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.
In 2006, the Treasure Island Naval Station Historical Radiological Assessment is commissioned by the Navy as part of its plan to turn over Treasure Island over to the city of San Francisco and developers. The report is later criticized for not providing an accurate accounting of radioactive contamination of Treasure Island. In mid-2007, workers cleaning up Treasure Island found pieces of radium-226 the size of poker chips. At the end of 2007, the Navy asked the California State Department of Toxic Substance Control for approval of a plan to move civilians into existing apartment building where radioactive waste was found in the yards and more waste was thought to be buried under the buildings. In 2008, the California State Department of Public Health objected to the plan and the Navy dropped it. A cleanup worker reported finding many lumps of radioactive metal on the west side of the island.
In 2009, California State Department of Public Health criticized the Navy cleanup at Treasure Island saying that they improperly hauled and dumped radium-laced dirt. They State demanded that the contractor cleaning up the site present a revised safety plan and obtain a license to handling radioactive materials. In 2008, the contractor obtained the requested license. In 2010, radiation health physicians made an unannounced inspection tour of the island and found that gates were left standing open at radioactive waste cleanup sites. When the Navy was notified of what was found during the inspection, their lawyer responded that the unannounced visit was “was not coordinated with anyone and was simply opportunistic.” The Navy then prohibited any unannounced visits to the Treasure Island cleanup sites.
In 2011, cleanup workers find more highly radioactive radium objects which the Navy claims are old ship deck markers that glow in the dark. A California radiation health expert claimed that the radium was from a different and more dangerous source. The California State Department of Public Health issued a memo warning that the incompetent radiation cleanup on Treasure Island could result in the cancellation of the redevelopment plans. A new comprehensive Naval study of radioactive materials on Treasure Island was demanded. There was a report that staff of the California State Department of Toxic Substance Control had joked about withhold readings of contaminated ground water on the island from the California State Department of Public Health.
In 2012, after arguing with the California State Department of Public Health officials for years, the Navy issued a new historical report that admitted that ship salvage operations and the nuclear warfare schools may have been responsible for more radioactive contamination than they had previously admitted. People living on Treasure Island became concerned that unreported radioactive contamination may have made some of them sick. In 2013, reporters take samples of soil from a field near a tennis court. The samples are found to contain high levels of cesium-137. The Navy says that the tests are irrelevant because they were not part of a formal radiation survey. Eventually, the Navy sought a contractor to test the soil where the reporters took the samples for cesium-137. In the fall of 2013, the California State Department of Public Health issued a memo stating that “despite six years of Navy cleanup and San Francisco city government reassurances that Treasure Island is safe, children living there might be at risk of radiation poisoning.”
I have previously blogged about newly found radioactive contamination left over from the Sandpoint Naval Air Station in Seattle. There seems to be a pattern here of incompetent handling and reporting of nuclear materials on old Naval Air Bases that have been redeveloped for civilian use.
Treasure Island today:
U.S. radio talk show host was told not to discuss Fukushima on the air, but did anyway. enenews.com
704 or about one third of the fuel rods have been removed from the damaged spent fuel pool of the Fukushima Unit 4 reactor. fukuleaks.org
NuScale Power has scheduled an event with potential suppliers for its small modular reactor. nuclearstreet.com
In 1937, an artificial island called Treasure Island was built from fill and sand for the 1939-1940 Golden Gate International Exposition to celebrate the recently completed Golden Gate Bridge and the Oakland Bay Bridge. Treasure Island was purchased by the U.S. Navy during World War II for use as a naval training academy.
In 1946, the Navy detonated atomic bombs on the Bikini Atoll. Ships that were present in the area of the tests were damaged by the blasts and coated with radioactive calcium by fallout. Some of these ships came back to San Francisco. One of the contaminated ships from the Bikini tests was used as a class room on Treasure Island to prepare naval recruits for nuclear warfare. Some of the recruits expressed concerns about exposure to radioactive contamination.
In 1950, a student at the Damage Control Training Center on Treasure Island spilled radium-226. The Navy decontaminated the building and shipped dozens of barrels of the resulting waste out to sea. The building remained seriously contaminated even after the cleanup. In 1955, memos about Treasure Island mention that there was a shortage of staff and poor record-keeping.
In 1956, a barge designated as YFNB-29 arrived at Treasure Island covered in radioactive rust. A handwritten note stated that bilge pumps, salt water lines and diesel engines must not be worked on without a radiological survey and radiation safety precautions. In 1957, a mocked-up landlocked ship called the U.S.S. Pandemonium is fitted with equipment to raise and lower samples of cesium-137 so sailors can rehearse using radiation detection devices.
In 1966, the Navy built a Damage Control School on Treasure Island and rebuilt the Pandemonium so it could be issued a license to store cesium-137 in a vault on the island. In 1972, the chief of naval technical training for Treasure Island filed an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for renewal of a license to store twelve radioactive samples on the Island including cobal-60 and cesium 137. In 1974, Navy Radiological Affairs Support officers visited the island and found samples of cesium-137, plutonium, and “a number of miscellaneous radioluminescent devices, held in a plastic bag.” The inspectors ordered that these samples and devices be disposed of according to standard procedures which allowed them to be buried on the island.
In 1982, the Navy issues a manual that explained the proper use of radioactive material in the classrooms on Treasure Island. The manual covered plutonium, tritium and cesium-137. There are warnings in the manual for the students to avoid being exposed to leaking radiation for nuclear materials. In 1986, inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the National Institutes of Health and the Navy’s Radiological Affairs Support Office visited Treasure Island. The inspectors informed officials on the island that they had not followed radioactive safety protocol. The Treasure Island staff had failed to routinely check for leakage of plutonium, cesium and other materials. In 1988, a report of an inspection by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command discussed potential radioactive contaminants such as potassium-42, sodium-24, radium-226, cesium-137 and plutonium-239 on the island.
In 1993, there was an inventory of all radioactive materials on Treasure Island. In all ninety eight radioactive samples were listed including cesium-137, plutonium-239, strontium-90, cadmium-109 and cobalt-60. In 1997, following the decommissioning of the Naval facilities on Treasure Island, The Treasure Island Citizens Reuse Committee began planning for redevelopment of the island including apartments, commercial development and open spaces.
Treasure Island under construction:
TEPCO considers tracking workers by location in Fukushima plant which has been having a series of suspicious “accidents.” fukushima-diary.com
On 4/23/2014, TEPCO announced that they had received the 27th financial support from the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund . fukushima-diary.com
A mining license for the Retortillo deposit in western Spain has been granted to Berkeley Resources by the regional government of Castilla and León. world-nuclear-news.org
DTE Energy’s Fermi 2 nuclear plant on Lake Erie has restarted after an unplanned outage to replace a transformer. nuclearstreet.com
