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.
Still have a severe respiratory viral infection with a fever
still have a severe respiratory viral infection with a fever
I have a severe respiratory viral infection with a fever
I have a very serious viral infrection that makes it impossible to write blog posts.
Part Two of Two Parts (Please read Part One first)
In order to cope with national cybersecurity threats, it is recommended that a single federal agency be created to be responsible for cybersecurity preparedness, response, and recovery across the entire electric power sector, including both bulk power and distribution systems. Such an undertaking will obviously require years of effort.
My blog is about nuclear issues so the big question that I have is whether or not the Russian hacking has penetrated the control systems for U.S. nuclear power plants. Fortunately, the reports and studies on this question say that the Russians cannot hack our nuclear infrastructure as far as operations or safety systems are concerned. It is likely that they have penetrated administration computers at nuclear power plants, but this is more of an annoyance than a serious threat to the grid or U.S. citizens. A recent joint report from the DHS and the FBI said, “There is no indication of a threat to public safety [from hacking of our nuclear plants] as any potential impact appears to be limited to administrative and business networks.”
The nuclear power plants in the U.S. are one of the best protected of all infrastructure systems from cyber threats. The safety and control systems for U.S. nuclear power reactors and other critical plant components are not connected to the plant’s administrative systems or the Internet. A representative of the Nuclear Energy Institute has said that there is no evidence of any U.S. power reactor’s operation being influenced by hacking.
In normal business practices, computers are protected by software and hardware firewalls to protect them from malicious intrusion. However, nuclear power reactors are so important and dangerous that conventional firewalls are not enough. Nuclear power plants utilize a system that permits one-way flow of information. Data can be sent out of the plants, but it cannot be sent into plants. If outside laptops or thumb drives need to be used for some purpose, they are thoroughly checked for any hostile code.
David Blee, Executive Director of the National Nuclear Infrastructure Council recently said, “United States utilities with nuclear assets have very robust cyber security programs dating back to the days of Y2K. Operational plant systems controls are segregated from normal business software by several layers of protection, including physical means.”
Computer hacking has been commonplace these days. It is estimated that computer intrusions cost the world over four hundred and fifty billion dollars in 2016. The world Internet has not developed a robust immunity system which will be necessary if we intend to keep using computers for critical functions in our society. Google’s Project Zero has created an elite cyber SWAT team that cruises the Internet looking for problems.
The immune system of the nuclear industry is one of the best developed such systems in the world. A great deal of the equipment that operates nuclear power plants is still analog which helps provide protection. In addition, the U.S. nuclear infrastructure is more closely monitored than any other industry. A spokesperson for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says that it is notified immediately if a cyberattack has penetrated any safety, security or emergency preparedness systems of a U.S. nuclear power plant. The new generations of nuclear power reactors being developed are incorporating the most advanced cybersecurity available.
