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 = 91 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 107 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 110 nanosieverts per hour
Heirloom tomato from Central Market = 100 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 98 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 83 nanosieverts per hour
Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Hamad Al Kaabi is the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) representative to the IAEA. Last Tuesday, he said, “Nobody’s buying a car today if it gets into an accident every day. So safety and security … is the foundation for successful deployment of nuclear energy. The issue is how nuclear industry works and is perceived globally, any accident anywhere is an accident everywhere.”
The UAE has three nuclear reactors in operation and a fourth reactor in the final stages of construction and commissioning according to Al Kaabi. However, building nuclear plants takes time and the process in the UAE started about thirteen years ago.
Vietnam has been considering the use of nuclear power for decades. According to the World Nuclear Association which is an international trade group. The country announced a plan to build a nuclear power plant back in 2006. However, those plans were placed on hold in 2016. This was partly due to the expense that would be incurred. Then, last March, Vietnam published an official draft energy proposal that includes small modular reactors (SMR).
Ha Kim Ngoc is deputy foreign minister for Vietnam. The U.S. and the IAEA have both helped guide Vietnam in its efforts to include nuclear energy in its national energy portfolio. Ngoc said that SMRs are an appealing option for the relatively small country.
South Africa currently has two operating nuclear reactors according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA). Other African countries are also interested in employing nuclear energy. Collins Juma is the CEO of Kenya’s Nuclear Power and Energy Agency. He said, “Most of the countries where I come from in Africa have very small grids,” Advanced nuclear reactor designs, especially small modular reactors, are intriguing, but Juma did suggest that paying for such reactors might be hard. He added that “I’m not sure about the cost, but we shall be discussing that in other forums.”
As Africa works to decarbonize, nuclear energy is a critical baseload corollary to wind, solar, geothermal and wave power on the continent. However, bringing nuclear energy to Africa will require independent and strong regulation to convince people that it is really safe. Juma said, “Nuclear is a very emotive topic. Everyone is an ‘expert’ and thinks they know it is dangerous. We have to be very careful when we are developing a nuclear power plan. And the public, especially the public, have to have confidence” that the nuclear energy plant is safe. Juma said that he was asking for guidance from leading nuclear powers and private organizations. He added, “When you copy, you only copy from the best, you don’t copy from the worst.”
Grossi at the U.N. said that for countries who are interested in building commercial nuclear power reactors, the IAEA has written a guidebook with the title Milestones in the Development of a National Infrastructure for Nuclear Power.” He said that that was a good place to start for countries considering nuclear power. He added, “The moment is serious, and we know it is red alert for Planet Earth. We have been saying this, but nuclear is not for a few, nuclear can be for the many.”
Ambient office = 94 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 96 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 97 nanosieverts per hour
English cucumber from Central Market = 108 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 97 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 81 nanosieverts per hour
Part 1 of 2 Parts
Many analysts believe that nuclear energy is at an inflection point. Historically, early enthusiasm about its potential was undercut by a series of devastating and dangerous accidents. These three nuclear disasters took place at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979; Chornobyl in Ukraine in 1986; and Fukushima Daiichi in Japan in 2011.
Currently, because of new technology and the increasing urgent need to combat climate change, nuclear energy is getting a second chance to become a prominent part of the global energy grid. The reason for this is because nuclear energy production does not create any of the dangerous greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change during normal operation. However, construction, fuel mining, refining and transportation do emit greenhouse gases.
In a panel discussion at the United Nations last Tuesday, a collection of nuclear energy leaders from around the world met to discuss the scope of that renaissance and why it is so critical that the global nuclear industry work together to ensure excellent safety measures be adopted worldwide.
A great concern contra to the enthusiasm is the certainty that a nuclear accident anywhere has the potential to upset the most major momentum has had in decades.
Jennifer M. Granholm said that nuclear energy makes up twenty percent of the U.S.’ baseload power and fifty percent of its low carbon emissions power. She said, “And that’s just from the fleet that we have today without the other additions that we are hoping to see.”
Future nuclear reactors and plants will almost certainly employ different technology from the current standard. This is because both U.S. and private companies are funding research into more efficient reactors that are cheaper to build and generate less waste. With regard for small modular reactors (SMR), this has been recently challenged by a new report that suggests that SMRs will generate at least three times the waste of a conventional nuclear power reactor. Granholm mentioned the advanced nuclear reactor that TerraPower is installing in a former coal town in Wyoming.
Demand for advanced nuclear reactors will be worth about one trillion dollars globally according to an estimate from the Department of Ecology (DoE). That estimate includes the jobs needed to build those reactors and all the associated supply chains that will need to ramp up to support the industry according to Granholm. She added that the “Bottom line is spreading advanced nuclear energy is a priority for us. Of course, these technologies all have to begin and end with nuclear safety and security.”
Rafael Grossi is the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He said that this major change in sentiment surrounding nuclear energy has happened quite quickly. He went on to say that until a few years ago, nuclear power representatives would not be welcome at the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) where global leaders had opportunity to discuss climate change. “The IAEA has moved quite fast from almost an intruder into a very welcomed participant in this dialogue where nuclear has a place,” according to Grossi.
The next COP conference will be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in November, followed by one at Dubai Expo City in the United Arab Emirates. The IAEA is planning on being included in both of these conferences. Grossi said, “The mere fact that we are talking at COPs with nuclear in Egypt, and in the Gulf, in and by itself is telling you a lot of what is happening and how we are changing and the possibilities that we have and that could have been almost unforeseeable just a few years ago.”
If nuclear power is to be included in these conferences and climate change conversation, supporters stress that the entire international community has to work together to adhere to strict safety and nonproliferation standards.
Please read Part 2
Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Grossi said that the IAEA needs to go to Zaporizhzhia just like it did to Chernobyl to ascertain the facts about what is actually happening there. They will need to carry out inspections and repairs and “to prevent a nuclear accident from happening.” The head of the IAEA said that his team needs protection to get to the plant and this will require the cooperation of Russia and Ukraine.
Each side wants this international mission to go to different sites. This is understandable in the light of territorial integrity and political considerations. However, there is something more urgent in the call to get the IAEA team Zaporizhzhia. Grossi said, “The IAEA, by its presence, will be a deterrent to any act of violence against this nuclear power plant. So I’m pleading as an international civil servant, as the head of an international organization, I’m pleading to both sides to let this mission proceed.”
Grossi was in New York to deliver a keynote speech at the Monday opening of the high-level meeting to review the landmark fifty-year-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and eventually achieving a world free of nuclear weapons. During the interview, Grossi also spoke about efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major power that the Trump administration which was abandoned in 2018. The Biden administration has been working to renew that deal.
Grossi commented that there is “an ongoing effort to try to go for yet another meeting or round to explore possibilities to come to an agreement.” Such a meeting could happen soon, according to Grossi.
Anthony Blinken is the U.S. Secretary of State. He told the NPT review conference last Monday that Iran has either been unwilling or unable to agree to a deal to return to the 2015 agreement that was aimed at reining its nuclear program. Grossi said “there are important differences among the negotiating parties” and important verification issues related to past activities that Iran must address. He added that securing such a deal is not impossible but it is very complex.
If the Iranian nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is not extended, Grossi said that some IAEA inspections in Iran will continue. However, the JCPOA provided for additional transparency and inspection “which I deem as extremely important, very necessary, because of the breadth and depth of the nuclear program in Iran,” he said. Grossi emphasized that cooperating with the IAEA, answering its questions, allowing its inspectors to go wherever they need to be, is absolutely critical for Iran to build trust and confidence. “Promises and good words will not do.”
On another issue, Grossi mentioned that last September’s deal in which the United States and Britain will provide Australia with nuclear reactors to power its submarines must include an agreement with the IAEA to ensure that the amount of nuclear material in the vessel when it leaves port is there when it returns. He said that Australia has not yet decided what type of vessel it will be getting so while that have been preparatory conversations, substantiative talks cannot begin.
Gross said that because military vessels are being discussed, “there are lots of confidential and protection of information measures that need to be embedded into any such agreement, so it’s very complex technologically.”
Ambient office = 70 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 105 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 105 nanosieverts per hour
Carrot from Central Market = 92 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 92 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 82 nanosieverts per hour
