Continued from Monday, June 20

Over the past year or so, there has been a lot of buzz about small modular reactors (SMRs). These are reactors whose electrical output ranges anywhere from ~25 MW to ~300 MW, as compared with over 1000 MW for large "conventional" nuclear power plants. With SMRs, the entire reactor (or possibly the entire nuclear island-NSSS) could be built in a factory and shipped to the site. Any site construction would be much more limited, and would only involve the (non-nuclear) balance of plant. Descriptions of some proposed SMRs can be found here, here and here.

Perhaps one of the more enduring cartoons that relates to the quality of information on the Internet is the one that states, "On the Internet no one knows you are a dog." It shows a drawing of two dogs sitting in front of a computer terminal. Unfortunately, the cartoon is copyrighted material so it can't be reposted here, but you can see it here along with many variations. The point of the cartoon is that words and images on the screen can come from anywhere and anyone.Clearing up misconceptions and outright falsehoods about nuclear energy since the March 11 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami is getting more attention these days. Problems range from not mainstream journalists not understanding the technical issues to people who are publicity crazed fear mongers out to get their face on a video.

The June issue of Nuclear News has been published and is available in hard copy and electronically to American Nuclear Society members (click here-log-in required).

It's not the same as selling donuts, cars, or promoting sports entertainment

A typical description of what happens when you're "exposed to radiation" sounds scary-a gamma ray slams into a cell! Sounds like something you wouldn't want to have happen very often.

Become an ANS Facebook Friend

Any time I'm having trouble getting actual work done, I like to barge in on other people and make it harder for them to work too. That's why I was over at Rerouted River National Laboratory the other day, hanging out in the office of somebody who insists that I refer to him as "Dr. N." This used to be his way of keeping me from jeopardizing his job by writing about what he actually says, but now he's also a big-time blogger, with scads of Twitter groupies who know him only as "Dr. N." So now, if I were to point out that his real name is Barlow Culbertson and he never got a doctorate, it probably wouldn't create a ripple in the blogosphere; he's much too cool as "Dr. N" for his first-life persona to matter to anyone.

Fireworks ahead over Yucca Mountain

The 56th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up at NEI Nuclear Notes

Radura symbol used for irradiated food in the United States

The use of food irradiation has expanded globally during the past decade and is gaining renewed momentum as a steadily increasing amount of irradiated food enters commercial channels in the United States and worldwide. Although irradiated fruits, vegetables, and poultry have been available commercially since the early 1990s, the introduction of irradiated ground beef by Huisken Meat Company in Minnesota during 2000 significantly increased awareness and interest in the technology.

Yurman

In the weeks and months following the events at the Fukushima plant in Japan, the American Nuclear Society's Social Media listserv has become a headquarters for sharing information, ideas, and strategies about how to combat misinformation about nuclear energy. This active forum is facilitated by Dan Yurman, who through this effort has opened a new door for collaboration between communicators from all corners of the nuclear community. Many on this list have voiced concerns that the industry response to Fukushima has not yet managed to transition from defensive to offensive, in terms of public outreach.

Colvin

On Tuesday, June 7, ANS President Joe Colvin testified about legislation pertaining to Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) before the U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee.  The committee hearing  began at 10:00 am Eastern Time. A live Webcast was available via the committee's Web site (see "Live Webcast" on the left menu).  An archive video will be available shortly after the hearing is complete.

The Young Members Group of the American Nuclear Society is accepting nominations for the two YMG national awards. Each award will be presented at the ANS Winter Conference.

Japan Steel Works large forging of a reactor pressure vessel

This week there is continuing news from Fukushima, but there are also a diverse set of posts on nuclear energy topics. The 55th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is online now at Yes Vermont Yankee.

About 35 percent of current nuclear workers will retire in next five years. Where will the next generation come from?

Deadlines are approaching for the opportunity to take the 2011 Nuclear Professional Engineer (PE) National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) examination, required by all state registration boards for a PE license. The next administration of the NCEES/ANS Nuclear Engineers exam will be October 28, 2011.

Today is the 100th anniversary of the publishing of Ernest Rutherford's revolutionary article, "The Scattering of α and β Particles by Matter and the Structure of the Atom," which appeared in Philosophical Magazine (Series 6 21: 669-688). In the article, Rutherford explained his astonishing and profound discovery that atoms consist of a small and dense nucleus surrounded by electrons.

There is more going on in the world of nuclear energy than the Fukushima crisis

The American Nuclear Society's 2011 Annual Conference-Seizing the Opportunity: Nuclear's Bright Future-will take place June 26-30 in Hollywood, Fla. Discount registration is available through June 3.

In a previous article from January-Fitting Wind onto the Electricity Grid-I presented the advantages and disadvantages of promoting wind power. The conclusion was that there were some advantages, but they were far outweighed by the disadvantages. The reason for having so many wind turbines on the grid is, I said, that it is motivated by politics, not by environmental or economic needs. In this article, I will further explore the reasons why wind turbines are being placed on the grid. In order to do that, I take a look at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a federal agency based in the Pacific Northwest, and the California Independent System Operator (ISO) balancing system.