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.
Denmark should invest in nuclear energy, alliance says world-nuclear-news.org
Hokkaido Governor Inspects Tomari Nuclear Plant nippon.com
Modular construction completed at Xudabao VVER-1200s world-nuclear-news.org
RPV Completed For Unit 2 At Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station nucnet.org
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 80 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 95 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 87 nanosieverts per hour
Serano pepper from Central Market = 93 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 66 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 56 nanosieverts per hour
Türkiye targets 10-15 per cent nuclear electricity ceenergynews.com
China showcases progress in nuclear medicine and AI-driven nuclear technology for industrial applications at major conference globenewswire.com
Turkish FM urges end to Iran sanctions, calls for dialogue on nuclear issues thenewregion.com
Utility consortium looks to Nebraska new build world-nuclear-news.org
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 98 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 98 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 98 nanosieverts per hour
Red bell pepper from Central Market = 93 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 108 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 91 nanosieverts per hour
Dover Sole from Central = 97 nanosieverts per hour
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DoE) Fusion Science & Technology (FS&T) Roadmap (“the Roadmap”) intends to usher in a burgeoning fusion private sector industry in the U.S. toward maturity on the most rapid timeline possible. By leveraging investments from both the public and private sectors with prudent and strategic processes, the Roadmap calls on the forces of the public and private sectors to close gaps on the critical path toward fusion energy. The Roadmap maps actions and milestones out to the mid-2030s, providing the scientific and technological foundation to support a competitive U.S. fusion energy industry. The U.S. strategy for fusion energy development is based on three primary drivers to Build, Innovate and Grow a leading, competitive and robust American-driven fusion energy industry. While the U.S. private sector is investing more than nine billion dollars to demonstrate sustaining burning plasma on the path to fusion power plants, there remain critical science, materials and technology gaps, such as the breeding and handling of fusion fuels, that must be closed. These critical gaps require innovation and collaboration of public and private sectors. The goal of the Roadmap is to create the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector scale-up in the 2030s. The U.S. will build key infrastructure to address critical fusion materials and technology (FM&T) gaps, innovate and advance the science and engineering of fusion and grow the U.S. fusion ecosystem through domestic and international public-private partnerships which will foster new regional consortia, build research FS&T infrastructure and supply chains and fusion manufacturing networks. Build-Innovate-Grow is DOE’s new strategy to support fusion energy commercialization in the U.S. and its main tool is the Roadmap. The Roadmap is solidly aligned with the 2020 Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) Long-Range Plan (LRP). The Roadmap merges the FESAC LRP critical science drivers with a revamped FES public program in the DoE Office of Science (SC) to define a new era of U.S. fusion energy leadership. This era is characterized by close alignment between the public sector roadmap and the private sector’s stated ambitions to deliver fusion power on an aggressive timeline and is increasingly enabled and accelerated by the revolutionary potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This is being referred to “fusion convergence”. The Roadmap defines Key Actions to be executed in the near-term (next two-three years), mid-term (three-five years) and long-term (five-ten years), aligned with the Build-Innovate-Grow strategy and to the LRP science drivers. DoE will create FS&T infrastructure and the AI-Fusion digital convergence platform. DoE will innovate through transformative research and move toward cost competitive power plants. DoE will expand the U.S. fusion enterprise through public-private partnerships and by supporting development of supply chains, workforce pathways, synergies with advanced nuclear and enabling fusion energy adoption and commercialization. The roadmap also maps the DoE plan for delivering FS&T infrastructure along with the same near-mid-long term schedule, that will be critical for the development of an FPP on industry timeline. In combination, the delivery of Key Actions and infrastructure will enable U.S. progress on closing S&T gaps on the critical path to fusion energy across six core challenge areas, tracked with technical milestones and metrics: structural materials, plasma-facing components and plasma-material interactions, confinement approaches, the fuel cycle, blankets and fusion plant engineering and system integration.
The Roadmap establishes the path for strategic actions and capability delivery necessary to support a world leading U.S. fusion ecosystem. This includes nuclear metrics to track progress and to ensure these actions are aligned with solving critical scientific and technical challenges and rapidly progressing toward realizing abundant commercial fusion in the U.S. The Roadmap is a dynamic tool for DoE that is designed to evolve with continual input from the public and private sector fusion community. The goal of the Roadmap is to deliver the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector necessary scale up in the 2030s.
U.S. Department of Energy’s Fusion Science & Technology Roadmap
Pickering refurbishment gets government go-ahead world-nuclear-news.org
Rolls-Royce SMR and ÚJV Řež deepen collaboration world-nuclear-news.org
‘We Breathe Your Air’ – Iranian Hackers Gain Deep Access to Israeli Nuclear Expert palestinianchronicle.com
Court Rejects Injunctions against Mihama, Takahama Nuclear Reactors nippon.com
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 88 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 142 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water 143 nanosieverts per hour
Green onion from Central Market = 108 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 69 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 58 nanosieverts per hour
Nuclear industry representatives will meet in Vienna the week of October 20th to 24th for a conference exploring safety measures at nuclear facilities, organized by the IAEA in cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization.
Experts and industry representatives will share experiences and lessons learned on methods to improve safety of nuclear power plants and fuel cycle and radioactive waste storage facilities subjected to natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and volcanic activity. The danger of extreme weather events will be a special focus of the five-day conference,
Karine Herviou is the IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security. She said, “As the planet warms and extreme weather events intensify, nuclear facilities with safety measures based on historical data will need to adapt to these evolving natural hazards. Solutions must be developed to support the response to these emerging, changing or unpredictable threats.”
The conference will have participation from a range of experts in nuclear safety, natural hazard analysis and mitigation. Participants will include owners and operators of nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities, technical experts such as structural engineers and hazard analysts, nuclear regulators and civil protection authorities and disaster managers.
Attendees will have the opportunity to share experiences and discuss existing and new methods to evaluate the resilience of existing nuclear facilities, as well as those under design, licensing and construction.
The conference will include plenary sessions, keynote lectures and breakout sessions. Themes and topics will include initial identification and analysis of external threats, data and climate modelling, safety features of advanced reactor designs, and operational measures for a real time management of emergencies, such as new monitoring systems and artificial intelligence. Emergency preparedness and disaster response will also be addressed, with discussions on subjects including international collaboration in emergency response and public communication. The siting and design of reactors, safety assessments and regulatory matters will also be discussed.
The conference will provide networking opportunities for safety analysts, regulators, researchers, and others experts engaged in the safety of nuclear installations.
The conference will conclude with a discussion of the Call for Action drafted by the conference President, with proposals for future involvement of the IAEA in the development of guidelines, projects and research in the area.
The IAEA’s role in nuclear safety and security is broad and includes: providing training and technical assistance to countries, facilitating knowledge transfer, international cooperation and supporting emergency preparedness programs, and establishing safety standards and guidelines. These safety standards include publications intended to strengthen safety at nuclear installations in the event of natural hazards. Available document include Specific Safety Guide 18, Meteorological and Hydrological Hazards in Site Evaluation for Nuclear Installations, Specific Safety Guide 9, Seismic Hazards in Site Evaluation for Nuclear Installations and Specific Safety Guide 68, Design of Nuclear Installations Against External Events Excluding Earthquakes help nuclear facility operators plan for and adapt to natural hazards.
Unleashing Colorado’s nuclear potential denvergazette.com
India–Canada Near $2.8 Billion Uranium Deal, Cameco to Supply Nuclear Fuel carboncredits.com
The Optimum Pathway for Building Nuclear Submarines with South Korea and Japan cimsec.org
U.N. nuclear agency returns to Chernobyl to check damage from recent Russian drone attack washingtontimes.com
Ambient office = 62 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 108 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 108 nanosieverts per hour
English cucumber from Central Market = 93 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 115 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 106 nanosieverts per hour
