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.


RadioNuclear podcast featuring Gene Grecheck: The value of preserving the LWR fleet

October 24, 2019, 9:15PMANS Nuclear Cafe

RadioNuclear.orgEpisode 27 of RadioNuclear is now online! In this episode, the new partnership between the DOE and NRC, aimed at accelerating developments in new nuclear was discussed.  Also France's plan to reboot the EPR program, and finally get into a detailed discussion with Gene Grecheck, ANS Past President 2015-2016, about the value in preserving our LWR fleet.

ALCO's 1950's Nuclear Gamble

October 18, 2019, 12:49PMANS Nuclear Cafe

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In April 1957, when the new, small nuclear plant at the Army's Fort Belvoir, Virginia site first started up, it seemed as if the plant's vendor, ALCO Products, had carried off something of a coup.  Winning this important early contract had come about three years earlier for this small but well-equipped company that was looking to diversify and it seemed as if a bright future lay ahead for it.  However, by mid-1962 the company had sold the bulk of its nuclear business to Allis-Chalmers (with some vessel contracts going to Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton.)  What happened? We'll take a brief look as we walk through a photo montage.

Podcast: Tales from the Nuclear Island (countries). Alyse Huffman and Harsh Desai Guest!

October 7, 2019, 5:24PMANS Nuclear Cafe

YPC19Thank you for joining us on Episode 26 of RadioNuclear! Today, we discuss news items from two literal "Nuclear Islands". How can nuclear help out island nations that are energy constrained? Are there examples of this? Tune in to find out! We also discuss Westinghouse's purchase of Rolls Royce's North American nuclear business, and discuss how this could benefit utilities looking to reduce operations and maintenance costs.

ANS Nuclear Cafe Friday Matinee: Hanford Success Story

October 4, 2019, 1:11PMANS Nuclear Cafe

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Recently, a tremendous success story culminated at the Hanford Reservation - the completion of radioactive sludge removal from one of the K-Reactor basins.  Announcement of the completion of this task ends a years-long process that was a major barrier to finally cocooning the K reactors, which are the last two other than B left in their original state (albeit long since shut down and defueled) at Hanford.  (Of course, B Reactor has been preserved as a historic landmark and can be toured.)

RNE24: Batteries will fix all our problems, right?? Craig Piercy guests!

August 26, 2019, 7:45PMANS Nuclear Cafe

Thank you for joining us on Episode 24 of RadioNuclear! In this episode, we briefly discuss the passage of H.B. 6 in Ohio, effectively saving the two nuclear plants in Ohio for the time being. This week we also talk about a recent article detailing the true cost of using battery storage for energy. How much could using them for 100% renewable energy cost? Tune in to find out!

Seven years later, we are still curious about Curiosity

August 5, 2019, 4:02PMANS Nuclear CafeVedant Mehta

On August 5, 2012, at 10:17 p.m. PDT, NASA's giant rover Curiosity landed on Mars, the fourth planet in our solar system from the Sun. Curiosity rover is 3 meters long, 2.8 meters wide, and 2.1 meters tall weighing 900 kilograms (around 2,000 lbs). Slowing the giant laboratory down from entry-level hypersonic speeds to near zero and safely landing it on Martian surface was immensely complicated. It required a rocket-powered crane to land the rover on the surface. Curiosity's primary goal was to determine if Martian soil and climate offered favorable conditions for life in past. The rover contains several instruments on board to understand the planet conditions better. These instruments include spectrometers for material characterization, radiation detectors, cameras for taking pictures (and selfies), and weather sensors.

Podcast: Do renewables & nuclear power need to work together?

July 24, 2019, 7:31PMANS Nuclear CafeDoug Hardtmayer

Ready for RadioNuclear 23? In this episode, we discuss the landmark achievement at Purdue's research reactor, PUR-1, on going to a fully digital I&C System, the increasing support for nuclear power from Japanese courts, and the recent increase in radioactivity from a sunken Soviet Union Submarine, the Komsomolets. We also give a brief update on pronuclear legislation in Ohio and discuss the relationship renewables and nuclear must play in the future.

Imagination is the Key to Everything!

July 18, 2019, 6:45AMANS Nuclear CafeDr. Catherine Riddle

Remember when you were a child on a long road trip to grandma's house before cars were equipped with televisions? My dad would tell us to imagine that we were watching an episode of Star Trek, and my sister and I would run through every nuance of the show in our minds. As the imaginary show ended, we were amazed to find ourselves in front of grandma's house.

ANS Nuclear Cafe Friday Matinee - July 12

July 12, 2019, 2:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe

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The nearness of the completion of Rosatom's Akademik Lomonosov floating two-unit nuclear power plant is apparently raising interest in, of all places, the Philippines.  This island nation, which very nearly had a nuclear plant but which halted its operation when fully completed, has at least one official body considering the use of Russian-style floating nuclear plants to offset what it feels is an impending severe shortage of natural gas fuel as a major field is expected to run out.