ANS Nuclear Cafe

August 10, 2018, marks the 100th birthday of one of the great men in nuclear power: Vice Admiral Eugene P. "Dennis" Wilkinson USN. He passed away in July 2013, a month before his 95th birthday.

In this final installment of the series on pool reactors we'll take a look at some remarkable images found in a 1956 brochure which shows some of the steps of the process in constructing the Ford Nuclear Reactor and attendant facilities at the University of Michigan.  Under the leadership of Babcock & Wilcox (today, BWXT) this 1000 KWt facility was constructed in about 19 months.  Reviewing the previous article in this series will be helpful in relating the construction photos.

In 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) [1] successfully touched down on the Red Planet. Aptly named Curiosity, it brought with it scientific discovery instruments and exploration capabilities that only a nuclear-powered rover could realistically possess.

Control Room, Naval Research Reactor, circa 1958.

In the previous installment, we observed that some of the earliest pool reactors incorporated their instrumentation right on the moving bridge which supported the reactor core.  As reactors increased in size and power and as exposure was considered, control was moved off the bridge onto the floor and then often into a control room (as seen above) in later designs.  These control rooms could either be at operating floor height with direct view of the reactor, or separate in another area of the facility.

Please click to watch the video. "Energy to Feed the World: Nuclear Power vs Meat"

From Part I, we learned that everything takes energy, and that removing steps in the energy conversion process can save energy. We even that there is potential to grow food directly with electricity. The question that arises from those suppositions is: how close are we to that reality?

Yesterday, I was reading an old (1970's) brochure published by ASEA-ATOM on district heating reactors.  While looking at that material I remembered that now, today, there is at least one effort afoot today to use a simple pool reactor for district heating - a pretty sharp idea, actually.  However, following that and spurred by a conversation on social media with Jessica Lovering, it occurred to me that the lowly pool type reactor, often the first kind of reactor many students have historically encountered in their trip through the nuclear universe, has not been given its due.  With that in mind, let's take a look at pool reactors through historic photos and materials.

Be sure to read the July Nuclear News president's profile - John Kelly: From Motor City to the Capital City

Be sure to read the July Nuclear News president's profile - John Kelly: From Motor City to the Capital City

I am honored and energized to serve as the 64th pres­ident of the American Nuclear Society. I was born in March 1954 and ANS was founded in December 1954. While I am a few months older, we are both in our 64th year, and I believe our destinies have been closely intertwined from the beginning. Even though I knew in high school that I would be an engi­neer, it was not until I entered the University of Michigan in 1972 that I learned about the tremendous promise of nuclear science and technology to improve the lives of everyone on Earth. I have never had second thoughts about my choice of nuclear engineering, even though the Three Mile Island accident occurred 18 months before I received my Ph.D. from MIT. I want to thank all my colleagues, both here in the United States and around the world, who have inspired me, supported me, and validated my decision to enter the nuclear field. I especial­ly want to thank my colleagues in the Nuclear Installations Safety Division for giving me the opportunity to serve the Society both within the division and now as president.

By James Conca

Please click to watch the video. "Energy to Feed the World: Nuclear Power vs Meat"

We all know about Calories. Often, for people on a diet, Calories are the enemy. They're a measure of how much energy is in food (and are a harsh reminder that you shouldn't have eaten that extra Oreo!). Food contains energy, and often quite a lot of it, but that amount pales in comparison to how much energy it takes to create the food. Grains like wheat and corn require months of sunlight (energy), and large amounts of water and fertilizers to grow. Cows eat those grains, and we (happily) eat the cows. That's energy powering tractors to till the soil, energy powering factories to produce the fertilizer, energy to treat the water, energy to grow the grains, and energy to feed the cow. That's not to mention that crops grown in soil require pesticides to protect them from bugs and other organisms.

July 21 will bring with it another anniversary of the 1959 launching (shown above) of the only US-built nuclear powered commercial ship, the NS SAVANNAH.  We've covered the ship fairly well here at ANS Nuclear Cafe over the years, so perhaps it's time for a story about the ship that's practically unknown.  Did you know SAVANNAH was pioneering in another way .. with respect to uprates?  That's right.  The nuclear plant on SAVANNAH was uprated!

This week's ANS Nuclear Cafe Friday Matinee is an excellent, professional and very modern video tour of the renowned MIT reactor facility.  This entertaining video was produced in an extremely up-to-date style sure to take you in - so don't start watching it unless you have about 18 minutes to sit back and enjoy it.

Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, courtesy China General Nuclear Power Group

Long awaited news came today that at 17:59 hours local time, the Taishan-1 EPR nuclear plant connected to the grid for the first time.  This makes Taishan-1 not only the first EPR to load fuel anywhere (despite having been the third unit to start construction after units at Flamanville, France and Olkiluoto, Finland) but now also the first to operate its steam plant and close its output breakers.

by Will Davis, from the American Nuclear Society 2018 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia

ANS President Bob Coward

If you walked around the palatial Philadelphia venue of the 2018 American Nuclear Society Annual Meeting and bumped into outgoing ANS President Bob Coward or, for that matter, attended one of a number of sessions there, you might have heard him quote exactly, to the hour, how much time he had left as the ANS President.  Not that he was eager to leave - in fact, it seemed as if Coward was marking how much time he had left to continue to make an impact.

I was intrigued this morning to read that StarCore Nuclear, a startup in Canada that's focusing on small, independent nuclear plants to provide a spectrum product (power, water, heat) had been - it is reported - in negotiation to provide an African nation with not less than twenty-three nuclear plants.  This audacious plan at first brush sounds incredible, but it's in the details that the wisdom is found and, in fact, perhaps the model for Small Modular Reactors (SMR's) to really break through into the world's broader market for power.

According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), World Environment Day (WED) occurs on the 5th of June every year, and is the United Nation's principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of our environment.

Illustration of NS SAVANNAH from Launch Ceremony Brochure in Will Davis' collection.

Observers were startled to learn in March that the Omnibus Spending Bill had included, in the budget for the U.S. Maritime Administration, the complete estimated amount required to perform the nuclear decommissioning of America's only commercial nuclear powered vessel, the NS SAVANNAH.  While there had been some funding toward beginning the process in a previous year's budget, the provision of the full amount - not specifically requested by MARAD - was a surprise.

Podcast at RadioNuclear is today's Matinee.