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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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.
I have blogged in the past about the possible peaceful use of nuclear bombs. Suggestions have been made that nuclear bombs could be used to dig canals and for other projects requiring the movement of a lot of soil. The idea has also been floated that nuclear bombs could be used for fracking to produce oil and gas. The problem with these and other suggestions for peaceful use is that radioactive contamination of the environment would be a probable result. There is, however, one possible use that would not result in any environmental problems and that is the use of nuclear bombs to destroy or divert an asteroid headed for the Earth.
Asteroids are minor astronomical bodies which are not big enough for gravity to pull into spherical shapes. There are three main types of asteroids. The E-type asteroids are composed of carbon compounds. The M-type asteroids contain metals such as iron and nickel. And the S-type asteroids are stone composed of silicate compounds.
There are millions of asteroids in the solar system. Many of these orbit between Mars and Jupiter in what is referred to as the Asteroid Belt. There also many asteroids in the inner solar system which cross the orbit of the earth. Once in a while, one of these near-Earth asteroids crashes into the Earth. The bigger the asteroid, the greater the destruction. A big enough asteroid could cause global firestorms, earthquakes, and tsunamis. The amount of water, dirt, and smoke ejected into the atmosphere by such a collision could cause global cooling by blocking sunlight, disrupting the climate for years. Such asteroid impacts have happened many times in the past with devastating results.
NASA is currently monitoring asteroids that could pose a threat to the Earth. Over 16,000 asteroids that regularly cross the orbit of the earth and may pose a threat in the future have been catalogued by NASA. NASA and its European counterparts are most concerned about asteroids that are 450 feet or larger because the impact of such an asteroid on Earth could destroy a large city. Although smaller asteroids are less of a threat their impact could still be quite serious depending on where they landed.
One of these smaller asteroids came within 30,000 miles of the earth back in February. Yesterday a large asteroid passed within 1 million miles of the earth which is about four times farther away than the orbit of the moon. This asteroid was about two thousand feet across and could’ve caused serious devastation if it had hit the Earth.
At this stage of our technological development, it would be difficult for the human race to do anything about an asteroid approaching on a collision course with the Earth. The best current option for deflecting an asteroid is the use of multiple existing nuclear warheads or the creation of special huge nuclear devices for this specific purpose.
The big issue with such a mission is how much time we would have to prepare. In some cases, we are able to identify and chart asteroids that are headed our way years ahead of a possible collision. In other cases, we might only have hours warning of an impending collision and too little time to prepare a response. There are estimates that it would take at least five years time to prepare a mission to destroy or divert a major asteroid with today’s technology. Another problem is that some asteroids are not single objects but lose conglomerations of many smaller objects. If an explosion was not sufficient to push all the smaller objects away from the Earth, it might just be a case of trading one single large impact for many smaller impacts.
The NASA Planetary Defense Office (PDO) and other organizations such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have held simulations of asteroid strikes. If a major asteroid was found to be headed towards the Earth and an impact was inevitable, the NASA PDO, FEMA and other and other federal, state and local agencies would spring into action to prepare for the impact and to pick up the pieces afterward.
An additional danger of an unexpected impact of a major asteroid in a country armed with nuclear weapons is that such an impact might be mistaken for a nuclear attack and trigger a nuclear war with a nuclear-armed enemy.
It is ironic to consider that a device that has threatened the very existence of the human race for decades might ultimately be the Savior of human civilization.
Artist’s concept of a rocket sent to destroy an approaching asteroid:
My last five blog posts were about the situation in North Korea. I covered aspects of North Korean government, our history with North Korea, current diplomacy, international aspects, our attempts to gain the assistance of China in ending the North Korean nuclear program, a review of the North Korean nuclear program, an overview of the North Korean submarine fleet and its threat and the ways in which North Korea has been able to raise the money to develop nuclear weapons. Today, I am going to talk about North Korean motivations for the possession of nuclear weapons.
Since the truce that halted the hostilities of the Korean War in 1953, North Korea has existed in a state of perpetual preparation for war. About one in four Korean North Koreans is in the Army and about a quarter of the North Korean GDP is spent on weaponry and the military. The leaders of North Korea maintain their power partially on the basis of the claim that they are always under threat of attack by powerful nations. The development of nuclear weapons is seen as a necessary deterrent to prevent invasion by their enemies. Considering what happened when Muammar Gaddafi when he agreed to end his nuclear weapons development program, they feel that they have good reason to keep their nuclear weapons.
North Koreans have motivations beyond deterrence which have reinforced their quest for nuclear weapons. Apparently, they believe that possession of nuclear weapons will discourage other countries from attempting to meddle in the internal affairs of North Korea and give its leaders the latitude to experiment with economic reforms. This is the course that China followed after it developed a nuclear arsenal.
Secure in the efficacy of his nuclear arsenal, Kim Jong on has already been making changes to North Korea’s economic system. Kim has reformed the agricultural sector with great success. Recent harvests have broken the records of previous years which is a very important achievement given that North Korea has been ravaged by widespread starvation in the past. Kim is now working on the mechanization of agriculture in North Korea. In addition, he is working to automate factories and increased coal production.
The Rason special economic zone was established in 1992 by Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea and the grandfather of Kim Jong-Un, the current leader. In recent years, Kim Jong-Un has focused on the creation of special economic zones with regulations designed to entice foreign firms. In 2013, Kim opened a dozen of these special economic zones with another dozen opened in 2014 and two more zones in 2015. Unfortunately, the development of these zones has been slow because of the bureaucracy and internal politics of North Korea.
The Chinese appreciate better than any other nation the course that North Korea is on. They understand the pride and insularity of North Korea and they do not believe, despite the prevailing attitude in the West, that severe economic pressure will ever cause North Korea to surrender its nuclear arsenal. Increasing economic pressure with sanctions may only serve to increase North Korea’s resolve to be seen as a very dangerous adversary who must be taken seriously and will not be intimidated easily. While China acknowledges that it has a great deal of influence with North Korea, it insists that any restraints on North Korean nuclear ambitions must be negotiated between the leaders of North Korea and the United States.
Rason special economic zone:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday gave the owners of the soon-to-close Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Massachusetts a pass on post-Fukushima Daiichi safety requirements, triggering quick backlashes from the state’s two U.S. Senators, Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren. Nuclearstreet.com
FirstEnergy Corp. is now technically the sole owner of both reactors at the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Nuclearstreet.com
My last four blog posts were about the situation in North Korea. I covered aspects of North Korean government, our history with North Korea, current diplomacy, international aspects, our attempts to gain the assistance of China in ending the North Korean nuclear program, a review of the North Korean nuclear program, and an overview of the North Korean submarine fleet and its threat. Today, I am going to talk about the ways that North Korea, a very poor country, has managed to pay for its development and manufacture of weapons.
North Korea has a tiny gross domestic product when compared to South Korea. It is estimated that the North Korean GDP is about $30 billion which is a little over 2% of the South Korean GDP. However, North Korea does spend as much as one-fourth of its GDP on the development of weapons. There are at least six ways in which North Korea has managed to obtain the funds that it requires for weapons development.
China is North Korea’s biggest trading partner. The US Central intelligence agency estimates that about three-fourths of North Korea’s trade is conducted with China. There are other estimates that placed the amount of trade between the two Asian countries at an even higher level. While it is true that China has the ability to severely cripple the North Korean economy by closing off the current supply of food and energy, to do so would have grave consequences for China. If the North Korean economy collapsed, millions of refugees would flood across the Chinese border. China would not be able to deal with the refugees without severe impacts on its own economy and society.
North Korea provides North Korean citizens as slave laborers for China and Russia. This human trafficking brings in significant resources. Kim Jong-Un’s direct involvement in this practice provides him with foreign currency which he uses to bribe powerful members of the North Korean government to support him.
North Korea has extensive mineral reserves including deposits of magnesite, zinc, tungsten, iron, and coal. While North Korea lacks the electricity and equipment to efficiently mind these minerals, the North Koreans have formed mining partnerships with China, Canada, Egypt, Brazil, and South Korea in order to exploit their mineral wealth. Kim Jong-U involvement in these projects also provides him with foreign currency that he can use to bribe government officials.
North Korea has been involved in the manufacture and international sale of illegal drugs as well as the sale of versions of legal drugs such as Viagra illegally manufactured in North Korea. As with slave labor and minerals, Kim Jong-Un is directly involved in this drug trade which provides him with more foreign currency.
North Korea also sells weapons to other nations. There are extensive North Korea arms deals with countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Some experts state that North Korea has been involved with Iran in nuclear weapons development. Beyond the sale of weapons and weapon systems themselves, North Korea has also been involved in the construction of military and security facilities in other countries.
Finally, it has been reported that last year North Korea was involved in an eighty million dollar cybertheft of money from the Bangladesh account at the New York Federal Reserve. Law enforcement officials in the United States believe that China assisted North Korea in this theft. There are also reports that some Chinese financial firms are serving as conduits for illegal currency transfers to North Korea.
It would be wise for the major powers to find ways to cripple these sources of funding for the North Korean weapons programs, especially with regard to nuclear weapons development.
North Korean 1000 won note:
