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One new study found that radiation exposure didn't genetically harm future generations, while another offers insights into how radiation causes thyroid cancer. //
On this day in 1986, workers ran a safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine. But the test went awry, starting a fire in a reactor and leading to one of the largest nuclear disasters in history. Smoke from the fire and a second explosion launched radioactive elements into the atmosphere, scattering them over the surrounding fields and towns. Now, 35 years later, scientists are still uncovering the extent of the damage and starting to answer questions about the long-term legacy of radiation exposure on power plant workers, the people in the nearby community, and even their family members born years later.
It’s been nearly 10 years since I first visited the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was a great experience for me. I could finally see the place I’d previously only known from books and TV and the tart taste of the Lugol’s iodine I had to drink a few days after the disaster. After many visits to the plant, I was finally even allowed to enter the damaged Reactor 4 and see the notorious control room. It was here that the failed experiment resulting in the reactor exploding and the uncontrolled emission into the atmosphere of terabecquerels of radioactive isotopes was conducted.
I prefer much more to get to know history by going to museums, watching old documentary films, listening to direct reports of the witnesses of events. It is much easier and more pleasant to absorb the information when you are closer to these events. It is much easier to form your own opinion, having a greater and fuller image of the reality that surrounds us. This must be where my interest in diving in shipwrecks comes from. Located several dozen metres under the surface of the water, the wreck of a military ship is nothing if not a living museum. Additionally, one in which you can touch all the objects without worrying, not receiving strict reprimands from the museum guards. Recent diving in Narvik in wrecks from the Second World War taught me the history of these events much better than many lessons in school.
And it was no different during my last trip to the closed zone in Chernobyl. This time, thanks to obtaining special permits, I was able to get to the area of block 4 of the nuclear power plant, in other words, where everything began.
It’s been nearly 10 years since I first visited the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was a great experience for me. I could finally see the place I’d previously only known from books and TV and the tart taste of the Lugol’s iodine I had to drink a few days after the disaster.
After many visits to the plant, I was finally even allowed to enter the damaged Reactor 4 and see the notorious control room. It was here that the failed experiment resulting in the reactor exploding and the uncontrolled emission into the atmosphere of terabecquerels of radioactive isotopes was conducted. A decade ago, obtaining the necessary permits to see the epicenter of the events of April 1986 was extremely arduous and complicated. Today, this place is a must-see on most tourist excursions.
Today I return once again to the plant. This time, I want to see new places that I haven’t yet photographed. When I got permission after several months of effort, sending letters and making phone calls, I was very excited. As one of the staff members in charge of my visit said, I had been granted exclusive access to the nuclear power plant. I can’t wait to find out what this actually means.
Transatomic Reactor Documentation
Welcome to the main repository for Transatomic's public domain reactor design documents. We're very glad to be working with the Department of Energy's Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear to share our design with the public, and we hope that this work will support a wide range of molten salt reactor research and development efforts.
For additional information, and if you'd like to contribute to this project, please contact info@transatomicpower.com.
The subdirectories are organized as follows:
IP-filings - Granted patents, applications, and provisional filings.
blueprints - Balance-of-plant blueprints for the 520 MWe reactor design (TAP-520).
open-questions - A list of technology gaps and other areas of important future research for molten salt reactors.
tech-reports - Technical reports written as part of our GAIN (Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear) collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, describing the TAP-520 design.
white-papers - Whitepapers describing the overall design of the TAP-520, the neutronics of the TAP-520, the zirconium hydride moderator, and the TPX microreactor design.
Everything you need to know about the plan to release treated Fukushima water | Japan | The Guardian
Japan’s government has backed a plan to dilute the processed water and release it into the sea.
The government says the process meets international standards, and it has been endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“Releasing into the ocean is done elsewhere,” IAEA’s director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, has said. “It’s not something new. There is no scandal here.”
The release is not likely to begin for at least two years and will take decades.
A government spokesman, Katsunobo Kato, said the dilution would reduce tritium levels to well below standards set domestically and by the World Health Organization for drinking water, with IAEA supervision. //
Environmental groups like Greenpeace, which opposes nuclear power, say radioactive materials like carbon-14 that remain in the water can “be easily concentrated in the food chain”.
They allege that accumulated doses over time could damage DNA, and want to see the water stored until technology is developed to improve filtration. //
But “there is consensus among scientists that the impact on health is minuscule”, he told AFP.
Still, “it can’t be said the risk is zero, which is what causes controversy”.
Geraldine Thomas, chair of molecular pathology at Imperial College London and an expert on radiation, said tritium “does not pose a health risk at all – and particularly so when you factor in the dilution factor of the Pacific Ocean”.
She said carbon-14 was also not a health risk, arguing that chemical contaminants in seawater like mercury should concern consumers more “than anything that comes from the Fukushima site”.
On eating Fukushima seafood, “I would have no hesitation whatsoever,” she added.
A team of scientists has come up with a radical solution to heat cities using spent nuclear rods, which they say is cost-effective and greener than natural gas. As the EU moves away from coal, many are interested.
Barakah unit 1 entered commercial operation today, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) has announced. The unit, which is operated by Nawah Energy Company, has been the single largest electricity generator in the UAE since reaching 100% power in early December. ENEC said the 1400-megawatt unit, which is in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi, is now providing "constant, reliable and sustainable electricity around the clock". //
The Barakah nuclear power plant, which is being built by a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corporation, consists of four APR-1400 units. Construction of the plant began in 2012. Unit 2 has now completed the fuel loading process and is working through all of the required processes prior to start-up, which is scheduled for later this year. Construction of units 3 and 4 are 94% and 89% complete, respectively.
On Sunday, January 23, 1957, a large American audience gathered around their television sets to watch the weekly episode of Disneyland, a popular show created and hosted by Walt Disney in return for an investment from ABC that he used to build Disneyland. On that evening, the audience was treated to a compressed course in atomic physics and science history titled “Our Friend, The Atom.”
The show’s narrator, Heinz Haber, was a knowledgable, respected nuclear scientist. With the help of the professional storytellers and animators who worked for Walt Disney, he wove a fascinating, informative tale that compared the discovery of atomic energy to the fable from The Arabian Nights titled The Fisherman and the Genie (some translations use the title “The Fisherman and the Demon”).
On Thursday, Grant County’s Public Utility District agreed to take a giant leap forward towards ensuring carbon-free energy by 2045.
The utility signed a memorandum of understanding, which establishes a mutual partnership between it, Energy Northwest, and X-energy. //
The reactor has the potential to generate up to 320 megawatts of reliable, carbon-free energy.
Through the TRi Energy Partnership, the parties will evaluate each step of the project and identify the best approach to licensing, permitting, construction, operation, and ownership. //
As Washington state implements the Clean Energy Transformation Act – requiring 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2045, new sources of reliable, affordable and emissions-free electricity will be needed across the region," said Brad Sawatzke, Energy Northwest chief executive officer. "Advanced nuclear energy can and should play a vital role in our state's clean energy future: it does not emit greenhouse gases, is available around-the-clock, pairs well with renewables, and provides numerous benefits essential to grid reliability."
Fast neutron reactors to burn up used fuel and breed additional fuel -- sodium or lead cooled
Our little nuclear European play apparently comes slowly but steadily to a happy ending, at least for those supporting the most controversial energy source in the history of the sector.
And that is, because according to a new JRC (Joint Research Center) report, after years of debates and disagreements between EU experts, nuclear power seems to pocket the green investment label. //
EU experts decided that more analysis was needed on the environmental impact of radioactive disposal. So, the commission asked its scientific expert “arm”, JRC to do what it does best. Research and report. And thus it did, coming to the conclusion that: “The analyses did not reveal any science-based evidence that nuclear energy does more harm to human health or to the environment than other electricity production technologies already included in the Taxonomy as activities supporting climate change mitigation”. Moreover, in another passage, JRC compares nuclear power to hydropower and renewable energy resources.
THE NUCLEAR ENERGY OPTION
Professor Emeritus Bernard L. Cohen University of Pittsburgh
Published by Plenum Press, 1990
Forward:
A book of this type must often get into discussions of scientific details. Every effort has been made to keep them as readable as possible for the layperson. The more technical details have been put into Appendixes at the end of the book. These can be ignored by readers with less interest in details. For readers with more interest in these, references are given which can be used as starting points for further reading. Personal inquiries about further information or references are always welcome.
Each chapter is broken up into sections. If a reader is not interested in the subject of a particular section or finds it to be too technical, it can usually be skipped over without loss of continuity.
The Duane Arnold Energy Center in eastern Iowa, the current site of a now-idle nuclear power plant, will soon host a 690-megawatt solar farm. The new solar farm plus storage will replace the single-unit, 615-megawatt nuclear plant, which powered more than 600,000 homes.
Owner NextEra Energy of Florida will build the solar farm across 3,500 acres at and near Duane Arnold in Palo, Linn County. NextEra also intends to include up to 60 megawatts of AC-coupled batteries for power storage.
The project is expected to bring in a $700 million project investment, $41.6 million in tax revenue, and around 300 construction jobs.
NextEra will negotiate leases with landowners in summer 2021 and begin construction in winter 2022. The company intends to have the solar farm online by the end of 2023. ///
3500 acres solar 8/24h vs. 600 acres nuclear 24/7
The No.5 nuclear power unit in Fuqing, southeast Fujian province. China’s first nuclear power unit using Hualong One technology, a domestically developed third-generation reactor design, was connected to the grid and started to generate electricity in November last year. Photo: Xinhua
Companies
- Success of nuclear reactor Hualong One suggests it can compete with wind and solar to drive China’s decarbonisation
- With the first Hualong reactor delivered on schedule, the costs have come down, says Xiamen University’s Lin Boqiang
- China has a clear advantage over European rivals in the sector //
China’s uninterrupted construction of nuclear plants over the past three decades and its well-established supply chain mean it has a clear advantage over European firms, which have struggled to re-establish their supply chains after a two-decade hiatus from building reactors. //
Despite the safety and cost concerns, nuclear power’s potential as a clean source of energy with high supply consistency should not be underestimated, said Pan Chin, chair professor of nuclear engineering at City University of Hong Kong. “Of course, cost is an issue. But if we can ensure nuclear power’s safety and reduce nuclear wastes through technology improvement, we can broaden the public’s acceptance of nuclear power and then its cost can be reduced,” he said.
Nuclear power offers an abundant supply of low-carbon energy. But what to do with the deadly radioactive waste?
The race is on to develop new strategies for permanently storing some of the most dangerous materials on the planet.
The UK's Rolls-Royce and Estonia's Fermi Energia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to study the potential for the deployment of small modular reactors in the Baltic country. The study will cover all aspects of deployment, including grid suitability, cooling, emergency planning, human resources, licensing feasibility, economics and the supply chain.
GE Steam Power announced today that it has designed and manufactured the largest-ever (75-inch) last-stage blade for its Arabelle low-pressure rotor. The blade will enable the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant under construction in Somerset, England to produce 3.2 GWe of CO2 free power, GE said. Once completed, this Arabelle steam turbine will be the most powerful nuclear steam turbine in operation. It was tested at GE's factory in Belfort, France. //
Inserted into a balancing pit specifically designed for large turbines, the 8-meter wide bladed module was rotated at a speed of 1500 revolutions per minute, similar to its future site conditions.
"This major turbine part is a first quarter 2021 milestone for Hinkley Point C achieved on time, despite the pandemic," said Guillaume Callewaert, EDF HPC programme director. "This large component will be delivered to site and support the mechanical and electrical ramp-up phase of our project in the coming months."
Last-stage blades are part of the low-pressure module in a steam turbine generator which converts steam into electricity in a nuclear power plant. Longer blades increase efficiency of a steam turbine and allow to further optimise backpressure, all of which contribute to greater power output from the nuclear power plant, GE Steam Power said.
Nuclear Energy and Global Climate Change are two controversial topics that are rarely debated in a professional or serious manner. Often political agendas take the front seat leaving citizens confused and frustrated. Today’s guest, Walter Horsting, is going to provide insight into the controversial side of these two issues; the side the mass media rarely discusses. He will share with us his views on why 4th generation Nuclear Energy is a positive move for society and why he believes the science shows that global warming is not occurring.
After listening to his talk, it becomes evident that the verdict is not clear on where these issues stand. It is important that we continue to discuss these issues in a professional scientific way to flush out flaws and to figure out where the science really takes us. The truth, no matter how inconvenient, is important for our future. It will enable us to make informed and reasonable decisions.
Scientific Documents and Links on the issues:
Climate Charts and Information:
Whats up with That: https://wattsupwiththat.com/
NoTricksZone: http://notrickszone.com
Ice Age Now: https://www.iceagenow.info/
CO2 the Climate Supriese: http://co2coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/The-Climate-Surprise-CO2C.pdf
JoNova: http://joannenova.com.au/
Climate Depot: http://www.climatedepot.com/
Icecap: http://icecap.us/index.php
4th Nuclear Generation Molten Salt Reactors:
http://www.thoriumenergyworld.com/
http://terrestrialenergy.com/
http://www.thoriumenergycheaperthancoal.com/
http://flibe-energy.com/