• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast
  • Archives

Atomic Insights

Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

Atomic Show #181 – The Year After Fukushima (Part 2)

March 13, 2012 By Rod Adams Leave a Comment

There was so much to talk about regarding the way that the world responded to the great north east Japan earthquake and tsunami – and the subsequent damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station that I gathered a second group of people in the evening of Sunday March 11, 2012.

This group included

Will Davis, whose Atomic Power Review became one of the most respected and informative English language sites on the web for up to date data about the events at the power station.

Laura Scheele, a professional staff member of the American Nuclear Society who helped to match real, qualified experts with media requests and who helped to turn the ANS Nuclear Cafe blog into a new aggregator for both ANS members and the public.

Cal Abel, a Nuclear Engineering PhD student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Cal is also a former submarine engineer officer and a member of a family owned construction business. When he saw the futile attempts to fill used fuel pools from helicopters flying over the plant, he told himself there had to be a better way. Within hours he had figured out that the concrete pumper trucks that his wife’s construction business uses to precisely direct concrete into forms as the part of building tall buildings would work perfectly to deliver water to elevated fuel pools.

He worked his contact networks and convinced his advisors at Georgia Tech that he knew what he was talking about. Within 24 hours, his idea was being discussed on NPR and within 48 hours there were concrete pumper trucks on the Fukushima Daiichi site refilling the used fuel pools and restoring their ability to provide shielding to the used fuel.

You can hear the first group discussion by visiting the following link Atomic Show #180 – The Year After Fukushima (Part 1).

To my great regret, technology failed and prevented the participation of Margaret Harding, the former GE manager who put her 30+ years of experience with boiling water reactor engineering to good use by serving as a calming, rational voice in the mainstream media.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/AtomicShowFiles/tpn_atomic_20120311_181.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:29 — 30.0MB)

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

Filed Under: Natural disasters, Podcast

About Rod Adams

Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You have to agree to the comment policy.



Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Categories

Join Rod’s pronuclear network

Join Rod's pronuclear network by completing this form. Let us know what your specific interests are.

Recent Comments

  • Jon Grams on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • Eino on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • James R. Baerg on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • David on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • Rod Adams on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked

Follow Atomic Insights

The Atomic Show

Atomic Insights

Recent Posts

Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked

Nuclear energy growth prospects and secure uranium supplies

Nucleation Capital’s Earth Day in Atherton

Atomic Show #296 – Julia Pyke, Director of Finance Sizewell C

Solar’s dirty secrets: How solar power hurts people and the planet

  • Home
  • About Atomic Insights
  • Atomic Show
  • Contact
  • Links

Search Atomic Insights

Archives

Copyright © 2022 · Atomic Insights

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy