48th Carnival of Nuclear Energy: ANS Nuclear Cafe

ANS Nuclear Cafe is hosting the 48th Carnival of Nuclear Blogs (via NextBigFuture). Some excerpts are published below:


Idaho Samizdat – Dan Yurman
Decommissioning plans at Fukushima must wait for stable reactor conditions, The world’s biggest nuclear energy firms are lining up with proposals to clean up a historically huge radioactive mess at the Fukushima, Japan, reactor site. There six reactors in various degrees of damaged condition are presenting new engineering challenges on a daily basis punctuated by earthquake aftershocks and the continuing threat of new tsunamis.
At the same time, the Japanese and U.S. news media are publishing stories about the early stages of the crisis which may partially explain why NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko issued a call for Americans to evacuate to a distance of 50 miles from the site.
Idaho Samizdat – guest blog post by Jacques Besnainou, CEO, Areva Inc.
I am writing this essay today as a frustrated and fed up reader of nuclear-related stories originated by anti-nuclear organizations. While most recent reporting on the Fukushima reactors has been fair, some quite admirable, the coverage of MOX (mixed oxide) nuclear fuel has been mostly inaccurate and filled with half-truths.
As you may know, one of the reactors at Fukushima used MOX fuel. So what? The situation in Japan was not related to MOX fuel nor has its presence worsened the situation.
Next Big Future – Brian Wang
No deaths from radiation at Fukushima
The Register UK – The total non-story of the Fukushima nuclear power plant “disaster” – which has seen and will see no deaths or measurable health consequences for anyone anywhere – has received a shot in the arm today with the news that Japanese authorities have upgraded the incident to a Level 7 on the nuclear accident scale.
Fukushima at Level 7 on INES scale
Fukushima was raised to level 7 the same category as Chernobyl but Chernobyl had10 to 100 times more radiation. Japan raised the severity rating at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to level 7, the most serious on the international scale and the same rating that was given 25 years ago to Chernobyl, as aftershocks close to the facility heighten safety concerns.
The level 7 designation was made “provisionally,” and a final level won’t be set until the disaster is over and a more detailed investigation has been conducted. The previous event level of 5, equal to the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, was also a provisional designation.
NEI Nuclear Notes
Nuclear Energy Workers in Japan and the U.S.
“First things first: nuclear workers in the United States, both employed by the plants and by contractors, are highly trained for their duties – no farmers plucked from their fields, no gangster-hires. Additionally, the safety culture implemented at plants applies to all workers, so any safety issue that arises can (really, must) be reported.”
Advances in nuclear safety – video from Idaho National Laboratory
Idaho National Laboratory’s Director John Grossenbacher explains how the U.S. nuclear industry has boosted its safety procedures as a result of the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident in 1979 and how the industry plans to use current events at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plants to further enhance safety.
....
Yes Vermont Yankee – Meredith Angwin
Fukushima Oversimplified and Simplified – This Yes Vermont Yankee post tracks the evolution of our understanding of radiation sources and levels/ The journey took us from chaos, to oversimplification, and finally, at this point, to some level of clarity.
ANS Nuclear Cafe
...
At the act of creation – Susie Hobbs
The nuclear crisis in Japan will undoubtedly change the nuclear industry forever. Due to the ongoing efforts of so many nuclear professionals and supporters, I am beginning to think that it will be a change for the better. Innovative technologies and creative outreach are already positively impacting the way we think about energy in America and around the world.

As the lessons from Fukushima are being learned and applied, other approaches to nuclear power continue to be pursued, such as small modular nuclear reactors, low energy nuclear reactions, large and small fusion reactors of multiple types, and more esoteric forms of energy which probably will never work out, but may actually change the world.  No one knows, because humans are typically highly fearful, shite-throwing monkeys who tend to huddle in dark corners for security.

It is clear from the mainstream reactions to Fukushima, that not everyone is capable of waking up. Most people do not even want to wake up, they are too comfortable sleeping. That may be the most important lesson to learn from the world's reaction to Japan's sad experience.