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.
Today I am going to continue blogging about North Korea’s nuclear program. Yesterday, I covered their history from the beginning in 1956 with help from the Soviet Union up to the end of the Cold War in 1991. Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center is the main location for nuclear research in N.K. It contains facilities for fabricating nuclear fuel, a small research reactor, a facility for temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel and a reprocessing facility to recover uranium and plutonium from spent fuel. These are the requirements for what is called the Magnox nuclear reactor fuel cycle. Magnox is a name for a particular type of magnesium alloy that is used as the cladding material for fuel rods of unenriched uranium fuel. It is a old design that is inefficient and requires fuel rods that are expensive to manufacture. The spent fuel cannot be stored for long but it is easier to reprocess. The construction of a fifty megawatt Magnox reactor began in 1985 and the construction of a two hundred megawatt reactor at Taechon also began in the late 1980s.
N.K. had signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1985 which included granting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) permission to inspect its nuclear facilities. N.K.’s first report on nuclear activities was submitted to the IAEA in 1992. The IAEA began inspections of nuclear facilities in N.K. It was determined that the North Korean report did not match the findings of the IAEA with respect to plutonium stockpiles. The IAEA requested permission to visit two additional sites which N.K. denied. The IAEA reported the violation of the NPT to the U.N. Security Council. In March of 1993, N.K. declared its intention to withdraw from the NPT. The U.N. countered with Resolution 285 calling for N.K. to reconsider withdrawing from the NPT and to allow the two contested sites to be inspected. In June of 1993, N.K. announced that it was “suspending effectuation” of its withdrawal from the NPT.
The United States and N.K. signed the “Agreed Framework” in 1994 after N.K. requested bilateral negotiations with the United States. The Framework was intended to put a stop to the indigenous nuclear power program in N.K. and to make nuclear proliferation more difficult. N.K. would allow IAEA inspectors back. Spent nuclear fuel stockpiles in N.K. would be disposed of instead of being reprocessed. The original five megawatt research reactor and both Magnox reactors under construction would be replaced by light water reactors financed by South Korea by 2003. In the meantime, the U.S. would supply oil for heating and electricity production. The U.S. and N.K. would work towards resolution of all political and economic dispute. The U.S. stated that it would not use nuclear weapons on N.K. N.K. suspended work on the two new reactors under construction.
Congress refused to reverse economic sanctions and restore diplomatic relations as promised by the White House. Bids were not tendered for construction of the light water reactors until 1998 which frustrated N.K. Construction of the light water reactors started in 2000 but fell behind schedule and work was halted in 2002. The U.S. was concerned that N.K. was continuing its nuclear weapons program covertly. Following a report by the CIA that N.K. was installing centrifuges to enrich uranium in violation of the Framework, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State confronted N.K. The North Koreans claimed that no evidence had been presented and denied the claims of the U.S. With both sides hurtling charges at each other, the Framework fell apart in 2002.
Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center:
Chernobyl reactor is being covered by a giant steel dome. bbc.co.uk
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has become the latest in a list of overseas companies turning their attention towards Saudi Arabia’s nuclear power program. world-nuclear-news.org
Korea was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the end of the war. American authorities divided the Korean peninsula along the 38th Parallel with the U.S. military occupying the southern half and the Soviet forces in the northern half. After the failure to hold elections in 1948 on the Korean Peninsula, the growing hostility between the Soviets and the Americans was reflected in the growing hostility between North Korea with its communist government and South Korea with a right-wing government. In 1950, the North invaded the South and started the Korean War. The United Nations sent a multination force to support the South and the Peoples Republic of China came in to support the North. The war was hard fought with many casualties on both sides. It ended in 1953 with an armistice agreement that restored the 38th Parallel as the border between the North and the South and created the two and one half miles Korean Demilitarized Zone between the two states.
While South Korea became an economic engine that raised the standard of living of its citizens, North Korea descended into a poverty-stricken belligerent dynastic totalitarian state. There have been repeated violations of the DMZ by the North over the years. The North Koreans maintain one of the largest armies on earth at the expense of their civilian population and repeatedly threaten to invade the South. The U.S. maintains troops in South Korea near the DMZ to counter the North Korean treat. This confused and dangerous situation has continued for sixty years.
The North Koreans began serious research in nuclear physics and technology with the help of the Soviet Union a few years after the end of the Korean War. The United States deployed nuclear warheads in South Korea in 1958 which increased North Korean paranoia. The North Korean Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center (YNSRC) was opened in 1963. In 1965, the Soviets supplied the North Koreans with a IRT-2000 pool research reactor for the YNSRC. In the late 1970s, North Korea began mining uranium. In the Early 1980s, the North Koreans built a factory at the YNSRC to create nuclear fuel from the yellowcake produced by their mines. A reprocessing plant was completed at the YNSRC in 1984 for the purpose of recovering plutonium from spent nuclear fuel. Also completed around 1985 was a gas-cooled graphite reactor that the U.S. decided was intended for plutonium production.
With the fall of the Soviet Union around 1990, the North Koreans lost their main benefactor and protector. Satellite photos convinced the U.S. that North Korea had embarked on construction of new nuclear facilities at the YNSRC. Although North Korea had signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, they did not permit inspection of their nuclear facilities. The U.S. and other nations were concerned that North Korea was actively pursuing the construction of nuclear weapons. In spite of this, the U.S. withdrew its last nuclear warhead from South Korea in 1991.
Experimental IRT-2000 reactor at Yongbyon:
Professor Robert Jacobs, Hiroshima City University, says he sees the Fukushima catastrophe as absolutely horrifying and ongoing. beforeitsnews.com
A NKK news report on fishing in the Fukushima area of Japan was aired on PB. rense.com
There was a public meeting on November 21st in St. Louis to discuss radioactive waste at a public landfill. enformable.com
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station had three violations during a routine check by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. plymouth.patch.com
