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 = 154 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 119 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 110 nanosieverts per hour
English cucumber from Central Market = 115 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 79 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 67 nanosieverts per hour
Parts 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Russia seized control of the Zaporizhzhia plant last March, but it is still being operated by Ukrainian workers. There has been increasing concern about Russian management of the plant in recent weeks. There is great pressure on Russia to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to visit the plant.
Kotin said that inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog could be at the plant within two weeks to check on security after progress in negotiations with Russia about a visit by the IAEA. Kotin is also concerned about the risk of fire from the Russia vehicles packed into the turbine halls which sit next to the only two reactors still in operation. There are fourteen vehicles in one of the halls and at least sixteen vehicles in the other. Many other military vehicles are lined up under overpasses constructed to house pipes and walkways between reactor and turbine complexes.
Kotin said, “In case there is a fire in the turbine hall you don’t even have a possibility to put it out or mitigate the consequences of this fire, because your fire brigades cannot get in, because any entry is blocked by the trucks, which are just packed in there.” Any blaze could then potentially spread towards the reactor building.
A fire near the reactors could have disastrous implications for the entire world. He added that “This situation is very dangerous not only for the plant, for Ukraine, but also for the whole world because you never can say what the weather would be like and what the wind direction [would be].”
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was constructed according to Soviet specifications but was modernized following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. This means that the Russian engineers do not have the skills needed to operate and maintain the plant. Kotin said, “Actually, for us, the Ukrainian workers at the plant are heroes, just doing their job in such unbelievable conditions,” said Kotin, who knows the plant well because he spent most of his career there. He arrived at Zaporizhzhia as a young graduate and rose to become general manager.
Rockets have landed within eighty feet of one hundred and seventy-four spent fuel containers. While the reactors themselves are constructed to withstand the impact of a passenger jet, the spent fuel containers are much more vulnerable. Kotin said, “It will probably withstand two explosions of maybe two missiles on one container and after that, it will be broken.
Kotin said that he hoped that nuclear inspectors would be allowed to inspect the plant within one or two weeks. He added, “There is progress in negotiations … there is only modalities of the mission to finally agree between parties, and after that they will go. And actually I’ve seen some plans that they are to go at the end of the month.” He also said that he had confidence that the Ukrainian workers at the plant who have sacrificed so much will be able to keep it safe. He went on to say that “In any case, we won’t allow Russians to bring the world to the nuclear catastrophe and we will do everything just to return the plant to under our full control and operate it safely reliably, like it always been.”
Ambient office = 142 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 93 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 89 nanosieverts per hour
Corn from Central Market = 87 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 120 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 106 nanosieverts per hour
Page 1 of 2 Pages
Back in 2018, I published a list of forty reasons that nuclear fission power was a bad idea. In one section, I addressed the dangers that would follow if a nuclear reactor wound up in a war zone. It was hypothetical at that time but now it is a cold reality threatening the world at Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine. I have written a number of posts about the situation there and I thought that it was time for an update.
World leaders issued a call for Zaporizhzhia to be completely demilitarized after images of Russian army vehicles inside the plant emerged. Russian vehicles have been parked inside the turbine halls of the only two reactors still operating at Zaporizhzhia as well as underneath elevated areas between the reactors.
Rocket have landed only sixty feet from spent fuel containers. Other threats to nuclear security at the plant include vehicles parked so tightly together that firefighters would struggle to access them if a fire broke out. There have been reports that staff at the plant have been held at gunpoint and tortured. One was beaten to death, and another needed three months to recover from his injuries. Over two hundred Ukrainians are being held at the plant.
There have been multiple explosions at the plant in the past weeks that have raised the level of concern. Russia and Ukraine have both blamed the other for the shelling of the plant. Recent satellite images of the plant have shown that the Russians are lying about Ukrainian attacks at the plant.
The connections between the plant and the Ukrainian grid are in critical condition. Three of the four main lines have been broken during the war. Two of the three back-up lines connecting Zaporizhzhia to the Ukrainian grid have been destroyed.
The Russians have drawn up a detained plan to disconnect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from the electrical grid of Ukraine. World leaders had previously warned Russia against cutting the plant off from the Ukrainian grid and reconnecting it to the Russian electrical grid.
Petro Kotin is the head of the Ukraine’s atomic energy company. He told an interviewer that Russian engineers had already drawn up a blueprint for such a switch on grounds that it was emergency planning in case the fighting severed the remaining power connections to the plant. He said, “They presented [the plan] to [workers at] the plant, and the plant [workers] presented it to us. The precondition for this plan was heavy damage of all lines which connect Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Ukrainian system.” He fears that the Russian army is currently targeting those power connections to make the emergency scenario a reality. He added, “They just started doing that, they started all the shelling, just to take out these lines.”
The Russian plan to disconnect the plant entirely from the Ukrainian grid would raise the risk of a catastrophic failure by leaving it dependent on a single source of power to cool the reactors. Kotin said, “You cannot just switch from one system to another immediately, you have to … shut down everything on one side, and then you start to switch on another side.”
During a shift between the Ukrainian and Russian grids, the plant would have to rely only on a back-up diesel-powered generator. There would be no other options if that generator failed. After only ninety minutes without power the reactors would heat up to a dangerous temperature. Kotin said, “During this disconnection, the plant won’t be connected to any power supply and that is the reason for the danger. If you fail to provide cooling … for one hour and a half, then you will have melting already.”
Please read Part 2 next
Ambient office = 124 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 114 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 117 nanosieverts per hour
Avocado from Central Market = 59 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 103 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 87 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient office = 72 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 126 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 123 nanosieverts per hour
Avocado from Central Market = 46 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 88 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 78 nanosieverts per hour
