Dwelling on Fukushima
I have covered different aspect of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in past blog posts. My sister blog http://www.Radiationrelations.com presents four link every day about radioactivity and nuclear issues, often dealing with Fukushima. I thought that I should explain why I dwell on Fukushima so much. Nuclear power is an important source of electric power generation in the world today. As the responses to and the repercussions of Fukushima have unfolded, they have illustrated many of the problems with the use of nuclear power.
The first problem is the vulnerability of nuclear reactors to things like earthquakes and tsunamis. A number of design weaknesses were revealed at Fukushima. The reactors were located so close together that an explosion in one reactor building severely damaged another reactor building. Placing the spent fuel pools on the upper levels of the reactors buildings was shown to be dangerous if the buildings were seriously damaged. Locating emergency generators in basements is a bad idea because of possible flooding.
A second problem is radiation from the disaster making its way into the environment and food chain by contaminating the air, soil, and the ocean water. Contaminated crops and meats have been rejected for import by some countries. Radioactivity has been found in fish as far away as the Pacific Coast of the United States. The cloud of radioactive gases and particulates continues to circulate the globe in the Northern Hemisphere.
A third problem is misbehavior on the part of the company running the Fukushima reactors. They made unreported design changes, failed to make changes that were mandated by the government, lied about their actions, failed to report serious design flaws that they knew about, exposed their workers to dangerous levels of radiation, and, in general, failed to run the reactors in a responsible, professional, safe and transparent way.
A fourth problem has to do with the government response. The government was slow to respond to the disaster and to tell the people of Japan just exactly what was happening and what the danger was and is. There has been government propaganda downplaying the risks of the radiation release.
A fifth problem is the physical and psychological impact of the disaster on the people of Japan. A number of different health problems have been developing in the Japanese population that may have been caused by the radiation released at Fukushima. There is widespread anxiety and depression among the Japanese, especially in the Fukushima region. Some people have fled, even leaving Japan altogether. Other people are trying to decide if they should have children, given the danger.
Finally, Japan is resource poor. They do not have much in the way of fossil fuels to power their society. Nuclear power seemed a good choice but now that choice is not looking so good. The government is struggling with the fact that the economy needs power to function but the people have been so frightened by the Fukushima disaster that there is growing political pressure to shut down all the nuclear reactors in Japan permanently.
The Fukushima disaster was triggered by a natural event that could not be prevented. However, design flaws, corporate competence and honesty, and government oversight could have been handled much better which would have mitigated the problems caused by the tsunami that hit Fukushima. Nuclear power can be a safe source of energy but only if it is handled correctly. Fukushima has been a very good example of what happens when it is not.
Fukushima nuclear power plant – from Micarox.com:
Nuclear Power in the United Kingdom
The first commercial power plant in the United Kingdom and the world went into operation in 1956 at Calder Hill but the main reason for the reactor being built was to produce weapons grade plutonium. and the last plant built in the UK was put into operation in 1995. By 1997, nuclear reactors generated about twenty five percent of the UK’s electricity but the nuclear proportion has declined since then to about sixteen percent of the UK’s electricity being generated from 16 nuclear reactors today. Most of the reactors in the UK are advanced gas-cooled type. 10 reactors have been retired and decommissioned. Uranium for UK reactors is purchased on the world uranium market from such places as Canada, Australia, Niger, Namibia and Uzbekistan
The development of nuclear power in the UK has been complicated by the mixed reasons for building the early reactors including commercial power generation, research and weapons development. There is strong conflict between proponents and opponents of nuclear power and no long term, consistent guidance from the government. After the year 2000, protests and opposition increased because of a reported link between cancers and nuclear power plants. There is a high level of support for renewable energy sources as an alternative to nuclear power. It is estimated that the Fukushima nuclear disaster caused a twelve percent drop in UK public support for nuclear power.
There have been a few major accidents in the UK where large amounts of radioactivity have been released into the environment. No deaths were directly attributable to the accidents but there are estimates of over 100 additional deaths from cancers cause by the radioactive materials released. The estimated cost of the major accidents is somewhere in the range of one hundred and fifty million US dollars. Although there is the potential for earthquakes and coastal flooding in the UK, the government is confident that current safety measures will be sufficient to deal with any threats from these events.
There are plans to build new nuclear reactors in the UK but the government wants to turn over construction and operation to private firms. The high cost of nuclear plant construction will be one of the problems with gaining private involvement. There will have to be some incentives to encourage new construction but no long term government subsidies are planned. Scotland and Wales have strong anti-nuclear sentiments and have voted to prevent any new reactors from being built in Scotland or Wales.
There is been no program for permanent nuclear waste disposal in the UK so currently some of the spent fuel is reprocessed and some is in temporary storage. The cost of waste disposal will be borne by the private firms for future reactors. The UK government currently runs the waste storage facility at Sellafield where most of the high-level radioactive waste is now stored. There is wide-spread public concern about the disposal of nuclear waste.
The UK nuclear program has been run efficiently and delivered a useful fraction of the UK electrical demand over the years. Going forward, the rising costs of construction, the public opposition, and the problem of waste disposal may prevent or seriously delay the constructions of more reactors in the UK.
Seal of the United Kingdom:
Hurricane Sandi and East Coast Reactors
I have discussed the fact that nuclear reactors require an enormous amount of water to cool them in previous posts. This means that they have to be located near major sources of water such big rivers, big lakes or the ocean. Since many big cities are near large bodies of water, this makes such locations convenient for major power plants that supply electricity to cities. Unfortunately this also makes the reactors vulnerable to flooding. It was the flood waters from a tsunami that caused the nuclear disaster at Fukushima.
Several different meteorological phenomena converged recently to create one of the worst storms to hit the New England states in a century. Hurricane Sandyhas taken at least thirty lives and wracked havoc from Virginia to Maine. The ferocious winds have blown down buildings and brought down trees. The pounding waves have flooded coastal communities and left million of people without power. The storm is weakening but the damage and flooding will take weeks to deal with.
The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent out teams to monitor nuclear reactors in the path of the storm. These are some of the power plants that were affected by the storm.
Public Service Enterprise Group manually shut down its Salem Unit 1 reactor near Wilmington, Delaware because four of the six pumps that circulate cooling water were no longer functioning. A lot of grass and debris were brought in by the storm and could have clogged the water circulation system.
The CENG owned Nine Mile Point reactor near Scriba, New York shut down automatically because there was a power disruption in a switchyard.
Entergy Corporation’s Indian Point 3 nuclear plant in New York shut down automatically because there were problems with the power grid caused by the storm. The 911 hijackers flew right over Indian Point and could have crashed into it but they thought that it was protected by anti-aircraft missiles.
Exelon Corporation’s Oyster Creek nuclear plant north of Atlantic City, New Jersey declared an alert because of rising water levels in its water intake system. There was also a disruption in the switch yard. Three reactors were shut down as a precaution. Oyster Creek is the oldest operating commercial reactor in the United States.
These events illustrate some of the types of problems that extreme weather events can cause nuclear power plants. Interruption of cooling water systems and problems with the electrical grid at two of the most important. The response to this storm was swift and professional. There has been no indication that there was any danger to the public or the environment from the reactors in the path of the storm.
There were twenty six nuclear power plants that could have been impacted by the storm. With global climate change, we can expect more extreme weather events in the future. Following the clean up from Hurricane Sandy, it would be a good idea to review that extreme weather events pose for nuclear reactors and the response systems in place to deal with them.
Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant:
When to go to the doctor
I have been feeling under the weather for the last six weeks. I wake up in the morning with my throat hurting, and it usually gets worse whenever I start to sing. At first, I blamed it on my lack of sleep and stress. But even after the stress went away, and I started to get a decent amount of sleep again, I still was unable to get rid of the sore throat. At that point, I started to self-medicate with over-the-counter medicine. After a couple of days, I began to feel better. So I decided to stop taking the meds, and soon after, the sore throat was bothering me again.Over the course of the six weeks of feeling sick, my sore throat kept getting better, only to get worse again. During that time, I kept debating over and over again whether or not I should go to the doctor to get my throat checked out. Every time that I started to feel better, I would tell myself that there’s no point in making that doctor appointment, since I was well on my way to a full recovery. Except that full recovery never actually happened. Instead, I was gaining two other illness symptoms. I have developed a dry cough, and I felt fatigue a lot.
Finally, after six weeks of waiting it out, I made my way to the doctor. According to the doctor, my symptoms were caused by a bacterial infection that could have easily lasted for months if I continued to wait it out. In the future, I will go to the doctor if I feel sick for longer than two weeks.
Finland depends on nuclear power
Seventy percent of Finland’s power comes from coal, gas, hydro and biofuels. Some power is imported from Russia. Coal is imported from Poland and Russia. All imported gas comes from Russia. Finland has four operating nuclear reactors that supply about thirty percent of their electrical power. When the annual rainfall is low, there is a power shortfall and more electricity must be imported. Finland is working to be more energy independent.
Two boiling water reactors were purchased from a Swedish company and brought on line in 1978. They were originally rated at generating about six hundred and fifty Megawatts of electricity but were eventually upgraded by thirty percent to eight hundred and sixty Megawatts. There are plans to upgrade them to one thousand Megawatts each. Their lifespans have been extended from forty years to sixty years and their status will be reviewed every decade. The other two reactors were purchased from a Russian company, had Western control systems installed and then put into operation around 1980. They have also had their power output upgraded and life spans extended from thirty years to fifty years. The Finnish reactors have an excellent record of maintenance, stable output and safety. They have an average capacity factor over the last ten years of over eighty five percent.
The fuel supply for the two Swedish reactors illustrate the global nature of the nuclear industry. Uranium for the two reactors has been purchased from Canada, Australia and Africa. The uranium was converted to UF6 in Canada and France and the Russians enriched it. The fuel rods have been fabricated Germany, Sweden and Spain. At least nine countries located all over the globe have been involved in providing fuel for the two Swedish reactors. This makes those reactors especially vulnerable to any events that interfere with international trade and/or global transportation networks. The operators of the two Russian reactors contracted with Russia for a complete fuel service. This makes the fuel supply less vulnerable to global problems but makes it more vulnerable to interruption if there are any problems in Russia.
Finland started working on spent nuclear fuel disposal in 1983. A fund was established to accumulate funds for final disposal and it now contains over two billion Euros. The companies operating the reactors are responsible for handling and storing waste until it is moved to permanent storage facilities. There are already permanent repositories for low–level waste and they are being upgraded to eventually take spent nuclear fuel rods. In 2010, a Finnish mining company announced plans to recover uranium from nickel and zinc mining operations.
Plans have been approved for the construction of a fifth reactor. This reactor is the first new reactor project in ten years in Western Europe. There are additional discussions and planning for the construction of a sixth and seventh reactor in Finland. Finland is an example of a country that has proceeded with an efficient, safe and responsible implementation of nuclear power for generation of electricity.
Seal of Finland:
Senate Homestretch: Democratic Seats Looking Safe
Florida: Sen. Bill Nelson (D) appears to have withstood the apparent flip (in most polls) of the Sunshine State from President Obama to Mitt Romney. Nelson is always considered a bit vulnerable, but the Republicans have yet to find a candidate to knock him off. Former Gov. Jeb Bush declined the chance, and Rep. Connie Mack IV seems to have made little of his shot.
Every once in while there are polls showing Mack within shouting distance, but most every October poll has Nelson close to 50 percent, so it looks like he’s set for another term.
RealClearPolitics.com Average: Nelson 49.7, Mack 43.0
New Jersey: Now here comes a couple of huge political wild cards. But are they big enough to topple an entrenched incumbent who’s running well ahead of a little-known challenger?
First you have “Superstorm” Sandy (and you must call it a “superstorm”) that made such a mess of the Garden State that it’s hard to know how they’ll hold an election at all. Will it suppress turnout? Might power failures and gas shortages lead voters to get disgruntled and seek a scapegoat? If so, would the scapegoat be Sen. Bob Menendez (D), who is facing a challenge from little-known State Sen. Joe Kyrillos? Kyrillos is a protégé of Gov. Chris Christie, who is getting high marks so far, while Menendez is a strong supporter of the President, who is also getting high marks so far.
But if shortages and frustration grow, will voters take it out on someone?
Well, now they might have a new reason to take it out on Menendez, but for completely unrelated reasons. Menendez is now being linked to a sex scandal involving prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. If anything comes of it, then Kyrillos could be a completely unexpected beneficiary.
This might be the one race that is in total flux at the end.
RealClearPolitics.com Average: Menendez 52.5, Kyrillos 33.0
New Mexico: In these last two races, Republicans had high hopes for moderate women who had run prior statewide races. In both cases, it appears that time was not right. Former Rep. Heather Wilson (R) had won a number of tough congressional races, but lost a close GOP primary in her prior run for U.S. Senate in 2008.
Wilson came back for another try this year for the open seat of retiring Democrat Jeff Bingaman, but she seems to have failed to gain much traction against Rep. Martin Heinrich (D), who has united Democratic support.
RealClearPolitics.com Average: Heinrich 51.3, Wilson 41.7
Hawaii: Unlike Wilson, former Gov. Linda Lingle (R) had won two statewide elections, and one of them was over her 2012 opponent Rep. Mazie Hirono (D). But Hawaiians appear to view the Senate race through a different prism than the gubernatorial matchup in 2002 that Lingle won handily. Polls show Hirono winning this time around.
National Republicans have essentially abandoned both Wilson and Lingle, which is a pretty good indicator of what their internal polls are showing.
There are not enough polls for a RealClearPolitics.com Average, but Hirono has led by a large margin in all the public polls.
Nulcear Fuel Monitors Powered by Heat of Nuclear Fission
The Fukushima nuclear disaster was partly caused by the tsunami triggered by the nearby earthquake. The generator room that supplied power for monitoring and cooling was located in a basement which flooded. Without monitoring and cooling , several of the reactors overheated and generated gases which exploded causing major damage to the reactor buildings. There is some evidence that the cores of several of the reactors may have melted through the bottom of the containment vessels and penetrated into the earth, threatening the ground water.
Researchers from Penn State University presented a new idea for nuclear reactor monitoring at the Annual meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in late October. They suggest the creation of something they call a thermoacoustic standing wave engine inside a fuel rod. Sound is created by variations in air pressure when the air pressure rises and falls in a repeating pattern. Thermoacoustics has to do with the interaction of sound and heat. In a thermoacoustic system, there are variations of heat in a repeating pattern in some material that is related to sound waves traveling through the material. It is possible to create heating systems, cooling systems and engines which generate sound from heat differences with the thermoacoustic effect. One benefit of a thermoacoustic device is that it can be built with no moving parts.
The Penn State researchers created a nuclear fuel rod that incorporates a thermoelectric engine. The engine would resonate at a frequency based on the temperature of the fuel rod. In addition, heat would be distributed more evenly in the fuel rod which would make it more efficient as an energy source. The device was constructed from a stack of ceramic plate full of a parallel pores that was originally made for catalytic converters in car exhaust systems. The stack transfers heat to a resonator full of gas and sound is generated by temperature differences. With this device, the temperature of the fuel rod is measured and signaled without the need for external power making the whole system less vulnerable to accidents.
The thermoacoustic effect will circulate gas between the fuel and the steel shell of the rod and transfer heat out into the surrounding liquid increasing efficiency. The sound generated by the thermoacoustic engine in the fuel rod will travel out of the rod and into the surround fluid. The sound can then be detected by microphones that are some distance from the rod.
The Idaho Nuclear Laboratory has been working in conjunction with the Penn State researchers to extend the use of the thermoelectric effect to monitor microstructural changes in the fuel rods, measure the composition of gas mixtures and to act as a failsafe device in case of emergencies.
Hopefully, utilization of such advanced techniques as thermoacoustic engines can help make future generations of nuclear reactors safer, simpler and more efficient.
Diagram of Penn State Thermoacoustic standing wave engine:
Is Your gym a yoga studio? Should it be?
Yoga in the United States has exploded in popularity. What was once a fringe, somewhat suspect activity for hippies, is now mainstream, with yoga studios blooming in urban, suburban and rural areas. Although to some people, it may conjure up images of either contortionists or sedentary meditators, certain styles of yoga can help people build a strong fitness foundation.
If you are interested in using yoga to become physically stronger, and to improve endurance as well as flexibility, you may want to look for studios that offer vinyasa, flow, ashtanga, or power yoga. Note that different studios may structure their classes based on their owners and instructors training and philosophy, so the terms used to describe classes may vary.
If you are new to yoga, look for a studio that offers beginners classes. Even if you are fairly fit, it can be pretty daunting to start in a more advanced level class, as you may need to learn a number of poses, and coordinate your breaths and movements. Whether you are currently fit, or working towards fitness, commit to taking several classes before deciding if yoga is for you.
Along with improving physical fitness, yoga can help you make drastic improvements in your emotional fitness. With regular practice, many yogis note their stress levels decrease, and they handle life’s daily ups and downs much more easily. The focus on deep, even breathing, especially when on the edge of discomfort, seems to carry over to the rest of life. Because stress is implicated is so many types of ailments, reducing it can go far in keeping your healthier.
If you attend a traditional gym and love it, you may want to take an occasional yoga class, and add a short yoga practice to your every day fitness routine. Although you might not need to build strength or endurance, you may find increasing your flexibility and your emotional fitness helpful.
If you’ve added yoga to your fitness routine, please share your experiences.
Houseplant care sheet: Boston Fern
For a plant that is so easily found for sale, the Boston fern can be surprisingly difficult to keep. Just about every greenhouse and home improvement store will have a Boston fern for sale. Which is remarkable, given how many people kill them off so easily.
Senate Homestretch: Democratic Seats Leaning Retention
Missouri: Rep. Todd Akin (R) hasn’t made Sen. Claire McCaskill popular, or solved her nagging ethical issues, but his self-inflicted wounds have made her an unlikely favorite for reelection.
Akin was never an ideal candidate, but he probably could have edged McCaskill on cruise control, given her negatives. Instead, he careened into the ditch, and, just when it looked like he might climb out, swerved right back in.
Even with all that, Akin is running close in the polls, which indicates that it’s a strong GOP year in the Show-Me State. Maybe a huge turnout of evangelical voters could pull it out for Akin, but that’s probably the only thing. McCaskill is running too close to 50 percent to count on any kind of late break in Akin’s favor.
RealClearPolitics.com Average: McCaskill 47.8, Akin 42.8
Connecticut: Businesswoman Linda McMahon (R) and her millions made this race fun for political junkies for awhile, and she got an assist from the less-than-ideal campaign of Rep. Chris Murphy (D). But McMahon used a double-edged sword. She needed her millions to get on the air and rehabilitate her image (after a double-digit loss in 2010), but by doing so she put the Democrats on alert, and gave them plenty of time to rally to Murphy’s side.
The general Democratic tilt of the state seems to be reasserting itself, and, as in Massachusetts, moderate women voters appear to be returning to the Democratic fold.
RealClearPolitics.com Average: Murphy 47.8, McMahon 43.8
Ohio: Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) can’t quite shake State Treasurer Josh Mandel, but Mandel doesn’t seem to have the traction to catch up, either.
Brown is polling close to 50 percent, which ought to be enough for an incumbent absent some event that shakes up the race. Like Akin, Mandel needs to hope for a huge turnout of GOP voters, but there aren’t as many in Ohio as there are in Missouri.
Nevertheless, a couple of outlier polls show Mandel close, and, if they prove to be accurate, a little late Republican surge could produce a surprise. Right now, it doesn’t look likely.
RealClearPolitics.com Average: Brown 49.5, Mandel 44.0
Pennsylvania: Sen. Bob Casey (D), unlike Ohio neighbor Brown, has not been polling close to 50 percent. Some October polls had him at 44 or 45, or even as low as 41. But all those same polls showed him ahead of previously unknown challenger Tom Smith (R).
The difference is that Smith has “upside” that Mandel does not appear to have. If undecided voters break late for Smith, and there is a strong GOP turnout, then the prime spot for a Republican shocker is here. Casey’s support is soft, and Smith appears to be running strong with independents.
RealClearPolitics.com Average: Casey 47.0, Smith 40.8