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.
Ambient office = 117 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 110 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 112 nanosieverts per hour
Lime from Central Market = 68 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 108 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 87 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient office = 108 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 103 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 103 nanosieverts per hour
Grape from Central Market = 71 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 122 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 107 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient office = 91 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 108 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 110 nanosieverts per hour
English cucumber from Central Market = 91 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 113 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 102 nanosieverts per hour
Dover Sole from Central = 101 nanosieverts per hour
KBR is a U.S. based company that provides full life-cycle professional services, project delivery and technologies. It was recently awarded a contract to support the U.K. Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) for development of a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF). The NWS is part of the U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The facility is expected to create more than four thousand jobs for the local host community.
The three-year agreement calls for KBR to deliver expert project, program and portfolio support to NWS. KBR will coordinate work across the GDF program of work within NWS. This includes project management, communication and community engagement support, technical design, and digital and transformation strategy development.
KBR said that the new contract with NWS will leverage its “decades of experience and growing domain knowledge of the nuclear energy sector, including the deep technical expertise provided by Frazer-Nash Consultancy, a wholly-owned KBR subsidiary”.
Paul Kahn is the president of KBR’s Government Solutions International business. He said, “This work underlines our commitment to an ever-growing and increasingly important area of national critical infrastructure, It will leverage KBR’s expanding capabilities in the UK, and it aligns with our mission to deliver innovative solutions that help our customers accomplish their most critical business objectives with safety and sustainability at the core.”
A GDF comprises a network of highly engineered underground vaults and tunnels. It is constructed to permanently dispose of higher activity radioactive waste so that no harmful levels of radiation ever reaches the surface environment. Other countries, including Finland, Sweden, France, Canada and the U.S., are also pursuing such projects.
According to a new report (GDF – Creating Jobs & Skills: A First Look) issued by NWS, more than four thousand jobs will be created during the time required for siting and constructing a deep underground facility for the disposal of higher-level radioactive waste. The report lays out how the multi-billion-pound program is expected to create thousands of skilled, well-paid jobs for over a century.
The NWS report states that “This highly engineered facility will be one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the UK and will provide a major investment for the local host community and its economy. Work on a GDF will carry on for about 175 years, generating an expected average of 2000 jobs in any given year. During this time, it could provide significant additional investment and create thousands of extra jobs through increased business opportunities and the development of new or improved infrastructure and facilities across the region.”
The report also said that employment will be generated at the facility itself and in the supply chain. It will attract further investment in the local area of the site. Most of the jobs that are created during construction and operation of the facility could and should be locally based.
Tom Greatrex is the CEO of the Nuclear Industry Association. He said, “Countries like Sweden and Finland, where GDFs are progressing, are already seeing the benefits, with significant investment and jobs already created, so we know what the UK can expect. It will also develop and strengthen the UK’s proud legacy of world-class engineering and science.”
The U.K. search for a suitable repository site is a nationwide process based on community consent. It includes detailed investigations over a number of years to ensure that a GDF can be constructed safely and securely. Community Partnerships have formed in Mid Copeland, South Copeland, and Allerdale in Cumbria, and Theddlethorpe in Lincolnshire. They are engaging in a dialogue with local people to ensure that they have access to information about what hosting a GDF might mean.
Ambient office = 70 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 122 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 122 nanosieverts per hour
Iceberg lettuce from Central Market = 83 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 122 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 107 nanosieverts per hour
Australian Army chief warns Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threat must be taken ‘very seriously’ abc.net.au
Ukraine news – live: Russia preparing society for nuclear weapons use, Zelensky says
Moltex Energy Limited subsidiary MoltexFLEX has announced the launch of its FLEX molten salt reactor. Through flexible operation and the use of thermal storage technology, the FLEX can support intermittent renewable energy through its rapid responsiveness to changes in demand.
A MoltexFLEX representative said, “This advanced nuclear technology has the flexibility of gas-fired power stations, but it generates electricity at a lower cost, and without carbon emissions.”
The FLEX reactor has no moving parts. It is simple in both design and operation. The FLEX can respond to changes in energy demand. It can automatically enter an idle state or return to full power. This makes it an ideal compliment to wind and solar power. Conventional nuclear power reactors are not able to easily and quickly change their output.
According to MoltexFLEX, the cost of electricity generated by the FLEX reactor is comparable to the cost of wind generated electricity. This cost is roughly forty-four dollars per megawatt. This low cost is achieved by a unique, patented system which uses two molten salts. One of the salts acts as a fuel and the other circulates as a coolant. This permits the heat from the reactor to be extracted through natural convection, without the need for pumps.
The FLEX reactor is small and modular. This allows the components to be factory-produced and readily transported. This, in turn, increases the speed of construction and minimizes overall cost. The FLEX reactor is passively safe, so it does not require engineered, redundant, active safety systems.
Once it is online, the FLEX reactor can be operated with the same skill sets and equipment used in a fossil fuel plant. The FLEX reactor has no moving parts and can be fueled to operate for twenty years at a time. This means that there is very little operator input and very low ongoing costs.
Each FLEX reactor delivers forty megawatts of thermal energy at thirteen hundred degrees Fahrenheit. This heat is stored in MoltexFLEX’s GridReserve thermal storage tanks. The FLEX reactor can deliver three times the power when renewables alone cannot meet the market need for electricity.
During longer periods of renewable generation, the FLEX reactor can just move passively into idle mode. This produces just enough heat to keep the reactor at operating temperature.
MoltexFLEX estimates that it will take just twenty-four months to construct a five hundred megawatt power plant. The company hopes to have its first reactor operational by 2029.
David Landon is the CEO for MoltexFLEX. He said, “We recognized the need for an energy supply that can support renewables when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow. In the FLEX reactor, we have a solution for consumers and countries alike. The FLEX reactor provides the safety net of affordable domestic energy but is versatile enough for applications ranging from decarbonizing heavy industry to powering cargo ships.”
The FLEX reactor is the version of Moltex Energy’s stable salt reactor technology that is moderated by thermal neutrons. The same technology is shared with MoltexFLEX’s sister company, Moltex Energy Canada Inc. This company is developing a fast neutron version of the stable salt reactor.
In May of 2021, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission completed the first phase of the pre-licensing vendor design review for Moltex Energy’s three-hundred-megawatt Stable Salt Reactor which is called Wasteburner (SSR-W 300) small modular reactor. The SSR-W is a molten salt reactor that uses nuclear waste as fuel. This company aims to deploy its first such reactor at the Point Lepreau site in New Brunswick by the early 2030s.
