ANS Nuclear Cafe

Please click to watch the video. "Energy to Feed the World: Nuclear Power vs Meat"

We all know about Calories. Often, for people on a diet, Calories are the enemy. They're a measure of how much energy is in food (and are a harsh reminder that you shouldn't have eaten that extra Oreo!). Food contains energy, and often quite a lot of it, but that amount pales in comparison to how much energy it takes to create the food. Grains like wheat and corn require months of sunlight (energy), and large amounts of water and fertilizers to grow. Cows eat those grains, and we (happily) eat the cows. That's energy powering tractors to till the soil, energy powering factories to produce the fertilizer, energy to treat the water, energy to grow the grains, and energy to feed the cow. That's not to mention that crops grown in soil require pesticides to protect them from bugs and other organisms.

July 21 will bring with it another anniversary of the 1959 launching (shown above) of the only US-built nuclear powered commercial ship, the NS SAVANNAH.  We've covered the ship fairly well here at ANS Nuclear Cafe over the years, so perhaps it's time for a story about the ship that's practically unknown.  Did you know SAVANNAH was pioneering in another way .. with respect to uprates?  That's right.  The nuclear plant on SAVANNAH was uprated!

This week's ANS Nuclear Cafe Friday Matinee is an excellent, professional and very modern video tour of the renowned MIT reactor facility.  This entertaining video was produced in an extremely up-to-date style sure to take you in - so don't start watching it unless you have about 18 minutes to sit back and enjoy it.

Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, courtesy China General Nuclear Power Group

Long awaited news came today that at 17:59 hours local time, the Taishan-1 EPR nuclear plant connected to the grid for the first time.  This makes Taishan-1 not only the first EPR to load fuel anywhere (despite having been the third unit to start construction after units at Flamanville, France and Olkiluoto, Finland) but now also the first to operate its steam plant and close its output breakers.

by Will Davis, from the American Nuclear Society 2018 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia

ANS President Bob Coward

If you walked around the palatial Philadelphia venue of the 2018 American Nuclear Society Annual Meeting and bumped into outgoing ANS President Bob Coward or, for that matter, attended one of a number of sessions there, you might have heard him quote exactly, to the hour, how much time he had left as the ANS President.  Not that he was eager to leave - in fact, it seemed as if Coward was marking how much time he had left to continue to make an impact.

I was intrigued this morning to read that StarCore Nuclear, a startup in Canada that's focusing on small, independent nuclear plants to provide a spectrum product (power, water, heat) had been - it is reported - in negotiation to provide an African nation with not less than twenty-three nuclear plants.  This audacious plan at first brush sounds incredible, but it's in the details that the wisdom is found and, in fact, perhaps the model for Small Modular Reactors (SMR's) to really break through into the world's broader market for power.

According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), World Environment Day (WED) occurs on the 5th of June every year, and is the United Nation's principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of our environment.

Illustration of NS SAVANNAH from Launch Ceremony Brochure in Will Davis' collection.

Observers were startled to learn in March that the Omnibus Spending Bill had included, in the budget for the U.S. Maritime Administration, the complete estimated amount required to perform the nuclear decommissioning of America's only commercial nuclear powered vessel, the NS SAVANNAH.  While there had been some funding toward beginning the process in a previous year's budget, the provision of the full amount - not specifically requested by MARAD - was a surprise.

Podcast at RadioNuclear is today's Matinee.

Last week, I brought you the sordid tale of the Shoreham nuclear plant - a plant which was completed and started up, but which for a host of reasons was destined to never put power on the grid.  The plant sits today as a shell - disabled in a nuclear sense (as the key components were removed) but visible as a reminder of the terrible political, managerial, historic, activist and regulatory confluence that killed it.

From June 17-21, the American Nuclear Society will be hosting its Annual Meeting. This year's event will be held in Philadelphia, Pa., where leaders from across the nuclear industry, government, and academia will share their expertise in hot-topic technical sessions and panel discussions.

https://vimeo.com/269002443

The story of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant on Long Island, New York was once well known in the industry and in utility circles; the plant, which took a very long time to construct and which faced considerable cost overrun, was heavily opposed by locals and in fact was never placed in operation.  The specific details of the plant's long but non-operational history are, though, considerably more interesting and, in many ways both more revealing and more depressing than such a brief description implies.

Watch Bill Magwood's presentation

The North Carolina State University Department of Nuclear Engineering recently shared with us a video of ANS member William D. Magwood, IV. Director-General, OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) as he presented Nuclear Energy: Where Are We, Where Are We Going.  Enjoy!

Watch ANS Social Media Team member Douglas E. Hardtmayer talk about his hopes for the future of nuclear.

ANS member and Social Media Team member Douglas E. Hardtmayer is a nuclear engineer and host of the RadioNuclear podcast. Watch his TEDx talk as he discusses his hopes to change some of the most common misconceptions about nuclear energy and technology, and makes the case for it being a vital key in sustaining the future prosperity of mankind. Currently, Hardtmayer is a grad student studying nuclear engineering at The Ohio State University.

When was the marriage between radiation and medicine?

The Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam may last for eight hours, but factoring in the time it takes to study, prepare, and apply for the exam, the level of effort grows substantially. Given that, why did I choose to take the nuclear PE exam?