Is there a role for nuclear energy?
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Re: Is there a role for nuclear energy?
Shut up JM, its quite evident you wouldn't know $#!+ from clay on nuke if it was on your dinner plate.
Now Pasta, as the only character here with any experience in the nuke science field, do you have an opinion regarding Andrea Rossi’s Nickel-Hydrogen reactor? .. which he claims to be building a 1MW version of for the Greeks.
A great discovery or another disappointment?
http://www.theenvironmentsite.org/forum ... tment.html
1st reference:
How can 30% of nickel in Rossi’s reactor be transmuted into copper?
http://www.journal-of-nuclear-physics.com/
Now Pasta, as the only character here with any experience in the nuke science field, do you have an opinion regarding Andrea Rossi’s Nickel-Hydrogen reactor? .. which he claims to be building a 1MW version of for the Greeks.
A great discovery or another disappointment?
http://www.theenvironmentsite.org/forum ... tment.html
1st reference:
How can 30% of nickel in Rossi’s reactor be transmuted into copper?
http://www.journal-of-nuclear-physics.com/
Re: Is there a role for nuclear energy?
Nuclear leak forces Russian icebreaker back to port
http://au.news.yahoo.com/queensland/a/- ... k-to-port/
http://au.news.yahoo.com/queensland/a/- ... k-to-port/
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia launched an urgent rescue mission on Thursday after one of its atomic-powered icebreakers developed a nuclear leak in the frozen seas of the Arctic and was forced to abandon its mission.
The Rosatomflot nuclear fleet said in a statement that an "insignificant increase in activity" had been detected on board its 21,000-tonne Taimyr icebreaker.
But the incident was serious enough to force the vessel to abandon its mission and begin a five-day journey back to its home port in the northwestern city of Murmansk.
The agency also announced plans to shut down the reactor before the ship enters into port -- a reversal of an initial statement saying that decision would only be reached if the situation got out of hand.
The incident was reported in the Kara Sea -- a part of the Arctic Ocean about 2,000 kilometres (1,300 miles) east of Norway's border.
The Taimyr has a single 171-megawatt reactor that generates about one-third the energy of the Fukushima 1 reactor that suffered in the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster in March.
Rosatomflot said the increased levels of radiation were first detected in the air ventilation system surrounding the icebreaker's power unit and that subsequent check showed no further damage.
It attributed the higher readings to "a leak in the primary coolant system".
Re: Is there a role for nuclear energy?
Japan's Coastal Radiation Rises off Fukushima
May 6, 2011
http://www.earthweek.com/2011/ew110506/ew110506d.html
May 6, 2011
http://www.earthweek.com/2011/ew110506/ew110506d.html
Levels of radioactivity in the seabed near Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant have jumped to up to 1,000 times above normal.
The discovery was made when the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) took samples on April 29 at depths of about 65 to 100 feet offshore from the reactors.
Tepco said the contamination could be the result of airborne radioactive substances falling into the sea, or radioactive particles flowing into the Pacific within water used to cool down the reactors.
The radiation level in the seabed was more than 600 times higher than had been detected earlier since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster cut power to the plant, leading to overheating, explosions and a partial meltdown.
Re: Is there a role for nuclear energy?
Renewable energy can power the world, says landmark IPCC study
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... ower-world
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... ower-world
Renewable energy could account for almost 80% of the world's energy supply within four decades - but only if governments pursue the policies needed to promote green power, according to a landmark report published on Monday.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the body of the world's leading climate scientists convened by the United Nations, said that if the full range of renewable technologies were deployed, the world could keep greenhouse gas concentrations to less than 450 parts per million, the level scientists have predicted will be the limit of safety beyond which climate change becomes catastrophic and irreversible.
Investing in renewables to the extent needed would cost only about 1% of global GDP annually, said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC.
Sven Teske, renewable energy director at Greenpeace International, and a lead author of the report, said: "This is an invitation to governments to initiate a radical overhaul of their policies and place renewable energy centre stage. On the run up to the next major climate conference, COP17 in South Africa in December, the onus is clearly on governments to step up to the mark."
He added: "The IPCC report shows overwhelming scientific evidence that renewable energy can also meet the growing demand of developing countries, where over 2 billion people lack access to basic energy services and can do so at a more cost-competitive and faster rate than conventional energy sources. Governments have to kick start the energy revolution by implementing renewable energy laws across the globe."
The 1,000-page Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (SRREN) marks the first time the IPCC has examined low-carbon energy in depth, and the first interim report since the body's comprehensive 2007 review of the science of climate change.
Although the authors are optimistic about the future of renewable energy, they note that many forms of the technology are still more expensive than fossil fuels, and find that the production of renewable energy will have to increase by as much as 20 times in order to avoid dangerous levels of global warming. Renewables will play a greater role than either nuclear or carbon capture and storage by 2050, the scientists predict.
Investing in renewables can also help poor countries to develop, particularly where large numbers of people lack access to an electricity grid.
Re: Is there a role for nuclear energy?
Friends of the Earth Challenges New AP1000 Reactor Design
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/05/10-12
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/05/10-12
WASHINGTON - May 10 - In comments submitted today as part of the formal review to determine whether reactors of the Westinghouse AP1000 design will be licensed for construction in the United States, Friends of the Earth challenged both the integrity of the review process employed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the safety flaws in the proposed reactor design.
This reactor is the first new design in decades being considered for construction in the U.S. Though questions linger about the design’s safety, and even though the NRC has not conducted additional analysis in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan, the NRC is sticking with an industry-backed fast-track licensing approach.
Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen and the staff of Fairewinds Associates analyzed the design of the AP1000 reactor and found many aspects lacking, as cataloged in the comments formally submitted to the NRC by Friends of the Earth. The comments state that claims made about the safety of the reactor’s containment structure “are not based upon sound scientific analysis and engineering review, but appear instead to be based upon the mythical dreaming of an aggressive industry and its captive regulator.”
According to the comments authored by Gundersen and Fairewinds, the passive cooling system of the AP1000, which lacks a robust containment shell, merits close scrutiny. The cooling of the 1.75-inch steel containment shell is dependent upon a vulnerable 800,000-gallon tank precariously perched on top of a vented “shield building,” a structure whose integrity has been questioned by even the lead NRC engineer in the design review. Fairewinds states: “This single source of cooling water perched atop the shield building is unique to the AP1000 design and Westinghouse’s reliance upon it creates a single point of vulnerability that has not been thoroughly evaluated by industry regulator NRC due to the rush to AP1000 certification and licensure.”
The comments also identify problems with a computer analysis of the design conducted by the NRC, arguing that the “review has uncovered analytical problems with the containment design computer codes applied to both the AP1000 containment analysis and the analysis of the AP1000 shield building.”
The submission goes on to highlight earlier comments by a former Westinghouse reactor design employee, Dr. Susan Sterrett, who raised numerous, as of yet unanswered, questions about the methodology employed by both Westinghouse and the NRC in relation to the AP1000 design. Dr. Sterrett alleges that Westinghouse improperly based the AP1000 design on aspects of the AP600 design and that the NRC and the Advisory Committee on Reactors Safeguards (ACRS) did not thoroughly review this choice by Westinghouse.
Re: Is there a role for nuclear energy?
Japan says nuclear policy must be reviewed from scratch
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/ ... I420110510
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/ ... I420110510
TOKYO, May 10 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Tuesday that renewable energy would be a key pillar of Japan's energy policy after the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years and that its nuclear policy must be reviewed from scratch.
In an energy plan unveiled last year, Japan said it planned to build at least 14 new reactors by 2030. Officials have acknowledged that proceeding as planned would be tough in the wake of the nuclear disaster.
"I think it is necessary to move in the direction of promoting natural energy and renewable energy," Kan added, citing wind, solar or biomass energy as possible alternative sources -- areas in which Japan lags globally.
Re: Is there a role for nuclear energy?
Nuclear waste dump opponents rally
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/australian ... nts-rally/
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/australian ... nts-rally/
A Northern Territory Labor Minister has called on his federal colleagues to abandon plans to set up a nuclear waste storage facility in the Northern Territory.
Member for Barkly Gerry McCarthy was one of about 50 people who staged an anti-nuclear dump protest outside Parliament House in Darwin this afternoon.
Mr McCarthy says a federal court challenge to the Muckaty Station nomination shows the site is in dispute among Aboriginal clan groups and the nomination should be withdrawn.
Traditional owners, environmentalists and trade unionists called on federal politicians to block a bill before the Senate, which would allow a waste dump to be built at Muckaty Station, about 100 kilometres north of Tennant Creek.
"It is a muddy space, it has been poorly managed and I suggest that we go back to the drawing board," Mr McCarthy said.
"Going back to the drawing board means going to visit the community that is most affected.
"That will put some real sanity into the debate, because this is an issue for Australia and Australia's first nuclear waste management facility."
Lorna Fejo told the crowd she was a traditional owner from the Muckaty Station area and she was against a waste dump.
"I am a traditional owner of Muckaty by acceptance to the land, the law and the culture, and I say no to Muckaty being used as a dump," she said.
Re: Is there a role for nuclear energy?
U.S.-Japan joint survey reveals high radiation beyond evacuation zone
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105070143.html
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105070143.html
The first map of ground surface contamination within 80 kilometers of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant shows radiation levels higher in some municipalities than those in the mandatory relocation zone around the Chernobyl plant.
The map, released May 6, was compiled from data from a joint aircraft survey undertaken by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the U.S. Department of Energy.
It showed that a belt of contamination, with 3 million to 14.7 million becquerels of cesium-137 per square meter, spread to the northwest of the nuclear plant.
After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, those living in areas with more than 555,000 becquerels of cesium-137 per square meter were forced to relocate. However, the latest map shows that accumulated radioactivity exceeded this level at some locations outside the official evacuation zones, including the village of Iitate and the town of Namie.

Re: Is there a role for nuclear energy?
Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... plant.html
Underwater robot captures Fukushima wreckage
Video shot by an underwater robot shows damage inside a spent fuel pool at the Fukushima nuclear power station.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ckage.html
Japan to scrap plan to boost nuke energy to 50 per cent
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -cent.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... plant.html
Engineers from the Tokyo Electric Power company (Tepco) entered the No.1 reactor at the end of last week for the first time and saw the top five feet or so of the core's 13ft-long fuel rods had been exposed to the air and melted down.
Previously, Tepco believed that the core of the reactor was submerged in enough water to keep it stable and that only 55 per cent of the core had been damaged.
Now the company is worried that the molten pool of radioactive fuel may have burned a hole through the bottom of the containment vessel, causing water to leak.
"We will have to revise our plans," said Junichi Matsumoto, a spokesman for Tepco. "We cannot deny the possibility that a hole in the pressure vessel caused water to leak".
Underwater robot captures Fukushima wreckage
Video shot by an underwater robot shows damage inside a spent fuel pool at the Fukushima nuclear power station.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ckage.html
Japan to scrap plan to boost nuke energy to 50 per cent
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -cent.html
Japan will scrap a plan to obtain half of its electricity from nuclear power and will instead promote renewable energy and conservation as a result of its ongoing nuclear crisis, the prime minister said on Tuesday.
Re: Is there a role for nuclear energy?
China Syndrome is not a theory anymore ...
Plan to flood Fukushima reactor could cause new blast, experts warn
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ma ... ng-warning
Plan to flood Fukushima reactor could cause new blast, experts warn
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ma ... ng-warning
Experts have warned of a potentially dangerous radiation leak if Japan proceeds with plans to flood a damaged reactor containment vessel at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The facility's operator has admitted uranium fuel rods in the No 1 reactor partially melted after being fully exposed because of the 11 March tsunami.
Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said water levels had fallen to at least one metre below four-metre-long fuel rods inside the reactor core and melted fuel had slumped to the bottom of the reactor's containment vessel.
The damage is more severe than Tepco had previously reported and is almost certain to frustrate its quest to bring the plant under control within six to nine months. ...
In all 35 reactors – or about two-thirds of Japan's total – will have been shut down by the end of May. Officials are hoping to achieve a 15% cut in energy use during the summer to avoid rolling blackouts.
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