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.
Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located in Lower Alloways Creek Township, in Salem County, New Jersey. It has one twelve hundred megawatt power reactor that went into operation in 1981. PSEG Nuclear LLC owns and operates the plant. It is located at the same site as the Salem Nuclear Power Plant which has two power reactors with a total capacity of about twenty two hundred megawatts. One unit went into operation in 1977 and the other in 1981. The Salem plant is owned and operated by PSEG Nuclear LLC and Excelon LLC.
I have been blogging lately about problems with nuclear reactor components manufactured by Areva in France. The investigation has spread to nine nuclear power plants located in the U.S. and, it turns out, the Hope Creek/Salem facilities may have imported some of the questionable components from Areva.
There is a new report out by epidemiologist Joseph Mangano commissioned by a citizens watchdog group called Unplug Salem. The report states that there have been rising cancer rates in the communities around the two nuclear power plants. Prior to 1990, the cancer rates for Salem County were below the average rate for other counties in New Jersey. According to the new report, as of 2014, the cancer rates for Salem County are now above the average rate for New Jersey counties.
The report does not claim to have shown a direct link between the increasing cancer rates and radiological releases from the three nuclear power reactors but it does call for increased diligence on the part of state and national regulators of nuclear power plants. In view of the increased cancer rates and the reports of possibly flawed components, the public is entitled to more detailed information about the operation of the three power reactors.
The French authorities are moving aggressively in their investigation of French nuclear power plants that purchased questionable components from Areva. They have found falsified quality control record and have instructed Areva to visually inspect records of over six thousand components dating back to 1960. Eighteen nuclear power reactors were shut down by the French regulator agency while inspection of components from Areva was carried out.
When the news of the investigation of possible U.S. purchase and installation of flawed components from Areva at U.S. nuclear power plants first became public, the NRC refused to release the list of U.S. reactors that might have purchased flawed components. They made the argument that the information was proprietary and that there was no threat to the public. However, apparently that position has not proved to be sustainable and it was just announced that the NRC will reveal the names of the nine U.S. power plants that may have Areva components.
It should be determined if any of the Areva components at any of the nine U.S. nuclear power plants could possibly cause a major nuclear accident if it fails. If there is even the remotest possibility of such an accident, the nuclear power plant utilizing the component should be shut down immediately. In any case, all questionable components should be carefully inspected at every one of the nine nuclear power plants before they are given a clean bill of health.
Hope Creek/Salem nuclear power complex:
Hanford keeps turning up in my blogs because it is one of the most radioactively contaminated sites on Earth thanks to the Department of Defense use of the site for the development of nuclear weapons. At one point, they poured millions of gallons of radioactive liquids directly into ditches that were not even lined with plastic. There are underground tanks that are filled with a witches brew of toxic chemicals and radioactive substances that are leaking into the soil. The U.S. government is getting ready to spend a trillion dollars to upgrade U.S. nuclear weapons while Hanford goes begging for a few more billion dollars to clean up Hanford. The Department of Energy is so incompetent that they have to be hauled into court to force them to meet cleanup deadlines. The DoE is also being sued for their failure to protect the workers at Hanford.
Now it is being reported that radioactive contamination is spreading in an old complex at Hanford called the Reduction-Oxidation (REDOX) plant. The REDOX facility was used between 1952 and 1967 to remove plutonium from around twenty four thousand tons of spent uranium fuel rods for use in nuclear weapons. Currently, the REDOX facility is scheduled for demolition no earlier than 2030.The local newspaper reports that the REDOX plant is far inside the boundaries of the Hanford Reservation and does not pose a threat to public health.
The new report said that annual inspections over the past few years have found that water leaking into the building through the roof and joints has spread radioactive contamination. Evidence of animal intrusions and deteriorating asbestos was also found. There are concerns about contamination being spread by animals that get into the building, a fire that might damage the building, utility pipes bursting or the penetration of rain water.
The new report suggested that one hundred and eighty million dollars spent on “interim” cleanup of the building in the near future. Demolition of an attached building that is highly contaminated and demolition of annexes to the main building should help prevent further spread of contamination. There are also two tanks containing chemicals used to make plutonium that should be removed.
The report also suggested that reducing the spread of contamination in the REDOX building would help the DoE retain skilled workers needed to continue the cleanup and decommissioning work at Hanford. There are reports that the new Trump administration is interested in accelerating the cleanup at Hanford. It is anticipated that this may result in more federal money becoming available soon to expand cleanup efforts and hire more workers with the necessary skills.
Considering the problems that the State of Washington has had with the work of the DoE at Hanford, it would be a major improvement of the situation if the new administration actually chose to move forward more aggressively on cleaning up the radioactive contamination left over from the development of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
REDOX complex at Hanford:
Russian nuclear fuel manufacturer TVEL has signed a contract with the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIEA) for the supply of fuel to the Chinese Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR). world-nuclear-news.org
With constant emphasis on slapping a ban on the use of imported coal and furnace oil in electricity production, Pakistan is mulling over putting a brake on the installation of nuclear power plants in future because of concern over the high cost of production. tribune.com.pk
Workers at the USA’s only underground nuclear waste repository stowed two pallets of drums deep underground Wednesday for the first time in nearly three years. usatoday.com
Yesterday, I blogged about serious financial problems at Toshiba because of difficulties at Westinghouse, its U.S. nuclear technology subsidiary. Westinghouse is busy working on construction projects for eight nuclear power reactors in the U.S. It is not yet known whether or not the problems at Toshiba will impact the U.S. reactors projects of Westinghouse.
Toshiba is still hoping to profit from its nuclear technology business in the U.S. In 2016, Toshiba American Energy Systems (TAES) was created by the consolidation of several branches of Toshiba’s Energy Systems and Solutions company in Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte is considered a major center of innovation in the energy sector and is home to other major companies working in the energy sector.
The CEO of TASE told an interviewer that Toshiba had had separate divisions to provide turbines to the coal, hydro and nuclear industries. In view of the fact that some of Toshiba’s utility customers were consolidating the management of different energy sources, Toshiba made the decision to consolidate the separate turbine divisions into a single entity.
Charlotte was chosen for the new consolidated turbine business because the nuclear division was already located in Charlotte and the city had a number of attractive features both for employees and for the company. The Denver and San Francisco offices were brought to Charlotte and merged with the nuclear division. The main business for TAES is the sale of turbines to the energy production industry.
North Carolina has create a Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard. Recently there have been calls by members of the nuclear power industry to include nuclear energy in the Portfolio. Toshiba is currently involved in the construction of nuclear power reactors in North Carolina and definitely supports this initiative. The CEO of TAES believes that nuclear power is critical to meeting climate change mitigation goals of lowering carbon emissions from power plants.
As with all nuclear power reactors, spent nuclear fuel disposal is a big problem. The CEO of TAES agrees that it is necessary to create a permanent geological repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel in the U.S. He suggested that the canceled Yucca Mountain Repository project should be reconsidered. He also said that there are dry cask systems for storing spent nuclear fuel onsite at nuclear power plants.
Toshiba is not a manufacturer of wind and solar power systems but they are interested in working with major manufacturers of such systems. Toshiba is also working on closed-cycle, zero-emission gas turbines to help fight climate change.
While energy generation is a primary focus for TAES, they are also working on other projects such as ion cancer therapy developed from their nuclear technology. This new medical technology is being developed for the U.S. market and will be available soon. The CEO says that a few twenty-minute sessions can eliminate major cancer tumors without serious side effects.
It is unclear exactly how recent problems at Toshiba Corporate in Japan and Westinghouse Nuclear in the U.S. will impact TAES.
US-based GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) has been awarded a three-year contract to dismantle the reactor internals of units 1 and 2 at the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden. world-nuclear-news.org
Industrias Nucleares do Brasil (INB) has started work on its Engenho mine in Brazil’s Bahia state. The company said the move was a “decisive step” towards resumption of domestic uranium production. world-nuclear-news.org
