ANS Nuclear Cafe

The ANS Nuclear Cafe is a blog owned and edited by the American Nuclear Society. Information contained on the ANS Nuclear Cafe has been provided by numerous sources. Therefore, the American Nuclear Society assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy of information contained herein. DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in posted articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Nuclear Society. The views expressed here are those of the individual authors. ANS takes no ownership of their views. The American Nuclear Society assumes no responsibility or liability for any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained on this site.


Nuclear Energy for Earth Day

April 22, 2016, 6:27AMANS Nuclear CafeBeth Piper

When Earth Day rolls around on April 22, it marks an opportunity for us to consider our relationship to the natural world, and how we can improve that relationship. The first Earth Day in 1970 signalled the first serious push by ecological activists to influence mainstream public opinion. From its initial beginnings in just the United States, Earth Day has grown until it's now observed in almost 200 countries.

Japan Seeks to Defuse Quake Fears

April 19, 2016, 2:13PMANS Nuclear Cafe

Sendai Nuclear Power Plant, courtesy Kyushu Electric Power Co.

Two significant earthquakes have struck Kumamoto Prefecture in Western Japan within a week, and the Japanese nuclear plant owners and their regulator (the Nuclear Regulation Authority, or NRA) have responded to some reignited fears over nuclear plants in this region by beginning to publish reports and data. The data show that at no point was any of the plants in danger.

Nuclear Energy for Puerto Rico

April 14, 2016, 2:39PMANS Nuclear Cafe

BONUS nuclear plant as it appears today;  photo courtesy US DOE

BONUS nuclear plant as it appears today (Photo courtesy US DOE)

Among the many different reactor concepts being investigated in the late 1950s and early 1960s was the idea that the steam produced by a boiling water reactor, which normally goes straight to the turbine building, could be superheated (or have further heat added once it was already steam) by nuclear energy. This would greatly increase the efficiency of the plant, as well as make dry steam at a high pressure that would allow the use of (less expensive) commercially available equipment in the steam plant. Two reactors were built to investigate the idea of performing both processes in essentially the same reactor-one in South Dakota and (perhaps incredibly to today's readers) another of a very different design on the island of Puerto Rico.

ANS Friday Nuclear Matinee - April 8, 2016

April 8, 2016, 4:45PMANS Nuclear Cafe

ANS Friday Nuclear Matinee

Our Friday Matinee this week looks at China's Shidao Bay nuclear plant.  This plant, widely touted as a Gen-IV design, is a bit unusual in that it employs two HTGR's (that's High Temperature Gas cooled Reactors) supplying steam to one turbine generator.  The video gives a good basic look at the plant's design and shows the steady progress being made toward fully operable, commercial HTGR's.

Chernobyl Through the Mist of Decades

April 7, 2016, 2:10PMANS Nuclear Cafe

Courtesy SSE ChNPP.

In the administration building of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a number of stained glass windows (as seen to the right) recall the optimistic tone of industrial Soviet-era art that can still be viewed today at power plants around the former USSR. That these are well preserved is not the result of a specific effort, but instead because of the essential abandonment of large parts of the facility, and even the entire region, after the most serious nuclear reactor accident in 1986 in history.

Targeted Alpha Therapy: Something Old & New in Nuclear Medicine

April 6, 2016, 3:59PMANS Nuclear CafeM. Alex Brown

In my last article, I briefly related a story about a research team that had essentially cured HIV during animal trial studies with rats using medical isotopes. Following up on the scientific literature, it revealed similar success (E. Dadachova, A. Casadevall, Semin. Nucl. Med., 2009, 39(2), 146). Just recently, I heard another story during a seminar on alpha therapy that involved prostate and bone cancer. A patient was in such excruciating pain that his family had to transport him to the hospital on a stretcher in the back of a pickup truck. Following a single injection of an alpha-radiation drug, he walked out of the hospital on his own later that day.

Saving Nuclear Energy in Illinois

April 1, 2016, 4:57PMANS Nuclear Cafe

Dresden 5x7 315x225

Dresden Nuclear Generating Station (Photo courtesy Exelon Nuclear)

August 2012 was hot in Chicago. It was one of those times, while the American Nuclear Society was assembled there for its annual meeting, when the air was so hot and laden with humidity that it palpably hit you when you walked outdoors. All air conditioners, everywhere, were running at their maximum just to keep the buildings in the city habitable.

2017 ANS Congressional Fellow - Be a Nuclear Policy Game-Changer

March 17, 2016, 6:33PMANS Nuclear CafeBenjamin Reinke, 2016 ANS Congressional Fellow

I applied to be the Glenn T. Seaborg American Nuclear Society Congressional Fellow because of the opportunity to learn first-hand how policy decisions that affect the nuclear science, technology, and energy communities are made. For more than any other industry, decisions made in Washington, D.C. have an enormous effect on the future path of all things nuclear. The ANS Congressional Fellow offers the opportunity to spend a year working directly on these important policy decisions while learning an entirely new skill set. The different pace of work and flow of communication allows the ANS Fellow to learn new verbal and written communication skills and to sharpen his or her strategic mindset.

Being a Critical Member of Nuclear Industry

March 15, 2016, 5:51PMANS Nuclear CafeBrett Rampal

Spring is always an exciting time for the American Nuclear Society's Young Members Group (YMG) and Student Sections Committee (SSC), as years of work by some of our brightest members culminates in the ANS Student Conference. This year, after more than three years of work and refining a previous proposal, the ANS Student Chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison beat out stiff competition from several other universities to win the honor to host the ANS Student Conference. At the end of this month, more than 400 students and 100 professionals will converge on Madison, Wisc., to witness the best and the brightest of the next generation of nuclear and what they have to offer. As an attendee, speaker, and the YMG vice chair, I am extremely excited to be flying to Madison to participate in what is sure to be a great conference.

Albert Einstein’s Figure in Science, Film, and Beyond

March 14, 2016, 1:56PMANS Nuclear CafeBeth Piper

Albert_Einstein_1947_square_croppedHis name has become synonymous with genius; his playful, quirky persona and shaggy image the basis for the pop culture phenomenon of the absent-minded professor, and his incandescent brilliance forever changed the world and marked him Time magazine's "Person of the Century." Yet, despite his far-reaching impact and his overwhelming popularity, Albert Einstein remains something of an enigma.

Japan Moving Forward - Needs Nuclear

March 10, 2016, 3:24PMANS Nuclear CafeMargaret Harding

I teach a class every other spring at Iowa State University. A major in nuclear engineering is no longer an option, however the university has created a minor, where I give nuclear energy context to students who are studying mostly in a different discipline. I call the first month "Disaster Month" and spend a week on each of the major commercial accidents in our industry-Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima.

This is why Nuclear Matters

March 4, 2016, 4:21PMANS Nuclear Cafe

"It does so much for the everyday citizen that they just don't know. Generating 20% of all the power in the United States, zero carbon emissions, and the jobs and economic activity it creates, it's one of the best kept secrets in the country." - Sean McGarvey, President of North America's Building Trades Unions