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.
British nuclear transport ship fitted with innovative sail world-nuclear-news.org
Britain’s heading for a nuclear power crunch. Politico.eu
Russia calls US statements on readiness for nuclear talks ‘deception’ google.com
Serbia continues discussions on future nuclear projects world-nuclear-news.org
Ambient office = 100 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 98 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 99 nanosieverts per hour
Asparagus from Central Market = 66 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 102 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 89 nanosieverts per hour
Dover Sole from Central = 98 nanosieverts per hour
World’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant Could Reopen With New Safety Measures msn.com
Slovenia’s JEK2 unit would cost EUR9.5-EUR15.4 billion, review says world-nuclear-news.org
Iran may reassess nuclear policies if sites are attacked, source says tehrantimes.com
Iran complains to UN watchdog, alleging Israeli threats to hit its nuclear sites timesofisrael.com
Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Laura Cozzi is the director of sustainability, technology and outlooks at the IEA. Speaking at a press conference to launch the new report, she said, “We are expecting to see a new record high (in nuclear generating capacity) in 2025 and we expect nuclear to continue to grow as many countries are revising their policies over nuclear, actually extending lifetimes and opening up some new nuclear installations. And this is throughout the world: from China to Europe to the United States and beyond.”
Nuclear capacity and generation are expected to increase in each scenario. Emerging market and developing economies drive this growth, especially China, which accounts for forty percent of global nuclear capacity additions in the STEPS scenario by 2035 and almost fifty percent in the NZE scenario. The IEA pointed out that these projected additions mean that China is on track to have the biggest nuclear power capacity in the world by around 2030 in each scenario.
Nuclear generating capacity increases from four hundred and sixteen gigawatts in 2023 to six hundred and forty-seven gigawatts in 2050 in the STEPS scenario. In this scenario, global nuclear generation increases from two thousand seven hundred and sixty-five terawatts in 2023 to four thousand four hundred and sixty terawatts in 2050, while its share of total electricity production decreases from nine percent to eight percent over the same period. In the APS scenario, nuclear generating capacity increases to eight hundred and seventy-four gigawatts in 2050, while in the NZE scenario it reaches one thousand and seventeen gigawatts in 2050.
The IEA noted that “Policy support for nuclear power has risen in recent years. In December 2023, more than 20 countries pledged to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050. Notable developments in several European countries include extending operations for existing reactors in Belgium, lifting a ban on developing new nuclear plants in Switzerland, the identification of new builds as a priority in Sweden and Poland, and confirmation of the importance of nuclear in France. Many countries are showing interest in small modular reactors and the first projects outside China and Russia are expected to come online around 2030.”
Sama Bilbao y León is the director general of World Nuclear Association. He said, “The report makes clear nuclear energy will remain an important part of a clean and reliable electricity mix, with more than a doubling of nuclear capacity in the Announced Pledges scenario, and a capacity above one thousand gigawatts in the Net Zero 2050 scenario. Our analyses are even more ambitious, predicting nuclear capacity needing to grow to more than twelve hundred gigawatts to reach net-zero in a cost-effective and equitable manner. This goal to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050 was announced by 25 countries at COP28 last year, endorsed by the nuclear industry through the Net Zero Nuclear initiative, and supported by fourteen major global banks and financial institutions less than a month ago.”
Report to Congress on Nuclear-armed Sea-launched Cruise Missile usni.org
Core Power assesses Japanese market for maritime nuclear world-nuclear-news.org
DOE selects HALEU enrichment providers world-nuclear-news.org
Japanese data center seeks nuclear electricity supplies world-nuclear-news.org
Ambient office = 100 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 100 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 103 nanosieverts per hour
Pumpkin from Central Market = 93 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 91 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 80 nanosieverts per hour
Part 1 of 2 Parts
Global nuclear generating capacity is expected to increase from four hundred and sixteen gigawatts in 2023 to six hundred and forty-seven gigawatts in 2050 in a scenario based on existing energy policies, according to the latest World Energy Outlook from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Fatih Birol is the IEA Executive Director. She announced the release of its latest World Energy Outlook together with lead authors Tim Gould and Laura Cozzi. “Today’s geopolitical tensions and fragmentation are creating major risks both for energy security and for global action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The world is set to enter a new energy market context in the coming years, marked by continued geopolitical hazards but also by relatively abundant supply of multiple fuels and technologies.”
Birol added, “In the second half of this decade, the prospect of more ample – or even surplus – supplies of oil and natural gas, depending on how geopolitical tensions evolve, would move us into a very different energy world from the one we have experienced in recent years during the global energy crisis.”
Based on current policies, the latest IAE report finds that low-carbon sources are set to generate more than half of the world’s electricity before 2030. Demand for all three fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas, is still projected to peak by the end of the decade. However, the report warns that despite growing momentum behind clean energy transitions, the world is still a long way from meeting its net-zero goals.
The World Energy Outlook 2024 report considers three scenarios. The Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS) supplies a prediction based on the latest policy settings, including energy, climate and related industrial policies. The Announced Pledges Scenario (APS) makes the assumption that all national energy and climate targets made by governments are met in full and on time. The Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario (NZE) reports on what must be done to limit global warming to one and a half °C.
In the STEPS scenario, clean energy deployment accelerates as the pace of overall energy demand growth slows, which is leading to a peak in all three fossil fuels before 2030. Increasing reductions in coal demand indicates that it is overtaken by natural gas in the global energy mix by 2030. Clean energy sources grow more than total energy demand between 2023 and 2035. Clean energy becomes the largest source of energy in the mid-2030s led by surging solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power.
The STEPS scenario suggests a triple increase in renewable sources that reduces fossil fuel use from eighty percent of total energy demand in 2023 to fifty eight percent in 2050. This falls far short of the step change that occurs in the APS scenario and the NZE scenario. In both of these scenarios, renewable sources begin to rapidly grow at the expense of the fossil fuel market share. By 2035, clean energy meets forty percent of global energy demand in the APS. This rises to nearly three-quarters by 2050. In the NZE scenario, clean energy meets ninety percent of global energy demand in 2050. Around one-third of the remaining fossil fuel demand in the NZE scenario is fully replaced, around half is used as a feedstock or in other non-energy use. The remainder is offset by direct air capture, negative emissions from bioenergy or other forms of carbon removal.
Please read Part 2 next
Ambient office = 110 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 89 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 91 nanosieverts per hour
Roma tomato from Central Market = 100 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 103 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 89 nanosieverts per hour
Virginia considers small nuclear reactor at Lake Anna to meet growing power demand wusa9.com
Mattis feared Trump would order a surprise nuclear strike militarytimes.com
Tc-99m shortage expected into November auntminnie.com
An Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities could backfire aljezeera.com
Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
It’s not clear how long the shelf life is for recommissioning a limited number of shuttered nuclear sites. That’s leaving the door open for still-unproven small modular reactors. Critics note that we still haven’t solved the radioactive waste problem that raised concerns during nuclear’s first golden era.
Rich Powell is the CEO of the Clean Energy Buyers Association. The association represents some of the country’s biggest commercial power customers including Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft. Powell said, “But I think it’s fair to say that folks are taking a hard look at every one of them that would be technically possible to restart.”
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh defended the court’s decision to scrap the Chevron deference as a move to restore balance between the executive and legislative branches. Speaking recently at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, Kavanaugh said that the longstanding deference to federal agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous laws had “put a thumb on the scale” in many legal battles over issues from the environment to health care to immigration.
Kavanaugh continued, “What we did in Loper Bright, the chief justice’s opinion was, I think, a course correction consistent with the separation of powers to make sure that the executive branch is acting within the authorization granted to it by Congress.” Kavanaugh was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Donald Trump in 2018. He warned against over-reading the Chevron ruling, which critics have said could shift power from agencies to judges.
Kavanaugh added that “It’s really important, as a neutral umpire, to respect the line that Congress has drawn, and when it’s granted broad authorization, not to unduly hinder the executive branch from performing its congressionally authorized functions — but at the same time, not allowing the executive branch, as it could with Chevron in its toolkit, to go beyond the congressional authorization.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom has entered the debate on an issue that had its moment in the culture war spotlight. He vetoed what would have been the nation’s first law mandating health risk labels on gas stoves. The legislation would have required warnings on gas stoves sold online to Californians starting next year and in stores starting in 2026.
Newsom said in a veto message, “This static approach falls short in enabling timely updates to the labeling content that should align with the latest scientific knowledge so that consumers are accurately informed about their purchases.” The proposed warnings about the possible health impacts of “toxic” pollutants drew opposition from home appliance manufacturers, builders and business groups. Similar appliance warning bills were defeated in New York and Illinois. Newsom signed legislation delaying by six months the timeline for implementing California’s nation-leading corporate climate disclosure laws.
The legal revision endorsed by the governor over the weekend gives state regulators until July 2025 to write the rules and make decisions on things like how much the filing fee should be for corporations disclosing their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risks. The new law also allows subsidiaries to compile their disclosures at the level of their parent company. The implementation delay is shorter than the two years that Newsom had been seeking and it doesn’t go as far as the California Chamber of Commerce wanted to go in weakening the disclosure regime. With the so-called cleanup legislation in place, all eyes will turn to the next biggest threat to the laws which is a federal lawsuit led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that is set for a hearing Oct. 15.
