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.
Ambient office = 60 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 129 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 132 nanosieverts per hour
Heirloom from Central Market = 87 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 99 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 85 nanosieverts per hour
China reconnects nuclear reactor after shutdown due to damage Techexplore.com
Ukraine: ‘We’d take a nuclear attack over being a part of Russia’ news.sky.com
Investigation blames human error for Seabrook nuclear plant siren nhpr.org
Bill Gates’ company TerraPower raises $750 million for nuclear energy and medicine innovation cnbc.com
One-year delay in Canadian repository site selection world-nuclear-news.org
DFS shows Lance ISL projects as ‘globally competitive’ world-nuclear-news.org
Ambient office = 72 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 122 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 123 nanosieverts per hour
Fig from Central Market = 89 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 87 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 73 nanosieverts per hour
Dover Sole from Central = 92 nanosieverts per hour
TAE Technologies developed the Norman reactor in 2017 to maintain plasma at fifty-four million degrees Fahrenheit. The machine has demonstrated that it is able to stabilize a plasma at over one hundred and thirty-five million degrees Fahrenheit. This is more than two hundred and fifty percent greater than its initial aim after five years of steady improvement.
The non-radioactive method used in the design of Norman is called hydrogen-boron fusion. It is considered by many to be the quickest, most feasible, and most cost -effective way to supply the grid with large amounts of carbon-free electricity.
TAE has impressed investors and has raised one billion two hundred million for commercial fusion developments. The company has a track record of exceeding milestones and performance capabilities. Their mission is to provide a long-term solution to the world’s rapidly growing electricity demands while ensure global energy independence and security.
With their primary goal in mind, the company recently closed its Series G-2 financing round. In this round, it secured two hundred and fifty million dollars from investors in the energy, technology, and engineering sectors. By avoiding the emission of carbon dioxide and particulates, TAE’s safe, non-radioactive method minimizes any negative effects on the environment or the effects of climate change.
TAE’s most recent investors include Chevron, Google, Reimagined Ventures, Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, and TIFF Investment Management. They have also received funds from a big mutual fund manager with headquarters on the West Coast of the U.S. and a big U.S. pension fund.
Michl Binderbauer is the CEO of TAE Technologies. He said, “The caliber and interest of our investors validate our significant technical progress and support our goal to begin commercialization of fusion by the end of this decade. Global electricity demand is growing exponentially, and we have a moral obligation to do our utmost to develop a baseload power solution that is safe, carbon-free, and economically viable.”
TAE’s first Japanese investor was Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCOA). They will collaborate with TAE to bring commercial power and other fusion-derived technologies to the Asia Pacific market. A commercial collaboration agreement with SCOA has been signed. SCOA is a subsidiary of the Sumitomo Corporation which is a Fortune 500 global trade and business investment organization with headquarters in Tokyo, to develop TAE based technologies in Japan and Asial.
Sandro Hasagawa is the General Manager of Energy Innovation Initiative Americas at SCOA. He said, “We look forward to being a partner in bringing TAE’s clean energy solutions to the APAC market, which will be paramount to sustaining local economies without impacting our planet. We are pleased to support TAE’s groundbreaking fusion technology to create safe, sustainable energy sources across multiple industries and applications.”
TAE has secured strategic and institutional investments sufficient to fund the construction of its next research reactor call Copernicus. The TAE’s planned Copernicus reactor will be constructed in a one hundred thousand square foot facility in Irvine California. The goal of the Copernicus project is to demonstrate that the company’s advanced beam-driven field-reversed configuration (FRC) can produce net energy. This is the last step on the road to commercializing clear fusion power.
Unarmed Minuteman III test launch to showcase readiness of U.S. nuclear force’s safe, effective deterrent afgsc.af.mil
Fresh shelling renews blame game over Ukraine nuclear plant reuters.com
Iran signals objection to ‘final’ nuclear deal text washingtontimes.com
Biden energy secretary insists nuclear essential to clean energy initiatives foxnews.com
Ambient office = 88 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 105 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 104 nanosieverts per hour
English cucumber from Central Market = 136 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 140 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 126 nanosieverts per hour
Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
The LLNL hydrogen target implodes in a nanosecond which is one billionth of a second. First, the explosion of plasma is driven by the laser beams and then continues to compress on its own inertia. Finally, the plasma expands because of the increasing central pressure of the compression. Bose said, “Getting a self-heated fusion chain reaction to start is called ignition.” Researchers at LLNL reported on their impressive new gains in their efforts on August 8th of this year.
Rochester’s OMEGA laser facility is smaller and uses a more direct-drive approach to achieve fusion. They do not use a gold can. Instead, the laser beams are aimed directly at the target sphere.
Bose and his team are pursuing a promising version of inertial confinement. They recently published their research in the journal Physical Review. They have applied extremely powerful magnets to the laser driven implosion. This may allow them to steer fusion reactions in ways that have not yet been explored.
The innovation of Bose and his team is to use a powerful magnetic field of fifty Tesla to control the charged particles in the plasma. Magnetic resonance imaging uses magnets than can produce a three Tesla field. The magnetic field of the Earth that shields us from the solar wind of charged particles is between twenty-five billionths of a Tesla and sixty-five billionths of a Tesla. Bose said, “You want the nuclei to fuse. The magnetic fields trap the charged particles and make them go around the field lines. That helps create collisions and that helps boost fusion. That’s why adding magnetic fields has benefits for producing fusion energy.”
Fusion requires very extreme conditions, but Bose and his team have achieved them. The ultimate challenge is to get more energy output than input. The magnetic fields provide the push that can make this approach transformative. The experiments published in the journal Physical Review Letters were accomplished while Bose was doing postdoctoral research at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. He continues to collaborate with that laboratory.
Bose said that he was attracted to the University of Delaware partly because of the focus on plasma physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy where William Matthaeus, Michael Shay and Ben Maruca. He said, “They do studies and analysis of data coming from the NASA solar program and all its missions. We conduct laboratory astrophysics experiments where these phenomena are scaled down in space and time to the lab. This gives us a means to unravel some of the intricate physics questions posed by NASA missions.”
Students are an important part of Bose’s work. Their careers can see great advancement in this new field of study. Bose said, “It is a fascinating part of science and students are a very important part of workforce development for the national labs. Students experienced in this science and technology often end up as scientists and researchers at the national labs. We won’t have a solution tomorrow. But what we’re doing is contributing to a solution for clean energy.”
Is NY Suddenly More Scared of Nuclear Attack? ‘Fallout Shelter Near Me’ Searches Boom nbcnewyork.com
Construction of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant under way world-nuclear-news.org
IAEA Nuclear Security Training and Demonstration Centre Nears Completion iaea.org
Equipment installation under way at Russian ISL project world-nuclear-news.org
Ambient office = 100 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 131 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 129 nanosieverts per hour
Carrot from Central Market = 82 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 106 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 84 nanosieverts per hour
