SIR (Submarine Intermediate Reactor) as shown in Bechtel Corporation advertisement, in Will Davis' library.

The now-obscure and thick "Atoms for Peace Manual" published in 1955 by the U.S. Government Printing Office (and presented by Senator Alexander Wiley) contains, near its end, a curious and also now-obscure event in atomic energy history:  The first commercial sale of atomic-generated electricity.  And thereby hangs a tale.

Lost to us now- the Kewaunee Nuclear Plant, shut down permanently in May, 2013.

This week, the American Nuclear Society (ANS) announced the approval and publication of its latest position statement, which addresses the existential threat faced by the nation's commercial nuclear power plants.

There's talk in some circles these days about selecting fossil-fueled power plants and adding nuclear reactors to them in order to "repower" them without emissions.  One early example, the Saxton Experimental Reactor, is seen above in a photo from my collection*. There are some important things to think about before this is tried on a plant; here are five things to consider:

[embed]https://youtu.be/Kco8nLWMfO0[/embed]

The sealing membrane for the new Chernobyl enclosure has been delivered to the site. Photo courtesy SSE ChNPP.

1. The Chernobyl Accident Wasn't a Nuclear Explosion. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant reactor no. 4 in April 1986 did destroy the reactor itself as well as the roof of the reactor building, but the explosive forces involved were, first, a steam explosion inside the complex reactor, followed almost immediately by a hydrogen gas explosion similar to those that occurred at Fukushima. No "nuclear yield" was involved-the forces were, instead, explosive expansion of steam and chemical.

On April 12, executives of SCANA Corporation and South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G)-two of the owners of the V.C. Summer nuclear plant expansion, which is presently in progress adding two Westinghouse AP1000 units to the older, existing unit on site-delivered an ex parte briefing to the Public Service Commission (PSC) of South Carolina. The information given was quite detailed, but we present the major points here to expand on our coverage of the Westinghouse reorganization.

By Paul Menser

This week's matinee is a documentary of sorts, set to music, showing the decommissioning process undertaken at the former Yankee Atomic Electric plant at Rowe, Massachusetts.  The heavy work to remove the power plant from the site stretched from 2003 to 2007, and much of it is shown in this several section video set to music.  The video is entertaining, but also quite instructive.

Editor's note: The ANS Nuclear Cafe is proud to feature 

The dawn of the atomic energy age had only just broken in 1954 when representatives of the major electric utility companies of New England met to form a new venture.  On the very next day after President Dwight Eisenhower signed the (amended) Atomic Energy Act of 1954, these representatives launched, in their first meeting, the consortium that would build one of the most successful early nuclear plants of them all.  This plant was to be owned by a generating company, not a utility, and would sell atomic generated electricity to the component owner-members.  The company would soon be named the Yankee Atomic Electric Company and would set a precedent for several following "Yankee" plants.

Today's short video shows the emission of radiation in a cloud chamber. Enjoy!

By Will Davis

While I was watching the Third Way Advanced Nuclear Summit on February 21, a wide range of topics was also being discussed on Twitter related to the various sessions. One of the things that was brought up was the large number of private companies and universities now engaged in the development of advanced reactors. It occurred to me-and I said as much on Twitter-that some consolidation of the industry was unavoidable. In fact, it's probably necessary. There's historical precedent for it.

by Linda Zec

Georgia Power has released the Fourth Quarter 2016 "Vogtle Timeline" video, detailing progress at the site where two new AP1000 nuclear units are being constructed.  This video is just under ten minutes and is a solid addition to this well-received documentary series.

The 347th Edition of the Nuclear Blogger Carnival is featured this week at ANS Nuclear Cafe.  This traveling attraction showcases the best of today's nuclear energy and technology writers.  Brief abstracts of the posts are found below with links to the full posts at their original sites.

A number of media sources reported last week, and continue to report this week, that "radiation levels are soaring" at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan and that radiation levels have reached levels that unnamed "experts" are finding "unimaginable." All of these claims are demonstrably false.

It is time for the ANS Friday Nuclear Matinee. Watch TEPCO, the operator of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, use a camera probe inside the containment vessel of the No. 2 reactor.

Artist's concept of floating SMR nuclear power plant. Courtesy China General Nuclear

Announcements coming this week from China's big nuclear energy firms hint that the the Chinese government may have launched a focused initiative to broaden the manufacturing base for floating nuclear power plants. On January 23, it was reported that China General Nuclear (CGN) had signed an agreement with China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) to develop floating nuclear power plants. It was announced on January 25 that CGN had also signed agreements with the other of the two large Chinese shipbuilding firms, China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC.) These agreements follow the year-old original agreement between CGN and CSIC that will lead to the construction of a single prototype floating power plant.

The recent announcement by NuScale Power that it had applied for the first ever NRC Design Certification to be considered for a small modular reactor (SMR) has put this class of nuclear reactor again in the fore. Many observers have noted that the NuScale design is "integral," with all significant primary components inside the same vessel. In fact, these two things-integral reactors, and SMRs, are two different things, although either may also be the other. While the application for the NuScale reactor certainly is the first SMR application in the United States, the Integral Pressurized Water Reactor (iPWR) dates back to nearly the start of commercial nuclear energy-and its heritage is at sea.