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.
Experts Warn Iran Could Achieve Nuclear Weapons Capability in Weeks themedialine.org
Norsk Kjernekraft focuses on off-grid SMR projects world-nuclear-news.org
BN-1200 plans clear environmental hurdle world-nuclear-news.org
Oklo, Atomic Alchemy team up for future isotope production world-nuclear-news.org
Ambient office = 133 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 82 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 79 nanosieverts per hour
Avocado from Central Market = 126 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 67 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 52 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient office = 92 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 133 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 126 nanosieverts per hour
Acorn squash from Central Market = 93 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 58 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 45 nanosieverts per hour
Dover Sole from Central = 114 nanosieverts per hour
North Dakota eyes next-generation nuclear as replacement for coal plants inforum.com
North Korea confirms missile launch, Kim Jong Un vows bolstered nuclear force france24.com
Eastern Kentucky exploring economic growth with nuclear energy lanereport.com
International Community Meets to Discuss the Future of Nuclear Security iaea.org
The Netherland Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ANVS) has granted the final permit to Urenco, the uranium enrichment company, for the construction and operation of a new radioactive waste storage facility at its Almelo site. Last year, Urenco was granted permission to build the facility prior to the permit being issued.
In the autumn of 2022, Urenco received a warning from ANVS after an inspection. ANVS said that radioactive material (activated carbon and waste oils) was being stored in a room that was not sufficiently fire-resistant at Almelo.
ANVS said in April 2023 that although there was no immediate danger to people and the environment, ANVS still issued a ‘tolerance decision’, allowing the construction of a new storage facility, without the required permit having been granted in advance. This was done so that Urenco could meet the safety requirements as quickly as possible.
At the time of issuing its decision, ANVS said it “only tolerates [permit] violations either in the event of force majeure or in a transitional situation and if the situation does not lead to major environmental or safety risks. We have assessed that there is force majeure for the storage of the radioactive material at Urenco. The company may therefore create and use a new storage facility without a permit until 1 July 2024.”
“Now that the final permit has been obtained, the tolerance situation has formally come to an end,” ANVS has recently noted.
Radioactive waste from Urenco’s uranium enrichment activities at Almelo cannot immediately be sent for storage at the Central Organization for Radioactive Waste (COVRA). The waste must first be processed by the Urenco. Then it can be transported to COVRA which is the only storage facility for radioactive waste in the Netherlands. The radioactive material must therefore remain stored at Urenco until that processing has taken place.
In addition to granting the final permit for the waste storage facility at Almelo, ANVS has also made three amendments to Urenco’s license for the plant. The company has the option to adapt the floor plan of its facility to the new situation. Urenco is also permitted to use a higher tube voltage for its X-ray equipment. The company uses these devices to screen its centrifuges during assembly. In order to use a new type of centrifuge, Urenco needs equipment with a higher tube voltage (two hundred and fifty kilovolts) than it is currently allowed to use (two hundred kilovolts)) according to the permit. In addition, Urenco may install two additional tipping autoclaves in the Central Services Building. These devices are used to take samples. Urenco will have the ability to take more samples at the same time by installing these additional tipping autoclaves.
Urenco announced plans last December to increase capacity at its Almelo plant by fifteen percent in response to new commitments from customers. The project will see multiple new centrifuge cascades added to an existing plant at the site. This will add about seven hundred and fifty tons of SWU per year. The first new cascades are scheduled to come online at Almelo around 2027.
US to offer up to $3.4 billion for nuclear fuel makers in June mining.com
Japan fumes at China, Russia for calling released Fukushima water ‘nuclear-contaminated’ scmp.com
US conducts 3rd subcritical nuclear test under Biden nhk.or.jp
New Dutch government pushes for more offshore gas extraction and nuclear offshore-technology.com
Ambient office = 106 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 75 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 70 nanosieverts per hour
White onion from Central Market = 93 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 98 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 89 nanosieverts per hour
Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Bilbao y León said that people tend to think of the energy systems of the future as being a version of the current system. However, she said that the technology is definitely going to be very different. “Very importantly I think that we are going to see a lot of coupling of systems … electricity is obviously going to be very important as we try to electrify a lot of energy, but clearly there are going to be additional energy vectors … all these technologies are going to make this system more complex … we can have different energy products depending on what is needed at different times to ensure the reliability and the resiliency and the flexibility of the system.”
Ballout spoke about scenarios that Électricité de France SA (EDF) has been developing for more than fifteen years, mainly for internal use. This year EDF has made its scenario for net-zero publicly available. “It’s fundamentally different from the other scenarios we’re developing because we start with the constraints and the end. We start with net neutrality in 2050 and we go backwards. So we try to find the most economically efficient pathway to achieve this neutrality. And when I say economically efficient, I think of welfare maximization, the minimization of the cost and the optimization of the resilience of the system.”
Ballout continued, “And that’s how we come to a mix that shows we have to multiply by six our renewable capacity in Europe [by 2050] – we’ve been talking about 15 Western European countries. We will have between 120 and 150 gigawatts of nuclear capacity. We will enhance significantly the production of biofuels and CCS. We see this path will take us to a significant increase of flexibility needs … it’s a very important part of the resilience of the system.”
Wilmshurst said that it was clear that nuclear and renewables will have an important role together in the future electricity system. “If we have an idealistic view that renewables can expand and expand and expand, the transmission grid needs to expand and expand, get more complicated, and when it gets more complicated the potential for it be less reliable increases.”
However, Wilmshurst noted that financing is a hurdle for nuclear deployment in most countries. “A great part of nuclear being perceived as expensive is the financing cost. So why is the financing cost so high? Because you have to build the nuclear plant – it takes a long time, it’s complicated – but that huge capital investment upfront alone then gives you the facility that runs for many decades to recoup the investment.”
Wilmshurst went on to say that “If we get deployment plans together with a clear picture … all of a sudden, the deployment experience increases, deployment risk goes down, the confidence in the financial markets that the projects can be delivered on time increases. Finance starts flowing. If we don’t make a decision to move, we don’t start doing things, we don’t learn as well. There’s hesitancy in the markets to invest.”
Ballout said nuclear and hydro play a critical role because outages of plants can be scheduled during periods where the demand is lower. “But that’s why we say we have to continue financing and investing in hydro and nuclear. The nuclear fleet is capable of ramping up when suddenly you don’t have sun or wind. It’s possible technologically and technically speaking and at the same time it is possible to ramp down in order to leave room for renewables to produce and that’s really the very important message for us.”
Putin, Xi Issue One-Sentence Warning on Nuclear War newsweek.com
Swedish project to develop Gen IV nuclear power system world-nuclear-news.org
Uganda looks to potential uranium production world-nuclear-news.org
UK sets out plan for boosting nuclear workforce world-nuclear-news.org
Ambient office = 102 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 100 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 102 nanosieverts per hour
Tomato from Central Market = 122 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 144 nanosieverts per hour
Filter water = 136 nanosieverts per hour
