Cheerful News for a Beautiful Evening: Japan, Larry Smith of Entergy, and EPR Video from Areva

News from Japan: Japan Restarts Two Reactors

According to USA Today, Japan will almost certainly start two reactors this weekend.  The mayor of the local town signed off on the plan.  Read about the restart of the two Ohi reactors here.

Brattleboro Reformer article about Larry Smith, Vermont Yankee spokesman

Josh Stilts of the Brattleboro Reformer has a thoughtful, wonderful article about Larry Smith, Vermont Yankee spokesman. Smith is retiring at the end of this week. The article describes Smith's hungry early days and his later work to set up Feed the Thousands in Brattleboro. It also describes the stresses of being spokesman for Vermont Yankee. Smith had a stress-related stroke in 2007. As Entergy spokesman, he has been called "Larry the Liar of Louisiana" (and worse).  Smith regains perspective through his charitable work: serving meals or working at Feed the Thousands

This is a terrific article. It's much more complete than my recent blog post about Larry named as Man of the Year by the Brattleboro Chamber of Commerce. From this article, it is clear why Governor Shumlin said that Larry Smith has done more for those in need than anyone in this state.

Areva Advanced Reactor Video

Areva is building four EPRs around the world, in Finland, France and China.  I'm not glossing over the fact that the European builds are behind on budget and schedule. Still, these are the first Gen III's to be built.  Reactors with these types of safety feature will be part of the future of nuclear energy.

Areva just prepared a video about EPR safety features.  I think it is worth watching.

67th Carnival of Nuclear Energy is Up at Next Big Future

The 67th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up at Next Big Future.

As I personally get ready for a tropical storm, I am happy to see so much good news in this Carnival. I have a light-hearted post on nuclear communication at ANS blog (and a somewhat heavier one about Shumlin's view of decommissioning), Margaret Harding talks about "Natural Disasters Week" (earthquake and hurricane on the East Coast, both in one week) and how the nuclear plants have demonstrated resilience and safety. It's not just a feel-good post; it's basically about risk assessment. Rod Adams explains why, post-Fukushima, nuclear is still the energy of the future. Adams also features a video everyone should see: young journalists in Japan investigating why Western journalists ignored thousands of tsunami deaths and wrote the stories their editors wanted: "Radiation Danger!"

Will Davis writes a great article on the East Coast earthquake, and all the plants that were affected or not-affected. Everyone appreciates Davis sane approach to the world of nuclear! Brian Wang discusses why stopping nuclear energy (mostly, a Northern European trend) is not economical or ecological. He also reports on the uranium production in Kazakhstan, which goes higher every year. Finally, Gail Marcus describes several pieces of good news, all in one week, and all in one blog post. The TVA board approved the completion of Bellefonte, the first restart of a nuclear reactor in Japan since the tsunami, the completion of NRC safety evaluations of Summer 2 and 3, and a poll about Indian Point which was pro-Indian Point. (Not surprising. Nuclear opponents are vocal, but not a majority!)

It's a sweet carnival! Thanks to Brian Wang. Visit the Carnival!

Vermont, Canada and the World: Dr. Andy Cook on Energy Choices

Recently, I was complaining to a friend about the amount of time it takes to fuss with a presentation and get it right. I am trying to get my slide show (more or less, my Putney School slide show) ready to post on the web. My friend asked if I had seen the Andy Cook videos; he thought they might be helpful to me.

I was aware that Vermont Yankee has its own YouTube channel. When I went to the channel, though, it took me a moment to find the Andy Cook videos. Apparently, Dr. Cook gave this presentation about Vermont's Energy Future at Vermont Yankee sometime last summer. It is posted on YouTube in three parts. The video contains a wide-ranging overview of world energy needs, the use of fossil energy, Vermont/ Canadian relationships, and the role of Vermont Yankee.

Dr. Andrew Cook

Dr. Andrew Cook is a vice-president at AREVA. He grew up in Canada. Cook went to graduate school at M.I.T. in nuclear engineering at the same time Howard Shaffer was a graduate student. (I have never met Dr. Cook.) Cook now lives in Maine and is a citizen of the United States. He is an avid hiker and outdoorsman.

I decided to embed these videos in my blog today because I found them very informative on areas I rarely cover . For example, Cook describes the effect of the James Bay project on Canada. He also explains how the big things we hear about (the BP spill for example) are not one-offs, but part of an on-going set of predictable accidents.

I hope you enjoy the videos.

37th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs Plus Areva!

The Blog Carnival

The 37th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is up now at Idaho Samizdat. As usual, Dan Yurman has done a masterful job of putting it together. It's a real feast this time, partially because there were so many terrific blogs during National Nuclear Science Week.

Rod Adams of Atomic Insights explains how a paid-off older nuclear plant can make electricity that might indeed, be too cheap to meter. He notes that this can anger the proponents of competing technologies! I describe Gwyneth Cravens visit to Vermont in two blog posts, including one with a video of her Sheraton Economic Series talk in Burlington. CoolHandNuke outlines Canada's interest in small modular reactors, while Ulrich Decher of ANS Nuclear Cafe analyzes the economic and carbon footprint of a wind turbine. (Hint: think about the back-up power.) Next Big Future talks about nuclear growth world-wide, and notes that Flexblue underwater nuclear reactors is targeting a prototype date of 2013 and a commercial date as soon as 2016. Nuclear Green shreds a British report that recommends energy rationing instead of nuclear power.

The host blog, Idaho Samizdat, pays homage to the Challenger deaths, and to all the other deaths of those who have sacrificed their lives to move knowledge, technology and science forward. To move human life forward. The Samizdat post reminds me of the motto of my alma mater, University of Chicago. Crescat scientia; vita excolatur "Let knowledge grow from more to more; and so be human life enriched."

A Personal Story Of Nuclear Medicine

My favorite post from the Carnival is Nuclear Fissionary's Jack Gamble's personal story of being treated with radioactive iodine for Graves' disease. He works in a nuclear plant, and had to take extensive leave from work because he would set off the alarms after being treated. Then he came back to work, and, as he describes it:

21 days after the treatment, I decided enough time had passed since I-131 has an 8 day half life. It was time to go back to work. Of course, when I got to the gate, I was greeted by the klaxon of area radiation monitors protesting my entry into the plant. When a radiation protection technician, otherwise known as Rad Pro, came out to assess my condition, it turned out that my neck was giving off 3 millirem per hour of radiation. To put that in perspective, if you were to stand next to me for 20 minutes, you would have received as much radiation as the people who lived near Three Mile Island in 1979 during the partial meltdown (an entirely harmless amount of radiation).

He comments:

Now consider the fact that nearly 30 days after receiving a relatively routine amount of medical radiation, I was too radioactive to get INTO a nuclear power plant and yet five minutes after taking the pill I was allowed to walk right out the front door of the hospital. There were no men in yellow bubble suits that tackled me to the ground and dragged me to a decontamination shower. There was no EPA at my house declaring it a disaster area even though I left a trail of contamination everywhere I went.

Now consider that antinuclear activists are up in arms over a mere few thousand picocuries of tritium at Vermont Yankee even though none of it will ever make its way to their tap water. ....Now ask yourself why those fanatics are not standing in front of every hospital in the country with their ridiculous picket signs.

Areva: Energy, the Story That is Still Being Written

The Areva website currently hosts the most amazing 60 second video, showing energy use from slavery in Egypt through coal and finally, on to nuclear and wind and solar. The music and graphics are astounding and inspiring. Worth more than 60 seconds of your time! (I have watched it about four times already.)

Come to the Carnival. Have fun! Learn stuff! See the power of Energy!

The Carousel image is my own photograph of the main square at Avignon. The University of Chicago seal, through Wikipedia, is fair use for identifying University of Chicago. The thyroid gland graphic is from Wikipedia.