Nuclear links, pt 2
15/03/11 16:51 Filed in: General Science | All Things Nuclear
(Edited to collect all links at the top)
A few more links regarding the nuclear events:
International Atomic Energy Agency : Lots of news, general updates/info.
An interview with Temipote Taiwo on some of the basics of what is happening. He just happens to be a nuclear engineer here at Argonne.
A site by the EPA on the health effects of different kinds of radiation exposure. It’s dense, but general information.
The blog for the American Nuclear Society. It contains links to several relevant things.
A link to what appears to be a Geiger counter stuck somewhere outside an apartment in Tokyo. It’s interesting, though I’d caution against drawing any conclusions from it. 20 counts/minute is probably background, so even its full-scale of 100 counts/min for a while is not really a big deal. 5 times background is (ballpark figure) the difference you’d get living up in the mountains instead of at sea level if I recall correctly.
A few graphics from the NY Times.
Nuclear Power, Nuclear Accidents, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Perceptions, a lecture posted by one of my former professors at the University of Washington, Prof. G. Seidler.
Report to The American Physical Society of the study group on radionuclide release from severe accidents at nuclear power plants Rev. Mod. Phys. 57, S1-144(1985). It should be freely available to anyone that wishes to download.
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Events continue to unfold and everyone is anxious for new information regarding the disaster. TV and internet news seem, as usual, to be particularly vague (at best) and downright wrong with intent to scare.
I think the honest answer at the moment is, “This is uncharted territory.” Reactors don’t do this every day, so we just don’t know. These kinds of problems have been thought about and planned for (at least they should have been at some point), but we frankly (and thankfully) don’t have many real-world tests of what will happen to them under these conditions.
In general, the longer that it is before catastrophic failure, the less likely it is to occur. The more water that gets in, the more the energy is capable of dissipating in a way that won’t lead to large ejection of radioisotopes into the environment. I suspect many of the engineers and scientists are literally risking (potentially sacrificing) their lives to try and keep things as intact as possible.
All this is on top of the devastation from the tsunami and earthquake.
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Well, by the time I finished this entry it has come out that the workers at the facility have been evacuated.
Despite me being a rather strong proponent of nuclear energy (done responsibly), it’s worth realizing that we’re using virtually the same nuclear technology over here. I’d love to see new plants developed and done correctly. But at the same time the industry as it currently is in this country needs a long hard look. While almost 20% of our annual electricity is supplied by nuclear power, it’s quit old. The most recent of these was begun, get this, 1974. Yes, construction was begun on even the youngest US nuclear plant before I was born (I can’t technically say they’re all older than me since some were not finished for several years later).
These are 1st and 2nd generation nuclear reactors, many of whom are operating beyond their original life expectancy. We (well, other countries at least) know so much more by this point and there are vast improvements to the designs, hardware, and facilities that can be done. These things, if made today using say.... French technology, could be done much better and safer than we currently do them.
One further personal thought on this: It’s sobering. To be a scientist at Argonne National Lab feels sobering. Being at one of the principle places in the world that developed nuclear power, it gives one the feeling of responsibility even though I work in very different research topics.
This is all maddening and I need to get some work done tonight, so I’ll leave it at that. Best wishes to everyone involved.