NNadir discusses competence of Japanese reactor builders

One of my favorite participants in the energy conversation is NNadir, who intermittently blogs at Daily Kos. (I have always wondered about the etymology of that handle – it turns out that it is derived from “Not Nader” as in not Ralph.) His most recent post, titled Were the Japanese Engineers Who Built Fukushima Incompetent?…

NYAS used as part of campaign to increase unwarranted fear about radiation

Ever since November 2009, when the New York Academy of Sciences published a Greenpeace-authored, anti-science book titled Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment, several friends of mine have been digging to try to find out why that decision was made and who made it. Ted Rockwell, a long-time member of the…

Thoughtful TV discussion about nuclear energy in Colorado post Fukushima

Watch the full episode. See more Colorado State of Mind. On Friday, June 24, 2011, the Colorado State of Mind program aired a discussion about nuclear energy that featured respectful conversation from several different points of view. The impetus for the discussion was to reflect on the implications of the recent Associated Press portrayal of…

NRC Professional Staff Brief – “Very Good News” Unit 4 Pool Never Dry

On June 15, 2011, the professional staff at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission provided a brief to the commission. It was the second of three planned status updates on the Task Force Review of NRC Processes and Regulations Following Events in Japan. The briefing started with a report by Bill Borchardt the NRC’s Executive Director…

Jaczko defends incorrect 50-mile evacuation order at Fukushima

On March 16, five days after the Fukushima Daiichi reactors were shutdown in the wake of a large earthquake that was followed by a tsunami, Gregory Jaczko, the Chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, announced that he was recommending that all Americans within fifty miles of the nuclear power station evacuate the area. That…

What does a melted nuclear core look like?

One of the most useful ways to overcome fear of the unknown is to gain knowledge about the source of the fear. There have been a lot of scary sounding reports recently about the state of the nuclear fuel cores inside the pressure vessels at Fukushima Daiichi units 1, 2, and 3. Many of them…

Challenging New York Academy of Sciences to repudiate “Chernobyl Consequences”

Challenging New York Academy of Sciences to repudiate “Chernobyl Consequences”

On the 25th anniversary of the explosion that destroyed unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power station, Ralph Nader published a commentary in which he strongly supported the book titled Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment. As part of his opinion piece, he made the following statement: “Dr. Yablokov, you are…

“Chernobyl” – 25 years as a profitable brand

Twenty-five years ago today, the operators at unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power station violated enough procedures and by-passed enough safety systems to cause their water-cooled, graphite-moderated reactor to suffer a nuclear power excursion large enough to cause a steam explosion. The force of that steam explosion was strong enough to lift the lid…

Opportunities and challenges: Cleaning up Fukushima Daiichi

Opportunities and challenges: Cleaning up Fukushima Daiichi

Though there is still a lot of work to do in completely stabilizing the situation at Fukushima Daiichi, and that effort is not made any easier by the strong aftershocks that continue to occur, it is not too early to begin thinking about ways to assist in the long term effort to ensure public safety….

Fukushima Nuclear Accident – Exceptional Summary by Murray E. Miles

My friends who are naval aviators have a saying that seems appropriate here – “tis easier to seek forgiveness than to ask permission.” For the past couple of days, I have been trying to ask permission to publish the below speech text, but have been unable to make contact with the originator. I will keep…