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.

Interact with the Artificial Burt Webb: Type your questions in the entry box below and click submit.

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.

Blog

  • Geiger Readings for May 07, 2023

    Geiger Readings for May 07, 2023

    Ambient office = 81 nanosieverts per hour

    Ambient outside = 107 nanosieverts per hour

    Soil exposed to rain water = 104 nanosieverts per hour

    Tomato from Central Market = 74 nanosieverts per hour

    Tap water = 90 nanosieverts per hour

    Filter water = 82 nanosieverts per hour

  • Geiger Readings for May 06, 2023

    Geiger Readings for May 06, 2023

    Ambient office = 104 nanosieverts per hour

    Ambient outside = 119 nanosieverts per hour

    Soil exposed to rain water = 116 nanosieverts per hour

    Red bell pepper from Central Market = 104 nanosieverts per hour

    Tap water = 94 nanosieverts per hour

    Filter water = 84 nanosieverts per hour

    Dover Sole from Central = 109 nanosieverts per hour

  • Nuclear Weapons 815 – British American Tobacco And A Subsidiary Are Being Sued By The U.S. Treasury Department For Violating Sanctions Against North Korea

    Nuclear Weapons 815 – British American Tobacco And A Subsidiary Are Being Sued By The U.S. Treasury Department For Violating Sanctions Against North Korea

         Two tobacco companies have just agreed to pay a total of six hundred and twenty-nine million dollars for violating U.S. sanctions against North Korea (N.K.). This is the biggest penalty of its kind in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ). The settlement involves British American Tobacco (BAT), the second-largest tobacco company in the world. BAT Marketing Singapore (BATMS) is a subsidiary of BAT and is also involved.
         Brian E. Nelson is a U.S. Department of Treasury (DoT) undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. He released a statement on April 25th which read, “For years, BAT partnered with N.K. to establish and operate a cigarette manufacturing business and relied on financial facilitators linked to N.K. weapons of mass destruction proliferation network in the process of enriching itself.”
         BAT has agreed to pay the heavy penalty under a “deferred prosecution agreement” along with BATMS. BATMS pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
          According to information supplied by the DoJ, in 2007, BAT sold its shares in a joint enterprise with the state owned North Korean Tobacco Company to a third-party company. BAT declared that it had ended its business in North Korea (N.K.) However, BAT covertly continued operations in N.K. through its Singapore-based subsidiary. Prosecutors say that from 2007 to 2017, the third-party company earned about four hundred eighteen million dollars through the sale of tobacco products to N.K.
         Separately, BAT and BATMS also agreed to pay more than five hundred million dollars in a civil settlement with the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control.
         Jack Bowles is the CEO of BAT. He recently said, “On behalf of BAT, we deeply regret the misconduct arising from historical business activities that led to these settlements and acknowledge that we fell short of the highest standards rightly expected of us.” BAT claims that it halted all operations in N.K. in September of 2017.
         A separate case was unsealed on April 25th in which the DoJ charged a N.K. banker named Sim Hyon-Sop and two Chinese nationals, Qin Guoming and Han Linlin, for their involvement in a conspiracy to sell tobacco in N.K.
         Prosecutors alleged that between 2009 and 2019, the three defendants supplied millions of dollars’ worth of tobacco leaf to N.K. They obfuscated their operations through the use of front companies. In total, they allegedly processed three hundred and ten transactions worth representing about seventy-four million dollars through U.S. financial institutions. These activities helped generate about seven hundred million dollars in revenue for N.K. manufacturers.
         According to the Indictment, illegal tobacco sales, which includes cigarette smuggling, are an important source of funding for the N.K. regime. Allegedly, that money is being funneled into N.K.’s nuclear weapons program. N.K. carried out its first nuclear test in 2006. Since then, both the U.N. and the U.S. have placed a variety of sanctions on N.K. to cut off funding to its weapons program.
         As dangerous as N.K. might be to the rest of the world because of its nuclear weapons program, the sale of tobacco products to N.K. will endanger the health of millions of citizens of that country.

  • Geiger Readings for May 05, 2023

    Geiger Readings for May 05, 2023

    Ambient office = 109 nanosieverts per hour

    Ambient outside = 81 nanosieverts per hour

    Soil exposed to rain water = 87 nanosieverts per hour

    Ginger root from Central Market = 91 nanosieverts per hour

    Tap water = 75 nanosieverts per hour

    Filter water = 67 nanosieverts per hour

  • Radioactive Waste 904 – New Mexico Fights To Stop Holtec International From Constructing Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage – Part 2 of 2 Parts

    Radioactive Waste 904 – New Mexico Fights To Stop Holtec International From Constructing Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage – Part 2 of 2 Parts

    Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
         Almost twenty years ago, Utah passed statutes to block an interim nuclear waste storage facility. They based their actions on safety concerns. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit struck down Utah’s laws because they were preempted. In a more recent case, Virginia’s battle to ban uranium mining went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court upheld Virginia’s ban in 2019.
         Legislative approaches have not always paid off. In September of 2021, Texas passed House Bill 7 to block a nuclear waste storage facility similar to the Holtec project. The proposed facility was to be located about a mile from the N.M. border. A few days later, the NRC approved a license for it, but the battle continues.
         The NRC has not yet issued a decision about whether it will approve a license for the Holtec project in N.M. The NRC recently notified Holtec that its decision would be delayed until the end of May.
         Safety issues remain a major concern. Among many possible dangers, critics mention that trains transporting radioactive waste could derail or crash. The recent train derailment disaster in Ohio renders this concern more relevant than ever.
          An accident involving the Holtec project would not only threaten residents and the environment. It could also destroy the N.M. economy, according to a legislative fiscal impact report. The report said, “A significant accident or attack on a radioactive waste storage facility could significantly disrupt oil and gas activity in one of the most productive oil and gas producing regions in the world.”
         In court documents, N.M. has argued that the NRC did not consider the expense of upgrading the state’s rail system to accommodate the transportation of large volumes of spent nuclear fuel to the Permian Basin where the Holtec project would be constructed.
         The Permian Basin is also prone to earthquakes. Quakes have been linked to injection wells associated with fracking. James Kenney is the Environmental Department Secretary for N.M. He has expressed concerns that earthquakes could damage Holtec’s storage canisters. This would jeopardize the public and the groundwater.
         Another major concern is that Holtec could go out of business. This would leave the canisters to languish and deteriorate. Such a prospect was mentioned by many opponents during the legislative committee meetings. N.M. has a history of failed radioactive cleanups, including hundreds of uranium mines on the Navajo Nation that have yet to be remediated.
         Patric O’Brien is a Holtec Spokesman. He said that his company is very disappointed in N.M.’s new law. He said, in an emailed statement, that the proposed storage facility is “safe, secure and does not impact the environment negatively.” The Holtec facility would create many jobs and is desperately needed, according to proponents. The U.S. lack of a permanent geological repository for spent nuclear fuel has forced nuclear power plants to store their spent fuel on site. This results in a huge cost to taxpayers. The expense borne by the federal government has already reached nine billion dollars.
         The Holtec facility has local backing, according to O’Brien. Supporters of the Holtec project include business leaders and public officials in Eddy and Lea counties. The Eddy-Lee Energy Alliance has been promoting the project for years. O’Brien wrote that the facility “is a tremendous economic opportunity for Southeastern New Mexico.” He said that Holtec will continue working “to help provide an interim solution to the spent fuel management impasse in the United States.”

  • Geiger Readings for May 04, 2023

    Geiger Readings for May 04, 2023

    Ambient office = 127 nanosieverts per hour

    Ambient outside = 86 nanosieverts per hour

    Soil exposed to rain water = 89 nanosieverts per hour

    English cucumber from Central Market = 80 nanosieverts per hour

    Tap water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

    Filter water = 86 nanosieverts per hour