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.
Part 1 of 2 Parts
During the time I have been writing this blog, I have covered hostility between various nuclear armed nations. Today, there are groups trying to stop nuclear proliferation and groups trying to stoke conflict between nations with nuclear weapons. Nations who have nuclear weapons are threatening to use them and some nations that do not have nuclear weapons are trying to obtain them to the great consternations of their rivals or enemies. However, I have never blogged about one particular a nuclear confrontation that could have happened but did not. We here in the U.S. saw the Soviet Union and China as allies who stood together against the U.S. during the Cold War. But relations were not always sunny between the two nuclear powers.
For years before 1969, the relationship between the Soviet Union had been deteriorating. In 1969, the simmering enmity between the former allies reached the point where it boiled over into a hot war. In March of that year, Chinese troops fired on Soviet troops on Damansky Island on the Ussuri River. (Zhenbao Island for the Chinese) The Ussuri River formed part of the border between Soviet Siberia and Manchuria in China. Damansky Island is right in the middle of the river and the border runs down the center of the island. This island is just a hundred and twenty miles south of the major Soviet city of Khabarovsk.
The Soviets believed that the Chinese had brought in a unit of specially trained troops to ambush Soviet troops. In the ambush, fifty Soviet troops were killed and many more were wounded. There were allegations of atrocities committed against wounded Soviet soldiers which angered the Soviet generals.
Two weeks after the Chinese attack, the Soviets counter-attacked and hundreds of Chinese troops were killed. Skirmishes continued on and around the island through the spring and summer. The U.S. CIA Director told the press that the Soviets had been quietly asking foreign governments what they thought about the possibility of the Soviets hitting China with a preemptive nuclear attack.
Apparently, the Soviet leadership believed that the Chinese leaders were insane. They were discussing whether or not it would be a good idea to crush China before it got any stronger. Oddly enough, although the Chinese were the ones who attacked the Soviets in the first place, it did not seem that China had either the will or resources to engage in a major war with the Soviets. On the other hand, the Soviets were well prepared for war.
The Soviets had been building up their ground forces since the early Sixties when Chinese relations were beginning to sour. In 1965, the Soviets had thirteen ground divisions. By 1969, that had grown to twenty-one divisions but they were primarily defensive. The Chinese, on the other hand, had thirty-four divisions, including tank and artillery divisions. If the Soviet Union had decided to attack China, it would have had two options.
The first option for a Soviet attack would have been a mechanized attack into Manchuria to destroy much of Chinese industrial infrastructure. There would also have been a limited nuclear attack to destroy Chinese nuclear forces and research facilities. Such an attack would have consisted of about seven hundred and fifty thousand men supported by modern armor divisions, artillery, tactical air power and possibly tactical nuclear weapons.
Please read Part 2
A Soviet ship uses a water cannon against a Chinese fisherman on the Ussuri River on 6 May 1969
Enriched uranium is the primary fuel for nuclear reactors. Minerals containing uranium are common and there are many deposits of ore that can provide all the fule that the world needs. On the other hand, just like any commodity, problems with supply can arise. Some countries are researching the use of special “fast neutron” reactors to generate fissile materials that can be used for fuel in reactors. These reactors actually produce more fuel than they consume. Both China and Russia are actively engaged in the creation of “synthetic nuclear fuels” that are produced by fast neutron reactors. Such fuel would permit a closed cycle nuclear fuel process where spent fuel could be burned to produce more fuel.
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNChas just announced that they are beginning the construction of what they call the “landmark project for the development of China’s nuclear industry”. They have signed construction contracts for the Xiapu fast reactor pilot project with China Nuclear Industry 23 Construction Co Ltd. The Chairman of the CNNC said at a ceremony that the start of the construction was of great significance for the realization of the closed nuclear fuel cycle which would lead to the sustainable development of nuclear energy in China.
Fast neutron reactors have been targeted as the main reactor technology for China in the future. They expect FNRs to be the dominant domestic power reactors by 2050. China has been researching FNRs for fifty years. The Chinese Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) is a sixty five megawatt fast neutron reactor that first achieved criticality in 2010 and was connected to the Chinese power grid a year later.
Based on the development of the CEFR, a six hundred megawatt design called the CFR-600 was produced by the Chinese Institute of Atomic Energy. The Xiapu reactor will be a demonstration model of the CFR-600 design. The reactor will consume mixed oxide fuel (MOX) which is a mixture of enriched uranium and plutonium.
A commercial scale reactor called the CFR-1000 which will generate one gigawatt of electricity is in the planning stages. A decision will be made about whether or not to proceed with construction in 2020. If the project goes forward as planned, it should be completed by 2028.
In August of last year, the Russian government issued licenses for the construction of a Brest-OD-300 reactor, a nuclear fuel fabrication facility and a used fuel reprocessing facility. Russia is planning to start construction of the nuclear fuel fabrication facility for its fast neutron Brest-OD-300 reactor next year in Tomsk, Siberia. The Brest-OD-300 is part of the Rosatom Breakthrough project to develop a close nuclear fuel cycle to eliminate radioactive waste. The Breakthrough project includes a fuel production/refabrication facility to produce dense uranium plutonium fuel for fast reactors, a nuclear power plant with a Brest reactor and a used fuel retreatment facility. A nuclear power plant with a Brest reactor will be part of a pilot energy complex.
While the creation of a closed nuclear fuel cycle can help solve fuel supply problems as well as reducing nuclear waste, the plutonium recovered from spent nuclear fuel could be used for nuclear weapons as well as the production of more fuel. This is of great concern to those working on nuclear non-proliferation.
Brest-OD-300 diagram:
