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.
President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima, the city that was attacked by a U.S. atomic bomb at the end of world War II has prompted a new round of stories about nuclear tensions and nuclear disarmament. Today, I am going to blog about rising tensions between China and the U.S. and the deployment of nuclear weapons.
China has claimed a group of islands in the South China Sea. It has been dredging and adding soil to some of the islands and building military bases. The islands in question are called the Spratly Islands. They lie in overlapping territorial waters of The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei and are close to major international shipping lanes. These six nations as well as the U.S. and other nations dispute the Chinese claims to these islands. The Paracel Islands and the Scarborough Shoal in the same area are also contested. The U.S. has been sending U.S. naval vessels to sail in this area as a counter to the claims of China.
Recently China has been talking about the need to deploy regular patrols of nuclear submarines with nuclear missiles in the Pacific Ocean as a response to new U.S. weapons systems that they claim have undermined China’s existing deterrent force. Chinese concerns were raised when the U.S. announced in March that the U.S. was going to deploy the Thaad anti-ballistic missile defense system in South Korea. The U.S. said that the Thaad system was being planned as a response to recent nuclear tests and provocations from North Korea. However, China points out that the Thaad system could also be used against missiles in the South China Sea. They are also worried about U.S. work on hypersonic glide missiles that could reach China in less than one hour after they were launched.
China has been working on ballistic missile submarine technology for decades. Actual deployment in regular patrols has been delayed as a matter of policy, technical problems and rivalry between Chinese military institutions. Chinese nuclear warheads and the missiles that can deliver them have been stored separately up to this point. If the Chinese arm and deploy nuclear missile carrying submarines, this will be a major change of policy because the warheads and missiles would be together on the submarines. Previously, Chinese central command strictly controlled assembly and launch of nuclear missiles. With the missiles on the submarines, they could be launched much faster. The U.S. is concerned that such Chinese deployment will further destabilize the already tense situation in Southeast Asia.
China has four ballistic missiles submarines stationed at Hainan Island in the South China Sea. They are currently building a fifth. With tensions rising in the South China Sea because of the dispute over the Spratly Islands and other nearby other groups of islands, the Chinese recently announced plans to start regular patrols of the nuclear armed submarines in the area. With U.S. Navy sending Naval vessels to patrol in the same area, potential for confrontation is increasing. Recently a U.S. spy plane and two Chinese fighters almost collided in the air near Hainan Island.
France gets about seventy five percent of its electricity from fifty eight nuclear power reactors located at nineteen power plants around the nation. Recently, these power stations became targets for national strikes called to protest unpopular labor reforms being promoted by the conservative French government.
Eleven nuclear power stations in France reported lowered production of electricity today due to strikes and protests. Total nuclear operating capacity was reduced by six percent. EDF is a state-controlled company and is mandated by law to maintain a minimum output from the nuclear power reactors that they manage during any strike. French authorities are confident that in spite of the reduced nuclear production, there will not be power blackouts in France. The strike will raised costs for EDF because they will have to start up coal and gas fired power plants which cost more to operate. They will also have to buy more expensive electricity from other nations. Frances import of electricity quadrupled from the day before the strike.
Members of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) union at the EDF utility that operates all the nuclear power plants in France joined the national strike Thursday. The striking workers constitute about ten percent of the EDF workforce. Workers at the Gravelines nuclear power station in northern France burned tires and handed out flyers critical of the labor reforms. Workers at the Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear station set fire to barricades blocking two roads that lead to the plant. Employees of the Tricastin nuclear power plant in southern France picketed outside of the plant.
The French Prime Minister insists that the strikes and protests will not stop the proposed labor reforms from being implemented. The package of reforms will now go before the French senate where a right-wing majority will insure its passage. In a conciliatory gesture, the Prime Minister said that there was always room for modifications and improvements. The fact that a month long international soccer tournament is scheduled to start in two weeks in placing increased pressure on the Prime Minister. Serious fuel and power outages might interfere with the tournament which would be bad publicity for France.
During the investigation following the terrorist attacks in Paris last fall, Belgian police discovered that some of the perpetrators had been videotaping the movements of an official at a nuclear installation in Brussels. There was a fear that the terrorists may have been planning an attack to obtain nuclear materials for a dirty bomb. A couple of years ago, two workers at a Belgian nuclear power plant went to Syria to train with ISIS. A few years ago, someone, never identified, opened a single valve at a Belgian nuclear power plant and drained seventy five thousand gallons of oil used to lubricate the turbines. The resulting damage at the plant forced its closure for months while repairs were carried out. Nuclear power plants are prime targets for terrorism and sabotage. With the social and political turbulence at French nuclear power plants caused by the strikes, the French authorities have to be worried that there is a significant danger that the confusion and chaos caused by the national strike at least eleven of the nineteen French nuclear plants might be used as cover for an attack or sabotage.
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