Nuclear fusion – an expensive pipedream
“Fusion will never be a practical source because it requires vast resources and technical capital”
The Tantalizing Promise And Peril Of Nuclear Fusion, Forbes, 15 April 12 “…..To be clear, fusion is different from fission, which is how today’s nuclear reactor’s produce energy. Fission splits atoms apart whereas fusion combines them — a process that thus far consumes more energy than it generates. Continue reading
The world’s oldest nuclear reactors
Nuclear Halt in South Korea Seen Boosting Coal: Energy Markets, Bloomberg News, By Sangim Han and Yuriy Humber on April 13, 2012“….World’s Oldest The U.K, India, Japan, Russia, Switzerland and the U.S. have the world’s oldest nuclear plants, with 31 operating reactors aged 40 years or more, according to the London-based World Nuclear Association. No reactor has yet operated 50 years.
The U.S., which has the most nuclear reactors, originally licensed its units to run 40 years. Today, 71 of the 104 U.S. reactors have 60-year permits and 15 more applications are under review, according to the country’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission website.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-13/nuclear-halt-in-south-korea-seen-boosting-coal-energy-markets
The danger of nuclear powered drones, and plutonium for spacecraft
The Deadly Folly of Nuclear Power Overhead HUFFINGTON POST, Karl Grossman: 04/12/2012 The crash last week of a U.S. drone on the Seychelles Islands– the second crash of a U.S. drone on Seychelles in four months — underlines the deadly folly of a plan of U.S. national laboratory scientists and the Northrop Grumman Corp. for nuclear-powered drones. Continue reading
How the Stuxnet computer worm was introduced into Iran’s nuclear plant
Stuxnet delivered to Iranian nuclear plant on thumb drive, CNET News, 12 April 12, Citing U.S. intelligence sources, ISSSource says an infected memory stick was used to hit the facility with the worm that severely damaged Iran’s nuclear program.
by Daniel Terdiman April 12, 2012 An Iranian double agent working for Israel used a standard thumb drive carrying a deadly payload to infect Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility with the highly destructive Stuxnet computer worm, according to a story by ISSSource. Stuxnet quickly propagated throughout Natanz — knocking that facility offline and at least temporarily crippling Iran’s nuclear program — once a user did nothing more than click on a Windows icon. The worm was discovered nearly two years ago.
ISSSource’s report yesterday was based on sources inside the U.S. intelligence community.
These sources, who requested anonymity because of their close proximity to investigations, said a saboteur at the Natanz nuclear facility, probably a member of an Iranian dissident group, used a memory stick to infect the machines there. They said using a person on the ground would greatly increase the probability of computer infection, as opposed to passively waiting for the software to spread through the computer facility. “Iranian double agents” would have helped to target the most vulnerable spots in the system,” one source said. In October 2010, Iran’s intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi said an unspecified number of “nuclear spies” were arrested in connection with Stuxnet.33 virus.
New radiation monitoring dosimeter technology
The way in which radiation workers are monitored is set to change with the introduction of a new and very different type of dosimeter that has just been approved for legal use in New Zealand.
Instead of waiting months for information about a possible exposure, radiation workers can now plug their dosimeter directly into a USB port of an Internet-connected Windows or Maccomputer and get an instant readout of any dose received.
Exposure information now available for radiation workers http://www.voxy.co.nz/business/exposure-information-now-available-radiation-workers/5/120503, 13 April, 2012 – We tend to think of New Zealand as nuclear-free but the reality is quite different. Radioactive material produced in nuclear reactors in other parts of the world is imported into the country on a near daily basis and thousands of x-ray generations are at work up and down the country. X-rays, gamma rays and radiopharmaceuticals are used extensively in human and animal health and radioactive sources are deployed in a plethora of industrial and research applications.
Human senses cannot detect the presence of ionising radiation and over time the cumulative effects of undetected radiation exposure become a threat to health. This is of particular significance for the thousands of workers whose occupation brings them into close and frequent contact with sources of ionising radiation. Continue reading
The danger of nuclear powered drones to foreign countries, and to USA citizens
drones have become a nightmare for local residents. Civilian deaths inflicted by drone strikes have repeatedly strained relations between America and Pakistan….. ten times as many civilians as suspected terrorists died in U.S. drone attacks.
the document gives the “green light” for drone-based domestic spying.
Pentagon considers nuclear-powered drones. Space Daily Moscow Apr 09, 2012 American scientists are working on new-generation nuclear-powered unmanned aircraft capable of staying in the air for up to several months. While being able to tackle a wider range of more complicated tasks compared to their existing analogues, the new drones will not require a costly air base network for refueling and technical maintenance.
What’s more, on February 14 President Barack Obama signed the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act that allows the use drones in U.S. airspace by both state-owned and private companies….. Continue reading
Small Modular Reactors – the latest desperate effort to revive the nuclear idustry
Small Modular Reactors, [SMRs] the latest “rabbit out the nuclear hat,” are generally based on scaled down BWR or PWR technology and illustrate the nuclear industry’s schizophrenic attitude to reactor size…. it was clear that the AP600 [small nuclear reactor] was hopelessly uneconomic… SMRs may turn out to be the latest in a long line of nuclear designs that looked good on paper, but could not make the transition to commercial technology
Prospects for Nuclear Power in 2012, The Energy Report 2 April 12, ”…….Technological Cul-de-Sac If plant life extensions can be achieved in France and the U.S. and Gen III+ does prove a blind alley, it raises the question of what options are open to the nuclear sector. Ten years ago, the industry answer would have been Generation IV designs. Unlike Gen III+, which evolved from existing Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs), these would be based on radical new technologies. Six technologies were selected by the major nuclear countries as the most promising.
However, 10 years on, they seem no closer to commercial deployment. Continue reading
Russia pouring money into plan for nuclear powered space travel
Russia to Build Nuclear Space Engine by 2017, Space Travel, Moscow (RIA Novosti) Apr 02, 2012 A Russian Megawatt-class nuclear propulsion system for long-range manned spacecraft must be ready by 2017, Skolkovo Foundation’s Nuclear Cluster head Denis Kovalevich said on Wednesday. Continue reading
More accurate picture of Fukushima radiation with new camera
New Camera Sees Japan’s Radiation Threats Innovation News Daily 30 March 2012 One year after Japan’s nuclear disaster, the invisible threat of radiation still lurks around homes and businesses near the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant. Now, a new camera based on Japanese space technology has allowed humans to see the radioactive contamination around the nuclear plant’s emergency evacuation zone.
Such camera technology works by detecting radioactive particles that give off gamma rays — the highest-energy form of light in the universe. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) originally developed the technology for an upcoming X-ray observation satellite, called ASTRO-H, but successfully adapted the camera to spot Earthly radiation threats such as Cesium 137 and Cesium 134.
The camera’s wide 180-degree vision showed radioactive particles spread across the ground and on rooftops of the village in the Fukushima Prefecture during a field test Feb. 11. Its results proved more accurate and capable of capturing a broader snapshot of the
radioactive zone than existing cameras…. http://www.space.com/15113-camera-sees-japan-radiation.html
Bill Gates’ fantastic new nuclear vaccine- or intractable virus
Nuclear energy like a fantastic vaccine? http://blog.seattlepi.com/energy/2012/03/26/nuclear-energy-like-a-fantastic-vaccine/ seattle pi, 26 Mar 12In the 1950s, “too cheap to meter” was the tag line for then-nascent atomic energy. That promise, which Bill Gates now calls a “fantastic vaccine,” has thus far been more of an intractable virus.
Last week Mr. Gates revived the “nuclear is cheap” message to promote his TerraPower nuke startup venture . He also came off decidedly pessimistic about the world’s prospects for combating climate change.
The nuclear industry has long touted “cheap” alongside “clean” in its bid against renewable energy to supply electricity to a power-hungry world. It has also argued loudly against subsidies for renewables, and claimed that nuclear is the only way to slow global warming.
Gates has joined that chorus , stating that he’s skeptical that the world can dramatically cut greenhouse-gas emissions in less than 75 years, and suggesting that wind and solar subsidies should be conditional upon commercializing energy storage technologies first.
To make the “cheap and clean” argument, you have to ignore some significant externalities. A big problem with “cheap” nuclear power has been the cost — construction budget overruns , bailouts , storing spent rods , site clean-up , and human lives . The caveat with “clean” (low-carbon) nuclear power is its multigenerational legacy of radioactive waste.
The traveling wave reactor technology revealed in 2008 as the core of TerraPower’s development is a half-century-old breeder-reactor technology that could run on some of the waste stream from nuclear fuel production. A TWR has been computer-modeled, but never built.
If Gates and his TerraPower partner Nathan Myhrvold want to change the world with nuclear energy, they need to overcome several major issues, and quickly, before the widely imagined nuclear renaissance completely loses steam:
Developed nations, the ones the world is most comfortable with having radioactive materials, have for the most part stopped building nuclear power plants. Emerging nations, even if they can afford to experiment with this new technology, will need to handle the radioactive fuel and waste, including the eventual decommissioning of plants themselves. Convincing populations of a TWR plant’s safety will be a significant hurdle.
Even before Fukushima, John Rowe, chief executive of nuclear power heavyweight Exelon, said in a Politico interview that “except with massive subsidies, there’s really nothing one can do to make a whole lot of nuclear plants economic right now.” The company bought a major renewable energy firm and started moving into wind power.
Alas, ‘fast breeder’ reactors don’t solve the nuclear waste problem
Ultimately, however, the core problem may be that such new reactors don’t eliminate the nuclear waste that has piled up
Can Fast Reactors Speedily Solve Plutonium Problems? 
The U.K. is grappling with how to get rid of weapons-grade plutonium and may employ a novel reactor design to consume it , Scientific American, By David Biello | March 21, 2012 The U.K. has nearly 100 metric tons of plutonium—dubbed “the element from hell” by some—that it doesn’t know what to do with.
The island nation does not need the potent powder to construct more nuclear weapons, and spends billions of British pounds to ensure that others don’t steal it for that purpose. The unstable element, which will remain radioactive for millennia, is the residue of ill-fated efforts to recycle used nuclear fuel. Continue reading
Appeal of electric car damaged by connection with nuclear power
Is nuclear power damaging electric car image? The Green Car Website, 23 Mar 12, As Japan’s government prepares to restart dozens of nuclear power plants, idled since the Fukushima disaster last year, there is concern that electric cars could become tainted by their association with nuclear generation. Continue reading
New computer spy malaware targets U.S. military computers
New malware preys on Iran nuclear weapons tension, msnbc, 13 March 12, Researchers: China-based hackers goal is to corrupt US military computers Chinese cybercriminals have crafted a sophisticated, robust malware attack that exploits growing political tension and fear over Iran’s alleged covert nuclear weapons program to infect PCs.
The goal of the hackers is to corrupt the computers of U.S. military employees, according to researchers from the security firm Bitdefender , who detected the malware.
Calling it “the perfect firebomb,” the China-borne malware embeds itself in an email with an attached Microsoft Word document titled “Iran’s Oil and Nuclear Situation.doc.” The document, Bitdefender explained, contains an Adobe Shockwave Flash applet that attempts to get the recipients to load a fake YouTube video. While the rigged video (an .mp4 file) loads, the malware exploits an Adobe Flash flaw that sneaks an executable file into the initial Word document.
If it sounds complicated, that’s the point, Bitdefender’s Bogdan Botezatu said. “The operation is covert: the MP4 file triggering the exploit is streamed from the Web, which means the PC will be exploited by the time an anti-virus would generally scan a file,” he wrote. “Further, the malicious file delivered inside the doc file (us.exe) has multiple
layers of obfuscation to dodge detection.”
Once the malware is implanted on a victim’s computer, it communicates with a command-and-control server in China. Carefully crafted exploits aimed at military targets are nothing new; a November congressional report outlined state-sponsored cybercrime missions carried out by Chinese and Russian criminals against U.S. government agencies……
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46722543/ns/technology_and_science-security/#.T2EiZ8WPX_M
Massive and costly new cover for Chernobyl nuclear wreck
VIDEO included http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=worlds-largest-movable-structure-seal-chernobyl-reactor Nuclear Cover Up: World’s Largest Movable Structure to Seal the Wrecked Chernobyl Reactor To safely enclose and robotically dismantle the 25-year-old makeshift confinement sarcophagus at Chernobyl, contractors are now erecting a massive steel structure weighing more than 29,000 metric tons Scientific American, By Charles Q. Choi | March 17, 2011 
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine—Imagine a metal arch taller than the Statue of Liberty. Now picture it sliding a distance of roughly three football fields, making it the largest movable structure ever . Under this steel rainbow engineers are planning to entomb the site of the worst nuclear accident in history, the destroyed reactor at the Chernobyl power plant, using robotic cranes to dismantle the ruins and keep its deadly remains from poisoning the rest of the planet. Continue reading
Russia to build massive nuclear icebreaker
The company says the tender for the new icebreaker will be announced in several months, with a contract to be signed in September. Building is scheduled to start by the end of the year (a little optimistic perhaps?) and the ship ready for operations in 2018.
The project is estimated to cost $1.4 billion. Bidding is open to foreign companies as well. An earlier nuclear icebreaker, the Vaygach was built in Finland, with the nuclear systems installed in Russia.
The LK60 has a beam of 34 metres and draft of almost 11 metres. It will be able to cut through the ice to create a pathway for larger tankers. The nuclear reactor will be rated at 60MW…. http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2012/03/03/russia-to-construct-largest-nuclear-icebreaker-ever-built/
1 This Month
19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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