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.
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 87 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 99 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 106 nanosieverts per hour
Roma tomato from Central Market = 103 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 102 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 93 nanosieverts per hour
Part 1 of 2 Parts
The 2008 film Wall-E showed Earth as a post-apocalyptic wasteland with nothing on it, but the abandoned remnants of human society and a forlorn, trash-compacting robot named Wall-E. His only living company is a surprisingly adorable pet cockroach named Hal. This was Pixar’s nod to the popular myth that cockroaches will outlive us all.
Despite Hal’s sympathetic portrayal, many people feel that cockroaches are pretty gross. But the creepy crawlies do have a reputation for being very hard to kill. This resilience likely contributes to the belief that they could even survive a nuclear bomb and subsequent radiation exposure. Reports in the media have suggested that the cockroach myth stems from rumors that insects thrived in the aftermath of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Tilman Ruff is a professor at the Nossal Institute of Global Health in School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He studies the health and environmental consequences of nuclear explosions. He says that he has yet to see any documented evidence that there were cockroaches scuttling through the rubble.
Ruff said, “I’ve certainly seen photographs of injured people in Hiroshima that have lots of flies around, and you do imagine some insects would have survived. But they still would have been affected, even if they appear more resistant than humans.”
The U.S. TV series “Mythbusters” tested the cockroach survival theory in 2012 by exposing cockroaches to radioactive material. The roaches survived longer than humans would have. However, they all died at extreme levels of radiation.
Mark Elgar is a professor at the School of Biosciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He said that the results of the Mythbusters test are incomplete because they only looked at how many days the cockroaches lived after exposure. They didn’t check the cockroaches’ ability to produce viable eggs, thus ensuring the continued survival of the species.
Elgar said, “There is some evidence that they seem quite resilient to gamma rays, although they are not necessarily the most resistant across insects. You could argue, that some ants, particularly those that dig nests deep into the ground, would be more likely to survive a nuclear apocalypse than cockroaches.”
Previous tests of insects subjected to radiation found that cockroaches, though up to fifteen times more resistant than humans, would still fare much worse than the humble fruit fly. Professor Elgar says the feral American and German species of cockroach which are the ones you might recognize from your kitchen nooks and crannies have given the rest of the species a bad rap.
Elgar continued, “I think our view of cockroaches is informed by our frequent interaction with the American and German cockroaches, which have spread throughout the world. Their habit of basically acting as an unpaid house cleaner horrifies people.”
There are more than four thousand species of cockroaches, however, including native Australian cockroaches marked by iridescent colors and patterns.
Elgar added, “Some of the Australian bush cockroaches are really lovely looking insects, which might change people’s perspectives. The Mardis Gras cockroach, for example, has got these lovely yellow patterns on its plates and bright blue legs with little black spots.”
Nossal Institute of Global Health
Please read Part 2 next
Palisades Nuclear Plant receives new nuclear fuel after transition to operations status wwmt.com
New Research Project on Computer Security For Nuclear AI iaea.org
‘We are the perfect fit’: Coffey County submits proposal for new nuclear power plant ksnt.com
Trump affirms support for nuclear sub deal politico.com
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 143 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 80 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 73 nanosieverts per hour
Red bell pepper from Central Market = 105 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 85 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 75 nanosieverts per hour
Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
The tristate initiative has the support of the Trump administration, which has ordered the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to speed up nuclear licensing and has directed the DOE to have ten new “large reactors” under construction by 2030 with a goal of adding three hundred thousand megawatts of nuclear power to the grid by 2050.
A portion of federal policy leaning toward nuclear energy began during the Biden administration, which named Wyoming and Idaho as part of a Tech Hub within the Intermountain-West Nuclear Energy Corridor.
Despite enthusiasm among private industry and state and federal officials, there are significant challenges to implementing a resurgence of nuclear power generation in the region.
Several speakers at the WGA event mentioned that AI and data center developers favor new power generation facilities that are, in a regulatory sense, apart from the shared electrical grid, or “behind the meter.” That will complicate the utility regulatory environment and rate structures. In addition, the U.S. is still reliant on other nations for nuclear components and several aspects of the fuel supply chain, which will take years to provide domestically. Others said that the Trump administration’s demands on federal agencies such as fast-tracking and licensing a massive buildout of nuclear power plants are at odds with recent staff downsizing.
Nuclear industry leaders are also concerned about a dearth of workers for jobs that require specific training and certifications.
Bill Abolt is a Deloitte Specialist Executive. He said, “We know that we need a significantly expanded workforce for the modernization and expansion of the grid.” The nation’s long pause in building nuclear energy has left the industry with skilled experts who are retiring and an empty “pipeline” to replace them, he added. “The people that built the last nuclear power plant didn’t just stick around and wait for the next one.”
States have made major advancements in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education and training. However, nuclear fields have been a blind spot, several industry officials agreed.
INL’s Innovation and Technology Manager Chris Lohse said, “At some point, you need to figure out how to get Mike Rowe involved. “This is a reference to the television personality who touts the nobility of skilled trades and “dirty” physical labor.
Perhaps the industry’s biggest challenge remains its image as a dangerous liability to human health and the environment. This is a legacy of the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters, perpetuated in cinema and The Simpsons. The WGA event was packed with those who are certain of the safety of the industry. However, some noted that local opposition to things like wind farms extends to nuclear energy proposals.
Many residents in Bar Nunn and Gillette communities have long supported heavy energy industries. However, they are not convinced they want to welcome nuclear facilities. Campbell County commissioners recently drafted a resolution to strengthen their interim stance on the potential for spent nuclear fuel waste storage until putting the question to a public vote in the 2026 election. Until there has been a vote, the commission will remain opposed to such proposals.
Cassie Powers is the National Association of State Energy Officials Chief of Staff. She said, “There is a lot of time that’s being spent engaging with communities, local governments and people on the ground who may have been upset about a wind turbine. There does need to be some real, honest public engagement to demystify investments in nuclear.”
Inspections deal with UN nuclear agency ‘null, void,’ Iran says jns.org
UN Nuclear Watchdog Believes Iran’s Enriched Uranium Survived War With Israel as Tehran Rebuffs Trump algemeiner.com
Campbell County commissioners to weigh nuclear waste proposal, zoning change, land use issues county17.com
Work Begins To Restore Offsite Power At Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station nucnet.org
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 143 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 122 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 122 nanosieverts per hour
Bannana from Central Market = 66 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 85 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 73 nanosieverts per hour
Part 1 of 2 Parts
A few hundred nuclear energy industry officials, along with two western state governors, a Trump administration official and the head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, gathered Monday at the Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) eight hundred ninety-square-mile testing center to discuss nuclear power’s future in the West.
In a large tent with clear plastic walls offering views of the surrounding high-plains sagebrush steppe, these leaders, their staff and a gaggle of media gathered for a reception a short drive away from one of the world’s premier nuclear energy testing grounds.
Jacob DeWitte is the co-founder and CEO of nuclear power plant developer Oklo. He said, “We’re standing here, not very far from where the Experimental Breeder Reactor II proved out the fundamental technology that I believe is ultimately the future for humanity — for energy abundance, reliability and affordability. The success of 1960s-era EBR II was “one of the most phenomenal technological stories in human history and, frankly, one that’s radically under-told and underappreciated.”
DeWitte noted that after being pushed to the sidelines, nuclear energy technology is back in the spotlight. The current rush to feed power-hungry artificial intelligence and data computational centers has private investors and governments around the world pouring money into the next generation of commercial nuclear energy facilities, he said. That trend is already resulting in notable investments in Wyoming, including Bill Gate’s next-generation nuclear project in Kemmerer, but also raising questions about the potential for spent nuclear fuel storage and transportation in Wyoming.
Here at INL, Oklo and subcontractor Kiewit Nuclear Solutions Co. will build and test the first Aurora Powerhouse which is a liquid-sodium-cooled “fast reactor” generating up to seventy-five megawatts of electricity that backers hope to deploy around the world. Oklo’s nuclear reactor demonstration is among a dozen or so reactor and nuclear fuel tests ready at INL that advance the industry’s technology and business models, according to INL officials. The lineup includes Radiant Industry’s portable Kaleidos microreactor, which Radiant proposes to mass-produce in Wyoming at a facility outside Bar Nunn.
Though Radiant’s proposal, along with another in Campbell County, has garnered significant opposition, Governor Mark Gordon has joined with his counterparts in Idaho and Utah in a declaration of a unified project to establish the tristate area as the epicenter of America’s nuclear energy resurgence.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox said in his opening remarks at the Western Governors’ Association workshop at INL’s Idaho Falls campus later that day. “This is what an abundance mentality is all about. It’s not Utah versus Idaho versus Wyoming. We’re going to be much stronger if we’re working together, because we have some differences that are important and similarities that are important.”
As chairman of the WGA this year, Cox launched the Energy Superabundance: Unlocking Prosperity in the West initiative. The initiative focuses on meeting skyrocketing electrical demand by bolstering nuclear energy. Cox suggested that nuclear power generation represents the most reliable form of electricity and a viable means of meeting increasing energy demand.
Cox noted that Utah, Idaho and Wyoming already share infrastructure under the Rocky Mountain Power utility, as well as a shared workforce and a similar “mindset” that’s attractive to the industry.
Cox said, “I would love to have [Oklo] in Utah, and I can’t lie about that, but that’s good for all of us,” adding that all three states are already on the industry’s radar.
The Department of Energy’s National Laboratory in Idaho is an obvious draw, he noted. In addition to proposed nuclear microreactor manufacturing in Wyoming, TerraPower’s liquid-sodium-cooled “Natrium” nuclear power facility is expected to begin operations in 2030 outside Kemmerer. Rocky Mountain Power has tentatively agreed to take on the power plant and potentially partner with TerraPower to add more Natrium plants in Utah.
Cox said, “I can just tell you, by signing that MOU together, it’s given this region much more interest from nuclear partners. They’re seeing this as a game changer, and so they’re coming. I don’t care if they come to Wyoming or they come to Idaho or they come to Utah.”
Please read Part 2 next
Amid Afghan Conflict, Pak Army Chief Asim Munir’s Anti-India Nuclear Rhetoric ndtv.com
PGE to take full ownership of nuclear project company world-nuclear-news.org
Last Energy microreactor planned at Texas university world-nuclear-news.org
World’s largest toroidal field coil box delivered world-nuclear-news.org
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 129 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 136 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 129 nanosieverts per hour
Avocado from Central Market = 87 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 84 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 70 nanosieverts per hour
