Carnival of Nuclear Energy 125

1. ANS Nuclear Cafe has “Uranium 233 is a valuable resource, no matter what Robert Alvarez believes”

Robert Alvarez has issued a misleading report that portrays Uranium 233 as a hazardous stockpile, somehow putting the world at risk of a rogue group obtaining a nuclear weapons capability. And the US Department of Energy is currently planning to spend nearly half a billion dollars to get rid of the United States’ carefully protected U-233 resources.

Rod Adams at the ANS Nuclear Cafe explains that Uranium 233 is actually a potent energy resource, and a resource that could become even more valuable the more it is used — if put to its highest and best purpose as the seed for an expansive program of thermal spectrum breeder reactors. Uranium 233 is also a life-saving resource for medical isotopes, as related in the article’s comment thread. Uranium 233 is
definitely not just an expensive “waste product”.

2. ANS Nuclear Cafe has Japan’s launch of a nuclear safety agency

Japan’s new independent nuclear safety agency began operating on September 19. And, like seemingly everything nuclear-related in Japan right now, its future is already clouded by controversy.

Dan Yurman profiles this new agency, which will guide the restart of the nation’s nuclear reactors after issuing and applying its own safety rules, along with an overview of the ongoing nuclear politics broiling in Japan.

3. Robert Hayes at Newsok explains X-rays

The origin of x-rays is in atomic energy levels. Now don’t be scared off by that terminology, atomic energy levels are no more difficult than the floor levels in a building in a sense so please let me explain. As you go up higher in a building with a weight you intend to drop off that building, the higher you go from the ground, the more potential energy that weight would have if you were to drop it off the side of the building. Double the height, you double that potential energy in the weight when dropped off the building side.

4.Yes Vermont Yankee has Three Pro-Nuclear Events: Hearing, Marches and Rallies in Tennessee, Canada and Japan.

In this post at Yes Vermont Yankee, Meredith Angwin describes public pro-nuclear activities world-wide. She also provides a link for an easy pro-nuclear activity for everyone: you can vote in a Wall Street Journal poll on the future of nuclear energy.

5. Canadian Energy Issues has Nuclear “waste” is a solution to major public health problems.

The current beef-E. Coli scare in Canada has escalated into a major federal political issue. This could have been totally and easily prevented, had the beef producer, XL Foods, protected the meat with gamma energy. Canada, the world pioneer in the use of gamma energy for cancer treatment, possesses huge amounts of valuable gamma-emitting isotopes in its inventory of used nuclear fuel, and this country is the world’s largest producer of cobalt-60, another gamma emitter. Steve Aplin argues that the Canadian government needs to support the greater uptake of this cheap and effective method of protecting the national food supply, and should also support the use of isotopes to ensure the safety of water and sewage systems.

6. Atomic Power Review has San Onofre- Latest Details and Background Information.

Will Davis presents the most recent press release from SCE on the conditions of the steam generators at San Onofre. Included are many details not only on the problems encountered and the reasons for them, but also on the testing and restart plan for Unit 2. The post also includes three background links in order to allow new readers to come up to speed on this issue quickly.

7. Nextbigfuture – The Japan Electric Power Development Corp (J-Power) will resume construction of the Ohma nuclear power plant in Aomori prefecture. It will be the first Japanese nuclear construction project to restart since all such projects were suspended following the Fukushima accident.

Work to build the 1383 MWe (gross) Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) in Aomori prefecture was 40% complete in March 2011 when a tsunami caused the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co’s (Tepco’s) Fukushima Daiichi plant. An extended hiatus followed, during which Japan developed a new energy strategy.

8. Hiroshima Syndrome has Japan’s Nuclear Information Library Closed by Tokyo

One of Japan’s few sources of rational nuclear information has been eliminated! Does the government want the ultimate nuclear energy decision to be made based on political rhetoric, innuendo and groundless rumors? It seems that they do, and the people of Japan are the ones who will suffer the consequences.

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