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 a broad audience, including engineers, policy makers, and interested members of the public. The blog also places emphasis on the importance of maintaining old nuclear technology, embracing new nuclear technology only 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, who operates a geiger counter in North Seattle. He has been running his blog, Nucleotidings, since 2012, where he writes about various topics related to nuclear energy, nuclear weapons, and radiation protection. Webb also works as a software consultant and has published several technical books.
You can interact with the artificial Burt Webb by typing in your questions in the entry box below.
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 half way seriousness to hope that Japan will learn from the March 2011 disaster and build its new reactors with much greater emphasis on safety, even if it is a little less convenient or expensive. The term is a play on the word ‘karakura’, which are decorative Japanese characters used for designs, and ‘Fukushima’.
Ambient office = 80 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 126 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 129 nanosieverts per hour
Avocado from Central Market = 123 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 143 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 129 nanosieverts per hour
Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
The CEO of the Nuclear Industry Association said, “This ambitious deal between industry and government will ensure nuclear plays a key role in providing the UK’s low-carbon energy supply for the future, maximizing opportunities in overseas markets, leveraging technology and innovation and increasing competitiveness.”
The CEO of the Nuclear Advanced Research Centre (Nuclear AMRC) said, “We will work with our industry and research partners to demonstrate the benefits of advanced techniques and technologies for manufacturers of all sizes. We will also play a leading role in the new national program to enhance the capabilities of the UK’s supply chain, expanding our established Fit for Nuclear program and building on the success of Civil Nuclear Sharing in Growth.”
Assystem is an international engineering services consulting company based in Paris, France. This week it signed a memorandum of understanding with Nuclear AMRC. A representative for Assystem said that the two hundred and sixty-three million dollars committed by the U.K. government to nuclear power projects will help increase industrial competitiveness which will increase investor interest.
URENCO uses leading centrifuge technology to provide uranium enrichment services to its customers. The CEO of URENCO said, “This support boosts the robustness of the UK’s fuel offering to international markets and helps to ensure that the country continues to act as a global leader in this sector. We, along with our consortium partners, are also delighted that our micro nuclear reactor, U-Battery, has received the green light to progress to Phase 1 of the government’s AMR Program. During Phase 1 we will produce a feasibility study, which will make the commercial and technical case for U-Battery.”
Horizon Nuclear Power (HNP) is Hitachi’s U.K. subsidiary. It is currently developing two advanced boiling water reactors for the Wylfa Newydd site in Wales. The CEO of HNP said that the Sector Deal “clearly sets out the opportunities and the challenges for the industry, for example, building the skills base needed and the commitment to increase gender diversity. We look forward to playing our part.”
The Heart of the South West (HotSW) LEP is a strong and dynamic business-led partnership between the private sector, local authorities, universities and colleges. The Chairman of LEP said, “We have sixty-six billion dollars worth of commercial opportunities to realize in this sector across the region; the partners have worked closely together to create this deal and stand ready to deliver.” LEP believes that the government funding of the Sector Deal would increase job creation. It has started a business support service to help small and mid-sized businesses take advantage of supply chain opportunities generated by the EDF project to build two European Pressurized Reactors at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, England.
The engineering policy advisor at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers said the new thermal hydraulics facility at Anglesey will improve the U.K.’s nuclear research and development capabilities. He went on to say that “Along with the likely construction of the Horizon nuclear power station at Wylfa and the potential for a small modular reactor at Trawsfynydd, North Wales could become a world-leading industrial cluster.” In making the announcement at the existing nuclear site at Trawsfynydd, the Secretary of State highlighted its suitability for hosting the UK’s first SMR.
The GMB trade union says that its only job is to improve the pay conditions of the members of GMB in their workplaces. A GMB representative emphasized the jobs potential of small modular reactors. He said that SMRs should be designed and constructed in the U.K. and exported to other nations. The chairman of GMB said that the U.K. should have multiple government owned sites where licenses are granted to companies to design and build SMRs.
Ambient office = 70 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 147 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 141 nanosieverts per hour
White mushroom from Central Market = 63 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 113 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 90 nanosieverts per hour
Part 1 of 2 Parts
The United Kingdom currently derives about twenty percent of its electricity from fifteen nuclear power plants. Unless some of these reactors undergo expensive upgrades for extended life spans, fourteen of them will have to shut down by 2025. In addition, coal fired power plants contributed about ten percent to the energy mix and the last of Britain’s coal plants will also be shut down by 2025. This means that almost a third of the U.K. capacity to generate electricity will have to be replaced in the next seven years just to maintain the current level.
The U.K. government intends to use wind and nuclear power to replace the generating capacity that is being lost. This means that they will have to bring over ten new nuclear power reactors online in the next seven years at the very least which is a very ambitious plan. Currently there are only six nuclear projects being licensed and constructed in the U.K. and, given that it can take up to ten years to license and construct a nuclear power plant, they may not even replace what will be lost by 2025.
Recently, Greg Clark, the U.K. Business and Energy Secretary, gave an overview of the new “Sector Deal” while vising the Trawsfynydd site in North Wales which has received a nuclear license. The Sector Deal was produced by the Nuclear Industry Council (NIC). The membership of the council includes representatives from the manufacturing, engineering, science and research communities as well as the U.K. government.
Clark said that the Sector Deal was a “commitment by the sector to work collectively, with support from government, to deliver on the Industrial Strategy, drive clean growth throughout the economy and make civil nuclear power an integral part of the UK’s energy future”.
The NIC first reveals its suggestions for a nuclear Sector Deal in December of last year. This followed the publication of the government’s white paper on Industrial Strategy which emphasized the future role of nuclear energy in the U.K.
Some of the important elements in the Sector Deal include: seventy-four million dollars for research and development of advanced modular reactors; one hundred and thirteen million dollars for to create a national fusion technology platform; fifty three million dollars for a facility to support the design of advanced nuclear technologies; forty two million dollars for an advanced nuclear manufacturing and construction program; and forty million dollars for a new national nuclear supply chain program.
The Sector Deal also calls for a reduction in the cost of new nuclear builds by thirty percent by 2030. And it supports a reduction in the cost of decommissioning old nuclear power plants by twenty percent by 2030. There will be a new review of ways to improve and speed up the clean-up of so-called nuclear legacy sites. An increase of gender diversity is also called for under the Sector Deal. The target is a nuclear workforce that is forty percent women by 2030.The Sector Deal will also include “clear support” for the U.K.’s nuclear fuel capability and micro nuclear reactors.
The CEO of the Nuclear Industry Association said, “This ambitious deal between industry and government will ensure nuclear plays a key role in providing the UK’s low-carbon energy supply for the future, maximizing opportunities in overseas markets, leveraging technology and innovation and increasing competitiveness.”
Please read Part 2
Ambient office = 91 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 154 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 156 nanosieverts per hour
Pineapple from Central Market = 133 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 106 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 90 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient office = 109 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 97 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 100 nanosieverts per hour
Yellow onion from Central Market = 87 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 112 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 101 nanosieverts per hour
