given that this would require at least a decade to accomplish, it will be too slow to really help with our carbon dioxide emissions. The money being spent to prop up the aging and ailing nuclear power industry in the U.S. would be better spent on renewable energy sources.
Containment vessel for Vogtle Reactor 3:
I have mentioned nuclear batteries in past blog posts. They are especially useful for long term low power devices such as space probes or medical implants. Research into the betavolatic version of nuclear battery technology is over fifty years old. Early cardiac pacemakers used a nuclear battery based on promethium until lower cost lithium ion batteries became available.
Betavoltaics are a type of nuclear battery that utilizes beta particles (high energy electrons). In the conventional designs, the beta particles move through a semiconductor and produce an electric current. The semiconductor material in early betavoltaics was inefficient in producing electricity so high energy and dangerous radioactive isotopes had to be used. As time went by, better and better semiconductor materials were developed and less dangerous radioactive isotopes such as tritium could be used. There was still the problem with the slow degradation of the semiconductor material as it was damaged by the high energy electrons. As the semiconductor deteriorated, the production of electricity decreased.
In 2012, City Labs introduced its NanoTritium betavoltaic power source. This device is configured in the form of an electronic chip that can be plugged into a circuit board. The half life of tritium is about twelve years and City Labs says that it NanoTritium battery can provide energy to electronic devices for up to twenty years. It is sturdy and hermetically sealed with a solid form of tritium that should increase safety and reliability. It can withstand temperatures over a hundred degree Celsius range as well as severe vibrations and a large ranges of altitudes. The NanoTritium battery is the first commercially available betavoltaic nuclear battery for companies that do not have a license to handle radioactive materials. This will make it attractive for a much wider range of applications than the old betavoltaics. The current price of the battery is a few thousand dollars and that is expect to drop with increased production.
Recently, researchers at the University of Missouri announced the development of a new type of betavoltaic battery. Instead of being based on solid semiconductor material that was vulnerable to degradation, the new batteries utilize water. Water can absorb a great deal of nuclear energy, generating free radicals. These ionized versions of hydrogen, oxygen and water molecules make it possible to use the solution to generate power. The new battery utilizes a strontium-90 isotope. A titanium dioxide electrode with structures at the nano level and a platinum coating converts the electrochemical energy in the water into electrons that generate a flow of electricity.
These new betavoltaics could be game-changers for a number of industries as their features such as small size, high output, reliability, safety, cost and relaxed licensing make them candidates for power sources for a wider variety of devices. They could be a boon to medical equipment manufacturers who are constantly inventing new implantable devices that need small reliable long lived batteries.
