Carnival of Nuclear Bloggers comes to APR

60th Carnival of Nuclear Bloggers

Atomic Power Review is very proud to host, for the first time, the rotating Carnival. This feature presents the very best of the pro-nuclear blog writers, who write from all angles and perspectives. Some of the blogs are quite specific, having been founded around one particular technology, plant type or even plant site, while others are very broad. The authors comprise a range of people with an aggregate of great experience in an equally wide range of fields. Those who are used to reading only the work of the normal "go to" people that the mainstream media uses as experts will find the selection of blogs presented here of great interest, and in great contrast to the usual fare. The content of the rotating Carnival as well as the rotation itself are transmitted and discussed courtesy the American Nuclear Society's Social Media List.

For our nuclear friends; Can you guess what this photo is of? From the APRA collection; UPI Wire Photo. The answer follows the Carnival entries; click to enlarge.



And now, on to the topics and the blogs!
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Idaho Samizdat - Dan Yurman

The future of as many as eight new reactor new builds in the U.S. will be determined by a single regulatory action at the NRC. This is the design certification of the Westinghouse AP1000.

Anti-nuclear groups want to tie it up in knots because of the downstream leverage success would provide to their cause. Will they be successful? It all depends on the “leadership” of NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko. So far he’s has been almost downright hostile taking the extraordinary step of issuing a press release last May critical of the Westinghouse submissions for design certification.

IDAHO SAMIZDAT - NUKE NOTES: TYING THE AP1000 UP IN KNOTS / DAN YURMAN

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The Nuclear Green Revolution - Charles Barton

1. Nuclear Industry Subsidies Part IV: Conclusions on Koplow
This is Part IV of my review of Doug Koplow's "Nuclear Power: Still not viable without subsidies." In Part I, I examined the definition of subsidies and looked at several limiting cases, including subsidies to an energy related project, the Cape Wind Project. Par II focused on Government policy toward the domestic Uranium mining Industry, and the National Defense context of that policy, and questioned both the intended and actual benefit of these policies for the nuclear power industry. Part III examined the relationship between United States military interest and the interest of the Nuclear power industry, and concluded that the relationship between the two had not served the interest of the Nuclear Power Industry. Part IV finds that "Much of what Koplow views as government subsidies to the nuclear power industry are not subsidies at all, but he is correct that the relationship between the nuclear power Industry and the government is an important area for study.

NUCLEAR GREEN - KOPLOW IV

and...
2. Google.org is still confused about paths to the energy future--Google, through its philanthropic endeavor, Google.org, does not have a very good track record for predicting the future. Under Google’s model, neither the application of a $30 per ton carbon price nor a more robust set of policies and mandates to drive cleantech adoption can reduce emissions as effectively on their own as when they were coupled with breakthrough innovations that drive cost declines. In its latest account of the energy future Google.org ignores the potential game changing impact of small reactors and generation IV nuclear technology.

NUCLEAR GREEN - GOOGLE

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MEREDITH ANGWIN - YES VERMONT YANKEE

In this post, Meredith Angwin shows how the Vermont Attorney General is grandstanding by announcing that he WILL announce his decision about bringing criminal charges against Entergy. The AG timed this set of announcements for the period in which a federal judge is deliberating Vermont Yankee continuing to operate while lawsuits are resolved. Angwin describes other lawsuits that the Vermont AG has brought to the Supreme Court---and lost.

YES VERMONT YANKEE - VERMONT AG ANNOUNCES...

Meredith adds: The AG decided not to bring criminal charges, as described in her later post. No Criminal Charges

YES VERMONT YANKEE - NO CHARGES

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RICK MALTESE - DEREGULATE THE ATOM

Rick says: "I am making an unsubstantiated claim and the viewer needs to understand that this is more than just a reaction to antinuclear statements to the contrary it is also an appeal to your common sense. Don't believe everything you read especially if the window dressing is neat and clean. I mean talking heads with great looking news sets and manicured anchors in suit and tie are no reason that they should be more credible than any other non-expert."

DEREGULATE THE ATOM - JAPAN WILL SPEED UP DEVELOPMENT

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ROD ADAMS - ATOMIC INSIGHTS

There are many terrific reasons to favor the rapid development of nuclear fission technology, including the fact that nuclear energy is an important climate change mitigation tool.

For some odd reason, possibly having to do with certain brands of political ideology, many nuclear professionals are reluctant to emphasize that last feature. They count themselves as climate change skeptics. Utility companies that operate both nuclear and fossil fuel plants have a strong economic incentive for not directly comparing the effects of their fossil plants to the lack of effect of their nuclear plants because they do not want to redirect the ire of protesters from one of their facilities to another.

I have a different point of view.

ATOMIC INSIGHTS - GREEN NUKES AND CLIMATE CHANGE

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BRIAN WANG - NEXT BIG FUTURE

Germany is set to turn back to coal, gas and imports to fill the
energy chasm left by its fast-track exit of nuclear power.
Germany produced 140.6 terawatt hours (TWh) of nuclear power in 2010.
Germany produced 102 TWh from renewable energy in 2010, and they are
targeted to add 115 TWh by 2020. Even 9 years from now Germany will
still not have replaced all nuclear power with renewables. Some
Uranium projects in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The French Astrid breeder
reactor.

NEXT BIG FUTURE - GERMANY WILL USE MORE COAL, OIL, GAS

and...The US is joining the Wendelstein 7-X Stellerator fusion project in Germany.

NEXT BIG FUTURE: US JOINS STELLARATOR PROJECT

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MARGARET HARDING - 4FACTOR CONSULTING LLC

The final installment of my three part series on lessons learned from Fukushima. In this post, I examine political lessons learned, including regulatory independence and government interference. We should learn from this, but not necessarily the lessons that some would wish. An independent regulator is critical, but does not preclude hiring from industry, nor the other way around. And government leaders need to keep their responses measured, both domestically and internationally.

4FACTORCONSULTING - FUKUSHIMA LESSONS #3

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And finally, last but certainly not least we have this week's entry from the American Nuclear Society's Nuclear Cafe - All Things Nuclear blog.

DAN YURMAN - ANS NUCLEAR CAFE

Dan Yurman discusses several recent positive developments in the
nuclear renaissance, from around the world and in the USA.

ANS NUCLEAR CAFE - SOME GOOD NEWS FOR A CHANGE

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That's it for the 60th Carnival of Nuclear Bloggers. APR is already scheduled to host two further installments; the 64th on August 5th and the 69th on September 9th, with more sure to follow. I hope my regular readers who are not normally visitors to the above quoted and linked blogs find something of interest and return to them in the future.

The answer to our "What is this" photo...

Above, a years-later post card photo, APRA collection. This plant was officially known as Dairyland Power Co-Op's Genoa No. 2 plant, but it's better known "in the business" as the LACBWR or the LaCrosse Boiling Water Reactor. Built as part of the second round of the AEC's Power Demonstration Reactor Program; the reactor vendor was Allis-Chalmers. That's the much larger coal-fired Genoa No. 3 next door - which obviously wasn't there in the 'under construction' photo.

5:10 PM Eastern Friday July 8, 2011
ATOMIC POWER REVIEW

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Kyushu Electric Power, and public trust

Several Japanese media outlets are now carrying various stories about the Genkai Nuclear Station, its owner-operator Kyushu Electric Power, and the Genkai town meeting on June 26th at which many opinions on the restart of the Genkai station were presented. It appears that Kyushu's management asked a number of its own employees and employees of other firms to send in e-mails for presentation at this meeting. These e-mails were in support of returning the plant to full operation.

The Japanese government appears to be preparing to get involved; Cabinet Secretary Edano and Economy and Trade Minister Kaieda have issued some fairly harsh statements about the actions and the loss of trust that Kyushu will now have to make good.

This is absolutely not the kind of thing that utilities (ie, owner-operators of nuclear plants) needs to be doing right now. Even if the intention was good, the public appraisal of such an effort could never be good; even if the company wanted its employees to express their faith in the company, and the nuclear station and its preparedness in some outward way, such a covert campaign was doomed to appear as "ballot box stuffing" or worse in the present rarified atmosphere. One wonders how high up this runs - the President of Kyushu Electric has taken responsibility for this effort although he is not resigning at this time - and one also wonders who that had the chance DIDN'T say "no" to this plan. Japanese business etiquette almost demands that the president of the company take blame.. but was this wholly his plan?

Bad idea, and very bad timing.

10:30 PM Eastern Wednesday July 6, 2011
ATOMIC POWER REVIEW

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Fukushima Daiichi / Japan Update: Wednesday July 6, 2011

NUCLEAR IN JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI

NHK is reporting that a poll it took of 28 prefectures and local governments has revealed that five municipal governments have indicated that they wish to KEEP nuclear, fifteen of the respondents indicate no decision yet, and that four have come out anti-nuclear. Specifically mentioned is Shizuoka Prefecture, which actually wants to immediately end nuclear energy. This is not particularly surprising given that Hamaoka Nuclear Station is in this prefecture, which station is the one shut down by request of Prime Minister Naoto Kan and which has been fighting a legal action since 2003 over the plant's supposed siting over a serious fault line. Chubu Electric Power does not appear to agree with the shutdown, or with plans to scrap all nuclear energy, although of course it did submit to the government request to shut down the undamaged Hamaoka station. The three other anti-nuclear government bodies (either municipality or prefectural, but not stated) are not directly identified in the NHK report. Fukushima Prefecture was not included in the poll, for reasons that are only too obvious. It is this writer's opinion that no nuclear station will ever operate again in Fukushima Prefecture, which would mean that Fukushima Daini would be affected as well.

It is too early to tell how all of this will play out. What is clear that several owner-operator utilities have voted down attempts by shareholders to scrap nuclear, as reported here; among these are TEPCO, Tohoku and Kansai. (It is my unconfirmed belief that Chubu also voted down such a plan.) Also clear is that five of the respondents in the NHK poll are FOR KEEPING nuclear energy, and that the vast majority of respondents are undecided. Only one respondent is in the "scrap all now" camp. Given that 28 bodies were polled, this is certainly not the death knell for nuclear in Japan yet, whatever it may turn out to be.

There is also news of a round of "stress tests" to be conducted on all Japanese nuclear plants. This phrase is so acidic to those in favor of nuclear energy because of its clear (and probably deliberate) connection in the minds of most persons to medical testing done in search of circulatory and heart related problems. However, this phrase is, in a technical sense, so vague as to be quite useless in and of itself. These tests will include assessment for earthquake and tsunami, and very long term SBO events. It is probable that many of the 'undecideds' in the NHK poll discussed previously will become decided after the results of the tests at particular nuclear plants.

Now, for Fukushima Daiichi updates:

-TEPCO will be making radiation field measurements inside No. 3 reactor building shortly to determine if measures taken recently (vacuuming of debris, covering of floor with steel plate) have attenuated the rad level enough to allow long enough stay times for commencement of nitrogen injection and installation of temporary local gauges. TEPCO has only 11 days as of now to meet its own deadline for these actions; No. 3 plant is the only one left for this work. The measurements will be taken by the US-made robot that performed the vacuum work, carrying a radiac while being elevated on the hydraulic lift platform of a work vehicle.

-Water injection to the installed reactor cores follows essentially the same details as reported many times here; injection rate for No. 1 plant continues to be adjusted up and down slightly as needed. No. 3 plant remains the hottest, with the highest injection rate but all are essentially steady. Further, the recycling contaminated water filtration system is now reported in the Japanese media to be operating at about 80 percent efficiency and is certainly on line much more than not - taking these things together, the time for declaration that stable cooling is achieved without causing further spread of contaminated water to the environment is approaching fairly soon.

-Spent fuel pool cooling continues on installed systems with some modifications at No. 1, 2 and 3 plants while damage at No. 4 plant continues to force TEPCO to direct inject water instead of using closed-loop cooling. TEPCO also occasionally continues to inject water to the storage wells at the refueling floor of No. 4 plant to keep radioactive components covered with water for shielding. Having noted this, TEPCO has uncovered and operated one of the valves in the spent fuel pool cooling system at No. 4 plant and is working diligently to achieve closed loop cooling for this plant as well. This would then mean stable, closed-loop cooling for the spent fuel pools at all four affected plants which is another major milestone on the plant recovery road map.

-Nitrogen injection continues normally at No. 1 and No. 2 plants (direct to the dry wells) with by this point over 60,000 m³ of nitrogen injected to No. 1 plant and about 2,300 m³ to No. 2 plant. Dry well pressure at No. 2 plant continues to rise as expected, as also reported in a previous post.

-Construction work continues on the reactor building enclosures, with delivery of some major components expected on site today.

11:00 AM Eastern Wednesday July 6, 2011
ATOMIC POWER REVIEW

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Carnival at "Yes Vermont Yankee"

The 59th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is now posted over at "Yes Vermont Yankee." APR is featured there with the most recent post on Fukushima Daiichi.

59th Carnival at Yes Vermont Yankee

Meredith Angwin, author of YVY, notes her regret at not having linked APR in her link list and now I must admit mine for not having linked YVY here. Her blog is now in the link list on the right, and also in the auto-update blog roll. Regular readers here should enjoy this addition.

3:50 PM Eastern Sunday July 3, 2011
ATOMIC POWER REVIEW

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Fukushima Daiichi update: Sunday July 3, 2011

There are two situations to discuss at the site as of now, in addition to the post made yesterday about conditions at Fukushima Daiichi.

First, some press has been given to a very brief loss of cooling at No. 5 plant at Fukushima Daiichi. No. 5 and No. 6 plants have been almost completely unaffected, but there have been some minor problems from time to time.

The loss of the Residual Heat Removal System was due to the discovery of a leak in one of the temporary seawater pipes that has been set up to replace the installed but down systems. When we say "leak," it was not as if this leak was difficult to notice. See the TEPCO press photo below.


The photo above was made at roughly 3:30 PM on June 3. The system was shut down, and the hose replaced. For those wondering just what this system looks like schematically, and where this leak was, it is instructive to examine two illustrations from a release by TEPCO showing the temporary setup.

Above, in a view from the side we see the two temporary RHRS seawater pumps taking suction on the seawater, and discharging through hoses to two check valves and then several flanged sections of pipe and hose. The leak location and magnitude are clearly shown. Below, an overhead view.

In the view above, we can see the normal circ water and RHRS pumps, and the temporarily installed pumps. The cooling for No. 5 plant was down about two hours and sixteen minutes if the latest TEPCO account is correct; no further problems were noted. TEPCO had stated just before the operation that fuel temperature would rise no more than about 2.5C per hour for the time RHRS was down.

Now, the other situation; TEPCO is intending, according to NHK reports, to make its July 17 date for nitrogen injection into all three reactors a reality even if serious measures are called for. Not only did TEPCO use a robot to clean out some of the access area needed for this operation in No. 3 plant, it is now laying down steel plating to attenuate radiation in the work area. The highest reported exposure levels in the area needed for access are about 186 mSv/hr, or 18.6 R/hr. There will be video of the robot performing its vacuuming job on the APR YouTube Channel shortly. As of this moment, nitrogen injection into No. 2 plant continues smoothly with dry well pressure rising as expected.

All other reactor plant parameters on site are essentially unchanged since the last report.

12:30 PM Eastern Sunday July 3, 2011
ATOMIC POWER REVIEW

UPDATE Video now up at APR YouTube Channel.

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Fukushima Daiichi Update: Saturday July 2, 2011

There is little significant news to report from the site over the last several days; here are the highlights.

-Further inspection of the spent fuel pools, including high quality photos of the spent fuel pool at No. 4 plant, is revealing less damage than previously assumed. Japanese media are reporting that the spent fuel pools at No. 2 and at No. 3 plants are cooled to or below 40C and stable, with their original spent fuel pool cooling systems operating in nearly normal fashion. No. 1 and No. 4 plants are more problematic in terms of restoration of the systems, with No. 4 being worse by far due to system damage. However, the actual condition of the spent fuel itself in No. 4 plant's spent fuel pool is not nearly as bad as might have been suspected... or as was reported in some outlets. Below, high-res TEPCO press photo of the spent fuel pool surface taken on the refueling floor level.
Click to enlarge; courtesy TEPCO.

-TEPCO is cleaning up some debris in No. 3 reactor building using a three-unit system comprising a large industrial vacuum, a filtering system, and a robot. Below is a TEPCO press photo of the robot in use for this task.



-TEPCO has begun transfer of low-level contaminated water to the mega-float, docked at the shallow draft pier at the Fukushima Daiichi site. The roughly 10,000 ton capacity of this unit greatly adds to TEPCO's water storage inventory. At last estimate about 120,000 tons of contaminated water were on-site (this includes all contaminated water in all buildings, tunnels and tanks.)

-Nitrogen injection continues at No. 1 and No. 2 plants' dry wells. Note: While this is not essentially breaking news, it is important to monitor the threat of radiolytic hydrogen at the three damaged reactor plants; we will report any developments in this area here as soon as they're released.

-Water injection to the reactor cores (plants No. 1, 2, 3) continues as much as possible from the decontamination system, although at last report TEPCO had briefly switched back to direct injecting fresh water to allow installation of a buffer tank in the system in line before the reactor injection pumps. Feed rates and temperatures at last report are as follows:

No. 1 plant: 3.6 m³/hr, feed nozzle 118C, lower head 102C
No. 2 plant: 3.5 m³/hr, feed nozzle 113C, lower head 128C
No. 3 plant: 9.0 m³/hr, feed nozzle 154C, lower head 125C

-A large embankment has been completed on the water side of the Fukushima Daiichi station to prevent further effects of water from offshore for any reason. The two pictures below are courtesy TEPCO; the first is on the water side of the rad waste building, looking south. This is the southern tip of the Fukushima Daiichi station. Note the many large iron castings used to reinforce the retaining wall.
This is a very large picture; click to enlarge.

Below is another photo taken from a position further south, and higher up on the tiers of defense. Notable in this picture are the different types of material used in different layers - and also notable in the distance is the enormous crane being set up to construct the reactor building enclosure at No. 1 plant.


7:12 AM Eastern Saturday July 2, 2011
ATOMIC POWER REVIEW

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New video on APR YouTube

Another new, experimental and introductory level video is now up at the APR YouTube Channel. This new video covers the topic of Pressure Suppression Containment. Much press is being given to the Mk I containment design even now in the USA, and it might be a good time to get a little better look at what this is and where it came from, as well as how it's built.

APR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

As of now, this new video is the featured video and will come up first.

3:10 PM Eastern Friday July 1, 2011
ATOMIC POWER REVIEW

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