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.
Uranium is a chemical element with the atomic number of 92. It is a grey, dense, radioactive metal. The fuel for nuclear reactors is a highly radioactive isotope of uranium that is less than one percent of most uranium deposits. Low enrichment of uranium provides fuel while highly enriched uranium is used in nuclear weapons.
Uranium is common in the crust of the Earth. It is forty times more common than silver and five hundred times more common than gold. Uranium is found in small quantities in rocks, sediments, seawater, aquifers and hot springs. In areas where the geological conditions are just right, concentrated uranium ore can be found.
Uranium is an energy commodity that is traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) division of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. All energy raw materials including crude oil, natural gas, coal, and uranium are traded on the NYMEX. Each contract on the futures exchange involves two hundred and fifty pounds of Triuranium Octoxide which is a popular form of processed uranium ore known as yellowcake. The current price of uranium is the lowest that it has been in the last ten years. If the price rises, uranium offers value for investors.
Kazakhstan produced the highest amount of uranium of any country in the world in 2017. There are seventeen uranium mines in Kazakhstan scattered among fifty known deposits of high grade ore. It is estimated that Kazakhstan contains as much as twelve percent of global reserves. Kazakhstan was responsible for the production of twenty-three thousand eight hundred tons of uranium which represents about forty percent of world production for the year. Canada comes next in uranium production. It produces about thirteen thousand tons. Australia is next after Canada with about six thousand tons a year. Niger produces over four thousand tons. Russia and Namibia produce three thousand tons a year. Uzbekistan, China, the United States, and Ukraine are also in the top ten producers.
Australia has about thirty percent of the uranium reserves in the world. Although Australia has the biggest reserves by far there are no commercial nuclear power reactors there because of the very strong political and public opposition to all things nuclear. If that changes, Australia could easily outproduce Kazakhstan.
For most nations with uranium, reserves and stockpiles are considered to be important strategic national security secrets. It is likely that the exact size and location of reserves and stockpiles in Russia and China are not being made public.
The price of uranium has been falling for the past ten years, from a high of one hundred and forty-eight dollars a pound in 2007 to a recent low of seventeen dollars and fifty cents. The current price is twenty-two dollars and forty five cents a pound.
Cameco is the company that produces the most uranium in the world. They generate about thirteen thousand five hundred metric tons each year in Canada, the U.S. and Kazakhstan. The French company Areva produces nearly the same amount from Canada, Kazakhstan and Niger. Rio Tinto is the third largest producer with Paladin Energy as the fourth.
The Kaliningrad Oblast is a Russian enclave located on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania. It is separated from Russia proper and is the western-most province of Russia. The Kaliningrad Oblast covers about six thousand square miles. It is considered to be the most militarized zone on the entire European continent. The Russian have installed missiles, tanks, warships, soldiers, bases and listening posts.
The Lithuanian president has just confirmed that Russia has shipped nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad. He said “Iskander missiles are being stationed in Kaliningrad for permanent presence as we speak. This is not just a threat to Lithuania, but to half of all European countries.” Lithuanian intelligence agencies monitored the movement of the missiles into Kaliningrad. Iskander missiles are short-range but can carry nuclear warheads.
Such missiles would play a major role in any Russian-NATO conflict. The Russians have stated that they would consider the use of such tactical nuclear weapons if they were losing a conventional ground war against NATO.
Given the present tension between the U.S. and Russia, moving such missiles into Kaliningrad is seen as a major threat to Europe. However, a Kremlin spokesperson said “I want to remind you that the placement of particular armaments and the deployment of specific military units on Russian territory are solely the sovereign issue of Russia.” The Russian defense minister said that the missiles had been deployed in response to NATO operations near Russia. It is interesting to note that while Russia says that its buildup is a private matter, they also say that it is a response to NATO operations in other countries.
NATO often stations troops in Lithuania. There is currently a contingent of German-led troops on alert in Lithuania. Britain’s top general issued a report last month saying that Russia is now a clear and present danger to NATO nations. Russia and NATO continuously argue about who is acting aggressively as they both stage wargames with troops, tanks, ships and planes around eastern Europe near the Russian border.
Russia has been accused of having territorial ambitions in eastern Europe ever since it annexed the Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The small Baltic countries of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia have been especially nervous about Russian actions near their borders. There was an incident last week over the Black Sea in which a Russian jet flew within five feet of a U.S. jet. Russia denies that it has any aggressive intent while accusing the West of wanting to restart the Cold War.
In the past few years, Russia has flown nuclear bombers in and out of the air space of other nations without notice. It has also sailed surface ships and nuclear submarines in and out of the territorial waters of other nations without any notice. They have repeatedly stated the intent to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on modernizing their nuclear forces and developing new nuclear weapons. Many analysts are concerned with how freely the Russians talk about using tactical nuclear weapons. I believe that it is beyond dispute that Russia is acting aggressively to intimidate other nations with its nuclear arsenal and moving Iskander missiles into Kaliningrad is just the lasted move in the game they are playing.
