Carnival of Nuclear Energy 113

1. Idaho Samizdat – TEPCO’s managers didn’t want to use salt water to cool the reactors at Fukushima because they had the ludicrous objective of thinking the units could be saved. Jaczko spiked the NRC’s plan to review the Yucca Mountain license application because of loyalty to his political sponsor, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, who cares more about the livelihood of gambling casinos in Nevada than the nation’s energy security.

2. Paul Bowersox, ANS Nuclear Cafe, has “Low level radiation and LNT examined at Chicago ANS meeting”

George Stanford (nuclear physicist, retired) reports the findings of radiation scientists at two ANS Annual Meeting panels concerning low-level radiation and the paradigm of “Linear No Threshold.”

General conclusion? Basing policy and regulation on Linear No Threshold has no empirical justification, and moreover has turned out to be a very costly blunder.

3. YesVermontYankee – Vermont Yankee supporters, like many nuclear supporters, tend to not believe in global warming. Meanwhile, global warming activists such as William McKibben, founder of 350.org, don’t mention nuclear power as part of a potential solution. Meredith Angwin analyzes the great divide about carbon dioxide. How much of the divide is rhetoric, how much is real, and what should we do about it?

4. Margaret Harding at 4factor consulting has the second in a two part study of why Rosatom might be asking for NRC certification of the VVER reactor. Why the U.S. should or should not support such a move.

5. Atomic Power Review’s Carnival submission: Westinghouse – Vitkovice deal, plus Russian (former Soviet) steam generator design

At Atomic Power Review, Will Davis gives details on a recent cooperative arrangement between Westinghouse and Vitkovice, which latter will fabricate parts for Westinghouse if the new Temelin plants are awarded to it. Links offering brief description of previous hardware for nuclear plants made by Vitkovice are offered, and since the steam generators shown look nothing like Western ones, Davis offers a brief history and description of Soviet/Russian horizontal type steam generators.

6. Atomic Insights contribution: Deconstructing Coal Industry Misinformation Campaign

The coal industry is spending big on ads that criticize the EPA for tightening regulations that will improve coal cleanliness and while also claiming that clean coal is a main priorities.

Brian Sockstader does a good job deconstructing these ads. Even though he expresses strong concern about climate change he nonetheless ignores nuclear energy while promoting natural gas and unreliable energy sources that cannot replace reliable coal power.

7. Canadian Energy Issues looks at the Return on research and Development investment during a lethal heat wave

In the recent heat wave, Ontario nuclear plants produced power at a 96 percent capacity factor. That translated into 1.8 billion kilowatt-hours of rock-steady cooling power to fight the heat, and yet another clutch performance from public assets that were developed and built decades ago with public money. Steve Aplin argues that Ontario’s nuclear fleet is the result of perhaps the most successful R&D program in Canadian industrial history.”

8. Fukushima Update blog – Hiroshima Syndrome –

Financial Times Prefers Fiction Over Fact

The blog demonstrates yet another appeal to nuclear rumor in deference to the facts. The blogger calls Japan’s humble admission of cultural factors making the Fukushima accident possible “the ultimate copout”. Who knows the Japanese better than the Japanese themselves? The blog is an agenda-driven mindset that prioritizes the continuation of fiction as fact. (July 11)

9. Fukushima Update Blog – Hiroshima Syndrome

No earthquake damage at F. Daiichi unit #1

Tokyo Electric Company (Tepco) remains at odds with the NAIIC concerning whether or not the 3/11/11 earthquake caused the blackout of unit #1. This blog totally agrees with Tepco. NAIIC places their faith in one off-shore wave gauge, combined with wild speculation that the emergency diesels failed before the wave hit. The unfounded NAIIC assumption taints their otherwise fine report. (July 9)

10. Nextbigfuture – Japan’s top utility Tokyo Electric Power Co aims to gradually restart the nuclear reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant starting from April 2013, to curb fossil fuel costs.

Following are the company’s goals for restarting the seven reactors at the 8,212 megawatt plant, the world’s biggest nuclear complex by output. But it remains unclear if the reactors would restart as scheduled, as the firm needs to have the local governments’ backing before restarting any of them.

         Plant name  No.      MW  Restart schedule
  Kashiwazaki-Kariwa    1   1,100        April 2013
  Kashiwazaki-Kariwa    2   1,100         Sept 2015
  Kashiwazaki-Kariwa    3   1,100         July 2014
  Kashiwazaki-Kariwa    4   1,100          Feb 2015
  Kashiwazaki-Kariwa    5   1,100          Oct 2013
  Kashiwazaki-Kariwa    6   1,356          Dec 2013
  Kashiwazaki-Kariwa    7   1,356          May 2013

11. l At Nuke Power Talk, Gail Marcus comments on the confirmation of Allison Macfarlane as a Commissioner of the NRC, and her appointment as its new Chairman. She expressed the hope that everyone can put the past behind them and give the new Commission a chance to function as it should, and that Macfarlane will rise to the many challenges facing the Commission. If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks