LLAW’s ‘All Things Nuclear’ #458 (11/22/2023)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

NOV 22, 2023

Share

LLAW’s COMMENTARY:

“The Day After”? Tonight is TV movie watching night, so I’m providing a link to this nuclear-war and human reaction story from 1983 that is recently getting a lot of media time, for anyone who wants to watch it.

What would nuclear war, or a hypothetical Doomsday really be like, and how would the general public react? I don’t think anyone really knows, but I think it would be world(s) of difference than anything we’ve seen or even dreamed of before. I have not seen this movie, but I will watch it tonight. If anyone cares, I will offer my personal review of it tomorrow evening . . . ~llaw

Here is the link to watch it on You Tube:

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Iyy9n8r16hs?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0


ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category. There are no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this Post. If a category heading does not appear, it means there was no news reported from this category today.

(Just a reminder: When linked, the access to the media story will be underlined. If there is no link to a media story of interest you can still copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking. Hopefully this will never happen.)

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS:

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Here’s What’s Going Wrong in the US Offshore Wind Industry | Odd Lots – YouTube

YouTube

The effort to decarbonize the US electricity grid involves a range of technologies and power sources. Solar is part of the solution, nuclear may …

Nuclear Film Heists and Heroes Make For Apathy on the Weapons Themselves – Inkstick

Inkstick Media

As diverse as the plotlines of these nuclear films are, they all reaffirm a similar notion: exceptionalism. … about their ability to make a difference …

North Korea says it successfully launched a spy satellite. Did Russia play a role? – NHPR

NHPR

Weekend All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:00 PM Live from the Word Barn … nuclear crisis and the Fukushima earthquake and nuclear disaster. See …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Termination of NuScale’s first small modular nuclear reactor plant won’t affect Virginia’s …

Cardinal News

NuScale Power Corp. earlier this month pulled the plug on its U.S. SMR project. The termination of the first small modular nuclear reactor power plant …

Wyoming nuclear plant on track despite industry setback, developer says

The Sheridan Press

Factors that led to the recent demise of a “small modular reactor” energy project in Utah do not directly apply to TerraPower’s nuclear energy …

IAEA says Zaporizhzhia unit 5 switched to cold shutdown – World Nuclear News

World Nuclear News

The International Atomic Energy Agency says the fifth unit at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is switching from hot to cold shutdown to allow …

Nuclear War

NEWS

When Hollywood Put World War III on Television – The Atlantic

The Atlantic

The ABC made-for-television movie The Day After premiered on November 20, 1983. It changed the way many Americans thought about nuclear war—but …

What Would It Mean to ‘Absorb’ a Nuclear Attack? – Scientific American

Scientific American

The missiles on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota make it a potential target for a nuclear attack. And that doesn’t come close to …

The Russian nuclear industry during wartime, 2022 and early 2023 – Bellona.org

Bellona.org

In the early days of the war, Moscow’s troops marched into Chernobyl, site of the world’s worst nuclear accident and now the host of numerous …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Update 195 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

International Atomic Energy Agency

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is transitioning its reactor … “We look forward to observing the emergency response exercise at the …

Portland nuclear power startup NuScale hit with investor lawsuit – OPB

Oregon Public Broadcasting

They are touted as being safer than traditional nuclear power plants in part because emergencies are easier to contain. Small modular reactors …

IAEA says Zaporizhzhia unit 5 switched to cold shutdown – World Nuclear News

World Nuclear News

… Atomic Energy Agency says the fifth unit at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant … plant are also set to observe the plant’s planned emergency …

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

Ukraine war latest: Russia using ‘hybrid warfare tactic’ against Finland – Sky News

Sky News

Russia appears to be using a “known hybrid warfare tactic” in an attempt to create a migrant crisis on the Finnish border, it has been suggested.

Bitumen the answer to Alberta’s energy woes – Yahoo News Canada

Yahoo News Canada

The reasons time is running out: threat of nuclear weapon use from Russia, biological threats and disease outbreaks, cyber-crimes, and of course, …

Iran’s Nuclear Program, a Rising Threat to Global Security – Jerusalem Studio | TV7 Israel News

Jerusalem Studio | TV7 Israel News

… Threat to Global Security : Israel at War – Jerusalem Studio 814. The massacre perpetrated by the Iran-backed Hamas murderers on October 7 and the war …

Thanks for reading All Things Nuclear!

LLAW’s ‘All Things Nuclear’ #456 (11/20/2023)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

NOV 20, 2023

1

Share

LLAW’s COMMENTARY: (Why do we keep making excuses for All Things Nuclear?)

Our media responses today (they are obvious in our nuclear news media digest tonight including the ridiculous and sublime such as, “If You Had a Nuclear Weapon in Your Neighborhood, Would You Want to Know about It? , or We’re long past nuclear deterrence: Bring on mutually assured prevention ,or (just one more) How ‘The Day After’ terrified Americans 40 years ago: ‘Nuclear war on a good day’ – Yahoo to questions about all things nuclear are unbelievably ridiculous. I will answer the 1st one for you: “We do have nuclear weapons of mass destruction with missiles in silos, but we also have nuclear power plants near our largest central and eastern cities that are also nuclear weapons that an enemy has only to bomb as well to create a free additional nuclear bomb.” You ought to easily be able to answer #2 and #3 yourselves, although I will lend a hand about ‘deterrence’.

It is clear that as a human race, we have no more understanding of ‘all things nuclear’ than a looney tune rabbit or coyote trying to kill each other – or any other species of animals on planet Earth doing their level best to survive, because they are blissfully ignorant of ‘all things nuclear’. Let me point out how that is and what it means, not only to us humans, but also to all other living critters and creatures on Earth . . .

Thanks for reading All Things Nuclear! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Subscribed

These three lame examples above of media news stories today annoyed me enough today that I decided to expand what I believe to be a presently human-inhabited world of the massively uninformed, and to make matters worse my entire purpose of this nightly Post is based on the proposition of specifically informing the deathly humankind world(s) of ‘all things nuclear’ that we human created. So, once again, I am on the warpath about unnecessary ignorance and apathy handed out as gospel from uninformed media sources who simply mimic what they are told by an unscrupulous world of wealth-seeking bandits that can best be described as the ‘nuclear industry’.

May be an image of text that says 'Two of the great silent human killers are the endemic mind diseases of willful apathy and ignorance. ~llaw llaw E'

To change our death-wish direction, we must open our myopic eyes to reality and remove the entire world of nuclear-everything from this world of uranium and its nuclear products. I wonder, knowing from my own long ago education and occupational profession how nuclear radiation came to be present long after the 5th Extinction that was caused by a meteorite that somehow (likely from its own uranium-rich earth), created and left behind the fossil fuel we are presently excavating and refining these days from that former reptilian world of known existence, eons prior to our human arrival, leaving behind the fossil fuels that provided the radiation that we are presently using to potentially annihilate ourselves today.

We have only known about the destructive nature of uranium for a few short human generations, and many of us are still alive (including me) after the USA constructed two atomic bombs and dropped them on the civilian cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, promptly ending WWII. It took a mass murder of a few hundred thousand Japanese citizens, absolutely far beyond the scope of a military war, to stop us earthly humans, for a very short time, from killing off those who might not agree with our particular agenda, although we have not yet stooped once more to using nuclear weapons as weapons of mass destruction, but rather as weapons of ‘deterrence’, which is finally being recognized for what it is – useless and impossible to control. We were proud of ourselves when we so brutally ended WWII, and today it seems that we still are, so we (and other countries) are building more powerful nuclear weapons of mass destruction to some illogically insane way to prevent WWIII by this moronic thing called ‘deterrence’. Stalwart, thoughtful, and knowledgeable men, such as Albert Einstein, for instance, have stated that WWIII will end all wars. Einstein remarked that all future wars “will be fought with sticks and stones.

If nothing else, perhaps all of us, including our elite scientific community, should think about about all that. If we do, we might well begin to understand that the 5th Extinction was more than an act of ‘god’ or ‘nature’, but an other-worldly humanoid intentional method of getting rid of the kind of cold-blooded life existing on our planet Earth 65+ million years ago. And could it be that ‘human life’ came along intentionally and knowingly later after the half-life radiation decay of the 5rh Extinction made new life here a possibility allowing early forms of human and other warm-blooded animals to survive here on our beautiful blue/green planet Earth?

There are some brave human souls today who believe that planet Earth was designated and designed, before, during, or after the 5th Extinction, to be a penal colony for an inferior humanoid race. That certainly could be us because here we are destroying planet Earth by the parasitical way we live, and also insanely trying, consciously or not, to destroy ourselves while we’re at it. Who can categorically say that’s not true? No one. ~llaw

ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category. There are no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this Post. If a category heading does not appear, it means there was no news reported from this category today.

(Just a reminder: When linked, the access to the media story will be underlined. If there is no link to a media story of interest you can still copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking. Hopefully this will never happen.)

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS:

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

If You Had a Nuclear Weapon in Your Neighborhood, Would You Want to Know about It?

Scientific American

And I tell them no, there wasn’t one at all, that everyone here knew that there were silos on the reservation, but there was just, like, little-to-no …t

How ‘The Day After’ terrified Americans 40 years ago: ‘Nuclear war on a good day’ – Yahoo

Yahoo

I still get letters and e-mails about that movie every day.” — This post was originally published on April 8, 2022. It has been updated to reflect …

$1.6 million on the line for Wiscasset in dispute over nuclear waste facility

The Portland Press Herald

“And one of the things that Maine Yankee has to prove in that litigation, is that all of the spending … is ‘just and reasonable.’ ” Advertisement.

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Finland’s OL3 nuclear reactor suffers unexpected outage – Reuters

Reuters

Finland’s Olkiluoto 3, Europe’s largest nuclear power generator as measured by output, suffered an unexpected outage on Sunday due to a turbine …

Finland extends nuclear reactor outage, pushing up power price | Reuters

Reuters

Finnish power company TVO said on Monday it had extended an outage at Olkiluoto 3, Europe’s largest nuclear power generator, while it undertakes …

nuclear power satellites space stations – Military & Aerospace Electronics

Military & Aerospace Electronics

The aerospace contractors to design space nuclear power through the Joint Emergent Technology Supplying On-orbit Nuclear Power (JETSON) project.

Nuclear War

NEWS

We’re long past nuclear deterrence: Bring on mutually assured prevention | The Hill

The Hill

… nuclear war under the mutually assured destruction umbrella. The Cold War ended without a shot or nuclear weapon being fired in anger by the U.S. or …

How ‘The Day After’ terrified Americans 40 years ago: ‘Nuclear war on a good day’ – Yahoo

Yahoo

… nuclear bomb blast. Nicholas Meyer’s seminal 1983 TV movie The Day After dramatizes the beginning and aftermath of a nuclear war. (Photo: ABC …

The Day After: The nuclear war drama that traumatised a nation – Yahoo Movies UK

Yahoo Movies UK

Forty years ago nuclear war drama The Day After shocked America. And it’s more relevant today than ever, says director Nicholas Meyer.

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Nuclear power plant Krško back online after emergency repair – Balkan Green Energy News

Balkan Green Energy News

Pipelines in the Krško nuclear plant were replaced as a precaution due to a leakage detected on the reducer section in early October.

Japan has completed the third stage of discharge of treated water from the Fukushima-1 …

Political Lore

The operator of the emergency Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in Japan, the TERCO company, has completed the third stage of discharging treated …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

A Misleading Metaphor: The Nuclear “Arms Race” – War on the Rocks

War on the Rocks

… threats. Critics … The upshot: the Cold War rivals built distinctive nuclear arsenals for reasons that transcended the external threat environment.

Bridging the gap between nuclear ban treaty supporters and opponents

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

… nuclear threats, most notably the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The … nuclear intimidation, and Russia’s nuclear saber-rattling in the war in Ukraine.

Russian propagandist threatens that nuclear war is inevitable: ‘No doubt about it’

Ohmymag UK

Here’s what he said and how he justified this viewpoint. Vladimir Solovyov’s nuclear threat. This is not the first time that Solovyov has expressed a …

LLAW’s ‘All Things Nuclear’ #455 (11/19/2023)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

NOV 19, 2023

1

Share

LLAW’s COMMENTARY: (A basic Primer on Plutonium and other Nuclear Waste, and Why it is so Dangerous)

To get back to some of my earlier introductory Posts where I often demonstrated how the the many steps and processes of mining, milling, refining, and eventually burning uranium fuel in nuclear reactors to provide electricity for human use from nuclear power plants, so tonight’s short lesson will be limited to the most dangerous waste product of all called plutonium and why the United States, which operates the most nuclear power plants in the nuclear power plant world doesn’t recycle plutonium (which has a half-life of 24,000, yes 24 thousand years) but insanely adds it to the very, very, serious radiation dangers of storing it all over the surface of our country in concrete, water, or earthen containers or caskets.

Following is an easily understood, well written paragraph from “Quora” addressing the prevailing opinion about why nuclear fuel, including plutonium and cesium, should be recycled: “The United States has erroneously been under the perception that it’s not cost-effective to recycle spent nuclear fuel. It also has fear that recycling could lead to building new nuclear weapons. The USA can thank former President Jimmy Carter for the ignorance he spread in 1977 when [he] ordered the USA to bury spent nuclear fuel deep underground. (I will add, though, that Jimmy Carter was not ignorant at all; he was absolutely correct, except that in a real world of care and caution, there would be no such thing as nuclear bombs, nuclear power plants, or anything else nuclear. (The Carter era was the last time we had a chance to internationally ban ‘all things nuclear, although JFK called for ending ‘all things nuclear’ in the early ’60s.)

“France, for example, uses up to 80% recycled fuel. They save a ton of money by reducing storage costs . . . [A] non-cost effective thing would be to try to separate bomb related materials from spent fuel. The chemistry requirements are staggering and you are dealing with a highly radioactive material. So, the USA need[s] only to overcome fear and ignorance to be able to recycle spent nuclear fuel.” (This last sentence is also wrong, only because ‘fear and ignorance’ prevails in the entire perspective of nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants, but in absolute opposing perspectives.)

The following simple graph of how the nuclear power process works is posted below. The diagram of how plutonium is to be recycled, according to proper operating procedures is shown below. You can easily see that in the case of recycling nuclear waste (such as plutonium (that shows plutonium returning from ‘spent fuel reprocessing’ back to ‘fuel reprocessing’ when in actuality the highly radioactive plutonium goes straight down to ‘interim storage’ and on to ‘permanent storage’ (which does not exist, by the way, so that’s another lie); so you see, we are living a dangerous set of more lies, among an abundance of others from the nuclear industry here in the USA, once again subjecting ourselves to entirely unnecessary risks and nuclear radiation danger in the dirty, dangerous world of “All Things Nuclear”, including the cycling process of our own nuclear power plants – of which the USA has by far the most of than any other nation. ~llaw

ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category. There are two Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this Post. If a category heading does not appear, it means there was no news reported from this category today.

(Just a reminder: When linked, the access to the media story will be underlined. If there is no link to a media story of interest you can still copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking. Hopefully this will never happen.)

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS:

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

A four-decade-old Pacific treaty was meant to preserve the ‘peaceful region’. Now experts …

The Guardian

… nuclear weapons states “are all opposed”. But Mangioni, a member of the … about nuclear testing legacies. It’s the same regional sentiment that …

Why North Korean Nuclear Blackmail Is Unlikely – Analysis – Eurasia Review

Eurasia Review

… all North Korean territory, but also the military superpower USA, which has … things-worse_toby-daltonvan-jackson; Brad Roberts, “The Plausible …

$1.6 million in tax revenue on the line for Wiscasset in dispute over nuclear waste facility

The Maine Monitor

“And one of the things that Maine Yankee has to prove in that litigation, is that all of the spending … is ‘just and reasonable.’ ” Not taking …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

France test-fires long-range ballistic missile to boost nuclear deterrence

France 24

… powered by continuous thrust until they reach their target. (Reuters) … North Korea amends constitution to reinforce nuclear power status. On …

Eiffage wins 4 bln euro order for French next-generation nuclear plants – Reuters

Reuters

French construction group Eiffage late on Thursday said it won a contract worth more than 4 billion euros ($4.34 billion) to carry out the main …

The genealogy of nuclear fear | Krzysztof Tyszka-Drozdowski | The Critic Magazine

The Critic

… nuclear renaissance, but rather the onset of nuclear schizophrenia. In 1956, the UK built its first commercial nuclear power plant. The atmosphere …

Nuclear War

NEW

Exclusive: Jill Stein’s Ominous Warning on Growing Threat of Nuclear War – Newsweek

Newsweek

… nuclear submarine.” “The world won’t survive this,” she warned. “And yes, we’re not at nuclear war now, but could a nuclear war be triggered?

Growing geopolitical risk stoking East Asian nuclear concerns, says expert – Nikkei Asia

Nikkei Asia

… nuclear bombs in any Taiwan war. If China attacks Taiwan, it will “highly likely use its nuclear threat … to urge Japan to remain neutral,” says …

Opinion | How to slow the U.S.-Russia-China nuclear arms race – The Washington Post

The Washington Post

While a nuclear weapon has not been used in combat since World War … Moreover, Russia has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons during its war …t

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

Israeli threat to nuke Gaza turns spotlight back on regime’s nuclear weapons – Press TV

Press TV

Israel’s reckless nuclear threats have drawn sharp criticism from … Israel Palestine Gaza war Gaza Strip nuclear weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty …

Why North Korean Nuclear Blackmail Is Unlikely – Analysis – Eurasia Review

Eurasia Review

First, North Korea might use or threaten to use nuclear weapons to prevent its own defeat amidst an ongoing war—either verbally threatening to …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Yellowstone supervolcano warning as eruption would ‘bring world to its knees’ | Science

Daily Express

Yellowstone volcano’s magma chamber mapped in documentary … Supervolcanoes are among the most sinister natural creations Earth has to offer. They go …

Reykjanes Volcano Update: Latest InSAR Image | VolcanoDiscovery

Volcano Discovery

Yellowstone quakes · Latest earthquakes under Yellowstone volcano. List and interactive map of current and past earthquakes near Yellowstone volcano.

1

Share

LLAW’s ‘All Things Nuclear’ #453 (11/17/2023)

To Be or Not to be: l “End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

NOV 17, 2023

Share

LLAW’s COMMENTARY:

Sometimes, it seems to me, that we fail to acknowledge or to even consider the inevitable unwavering approaches toward extinction that the present paths we are following in brainless multiple efforts to exterminate ourselves because we simply cannot bear to so much as consider the reality of that very thing we refuse to do anything about. So, instead, what do we do? We do nothing, somehow relenting to the idea that there isn’t anything that can be done to alter, change, or navigate, somehow reversing the road we are on even though we know implicitly that we are drifting along in precisely the wrong direction.

We pretend it’s not so bad as we think it is, or that we’re too busy living half a life to think about the reality of not living, wrongly theinking that our obligations to others, including our jobs and family, are a responsibility that has priority over all else. But, in truth, intentionally ignoring the very concept of correcting the mess we’ve made of this planet, we have done a great disservice, not only to ourselves but those we think we are ‘taking care of’. Of course we have to do those things we already do in the best way we can, but we are leaving the ‘future’ out of the every day equation because we don’t want to acknowledge and understand what we know is already happening today, tomorrow or sometime further down the road. It’s like as soon as our ‘day’ is over, everything stops and we will repeat what we did yesterday exactly the same as we did today, as if repetition is the only thing that will keep us going and somehow get us by. We have forgotten how to plan ahead and ‘build’ for a better tomorrow.

Of course we may be fortunate enough to lay away a few dollars a month for tomorrow, take a vacation, buy a new car, or even relocate to a better neighborhood because of our ‘hard’ work, and that seems genuinely rewarding for the immediate time, but in reality nothing much has changed concerning the world(s) of issues we don’t face that we are darkly breeding subconsciously within ourselves like mindless human ostriches and lemmings, hiding from ourselves because somebody else somewhere on planet Earth wants to eliminate us. Such is, more than ever before, the way of a nuclear new world order.

There is a way to reverse the direction we are so rapidly heading in, and, once again, common sense is calling out for us to ‘unite’ collectively as a universally peaceful human species rather than live on as tribes of separate species, always inferring one tribe is better than the other, and by god we will fight to our deaths to prove it. How childish is that?

And it is so very obvious that people are beginning to question, in this new era, if we may be destined by our id and the evolutionary demand of the ‘superego’ that all day every day silently screams internally, yet is never able to escape our own hidden voices of self-importance, “What’s mine is mine; and what’s yours is mine, too.” When will we ever learn? And will we learn in time? Thus far the answer is obviously, “no”. ~llaw


ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’s ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category. There is one Yellowstone Caldera bonus story available in this Post. If a category heading does not appear, it means there was no news reported from this category today.

(Just a reminder: When linked, the access to the media story will be underlined. If there is no link to a media story of interest you can still copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking. Hopefully this will never happen.)

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS:

Nuclear Power

NEWS

US, Philippines sign landmark nuclear deal – Reuters

Reuters

… nuclear technology and material to Manila, which is exploring the use of nuclear power to decarbonise and boost energy independence.

Investors are turning bullish on nuclear – Reuters

Reuters

After years of disinterest, energy security concerns and the push for net zero are leading investors to bet on nuclear power.

Sweden plans ‘massive’ expansion of nuclear energy

World Nuclear News

Sweden plans ‘massive’ expansion of nuclear energy. 17 November 2023. Share. The Swedish government unveils a roadmap which envisages the construction …

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

History of Three Mile Island; the United States’ worst commercial nuclear accident – ABC27

ABC27

You can find excellent discounts on everything from gifts to games to holiday decor. The 12 best camping gifts as stocking stuffers · BestReviews / 4 …

Dems want cost estimates Congress didn’t ask for in nuke modernization report

ExchangeMonitor

… every question about how much nuclear modernization would cost. “I … “Our writ did not include the development of cost estimates for all these things, …

UN nuclear watchdog: Iran has enough enriched uranium to make 3 nuclear bombs

All Israel News

UN nuclear watchdog: Iran has enough enriched uranium to make 3 nuclear bombs. All … nuclear deal from 2015 was set at 202.8 kgs (about 447 lbs). An …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Ukraine war latest: Thousands of Ukrainian children ‘taken to Belarus’; Russia loads … – Sky News

Sky News

Ukraine war latest: Thousands of Ukrainian children ‘taken to Belarus’; Russia loads missile with nuclear-capable glide vehicle into launch silo.

Iran enriches more uranium as Gaza war rages, US vote looms – Reuters

Reuters

The US and its allies have few routes left to rein in Iran’s nuclear work with prospects for talks long buried and tougher actions against Tehran …

Nuclear War Will Happen, Putin Ally Warns – Newsweek

Newsweek

A Russian propagandist with close ties to Vladimir Putin has warned nuclear war is “unavoidable” but that it won’t lead to the collapse of …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Map reveals what would happen if Europe’s largest nuclear power plant explodes – MSN

MSN

The safety of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been ‘jeopardised’ after a number of ‘emergency incidents’ this week.

There is a leak from the first circuit of the reactor at Unit 5 of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

Odessa Journal

This can, at any moment, lead to an emergency situation,” Kotin emphasized. Furthermore, similar manipulations are occurring with Unit 3. Specifically …

Enhancing National Safeguards Infrastructure to Support the Introduction of Nuclear Power

International Atomic Energy Agency

The IAEA has developed the Milestones Approach to help Member States embarking on nuclear power to plan and develop the necessary infrastructure in a …

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

Nuclear War Will Happen, Putin Ally Warns – Newsweek

Newsweek

It is not the first time Solovyov or other Russian propagandists have threatened nuclear war … Threats. By Tom Rogers. Premium Subscription. Digital + …

Is Israel’s war in Gaza distracting the West from Iran’s nuclear threat? – analysis

The Jerusalem Post

Is Israel’s war in Gaza distracting the West from Iran’s nuclear threat? … Iran’s build-up of Hamas, threats to Israel. Why? Because they do not want …

Russia Loads Nuclear-Capable Missile in Ominous Video – Newsweek

Newsweek

… third World War sparked by threats of nuclear escalation made by current and former Russian officials and political commentators. The largest nuclear …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Sakurajima Volcano Volcanic Ash Advisory: EXPLODED AT 20231116/2129Z OVER FL070 …

Volcano Discovery

Reports, maps and list of aftershocks. Did you know the seismic waves were recorded everywhere in the world? Yellowstone quakes · Yellowstone quakes.

LLAW’s ‘All Things Nuclear’ #452 (11/16/2023)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

NOV 16, 2023

Share

LLAW’s COMMENTARY: (How to Create a Dystopian Doomsday)

A nuclear world means a dystopian world, and it won’t take a nuclear war to make it that way, but no doubt militaries with nuclear weapons of mass destruction will be a part of the “action”. Failed aged and broken nuclear power plants will, sooner or later, make it that way, even if some of them aren’t even o the drawing table yet, because there are already plenty of them to do the job.

Leaking radioactivity from cracked housing for reactors, improper storage of nuclear waste cast aside like old tires because there is nowhere to safely store the waste will never go away, but rather just grow until we haul it to the nuclear dump landfill or dump it in the ocean (which is already underway in the case of Japan’s dead Fukushima power plant), and most of all, nuclear accidents caused by human error or AI fervor (or both) will help make it that way. And we think we are smart enough to build nuclear power plants safely in outer space! And, oh yes, there are all the nuclear armed militaries chomping at the bit for WWIII in order to blow one-anothers’ countries and their civilian inhabitants to an uninhabitable radioactive dust in the wind where no one could survive after such a war, whether they were involved in such a war or not. The concept of a nuclear WWIII is like something called “global genocide”.

From their very conception, engineering design, nuclear safety standards, federal approval, plant and reactor construction, more federal approval handling of nuclear fuel, and final federal approval, along with the startup and operation of any nuclear power plant is far different and far more serious than any other non-nuclear process of construction on the planet. When a similar plant of a non-nuclear or fossil fuel power plant goes awry at any stage, including as late as after years of operation, the problem can be dealt with and the fix will likely (at their customers’ cost) be successful; with nuclear (radioactive) power plants the opposite is true. Nuclear power plants are death machines waiting to happen – and the danger goes far beyond the physical location of the plant. A plant in California could kill hundreds of thousands or even millions of people and other life somewhere back East, for instance. And the failures are already happening, have been happening for dozens of years, and they will continue to happen. The more we build, the more will fail. More than 700 nuclear facilities have been decommissioned, shut down, or failed since the mid-1950s and, as I say, the more we build, the more failed and dangerous nuclear power plants we will have. Are we on a self-imposed doomsday mission, and just too stupid, ignorant, or lazy to recognize that we have a problem?

Thanks for reading All Things Nuclear! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Climate change and global warming are bad enough, and CO2 may kill us before uranium does, or maybe they will do it together, but either way our lack of care, concern, and inattention has us headed straight along the proverbial lemming trail leading us over the precipice to our forever deaths. How can we be so lethargic as to not even try to save our own lives? ~llaw

ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’s ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category. There is one Yellowstone Caldera bonus story available in this Post. If a category heading does not appear, it means there was no news reported from this category today.

(Just a reminder: When linked, the access to the media story will be underlined. If there is no link to a media story of interest you can still copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking. Hopefully this will never happen.)

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS:

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

The growing evidence of North Korean weapons trade with Russia – Ep. 315 – YouTube

YouTube

… About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News, covering all things …

New Report: US Must Modernize Nuclear Posture for Tri-Polar World

Air & Space Forces Magazine

China has built up its nuclear weapons stockpile at a pace that is … At the same time, Kyl told lawmakers that in all nuclear systems, and …

CNTA names winner of 2023 Nuclear Service Award | Aiken Area News – Post and Courier

Post and Courier

His dedicated service extended beyond the site’s boundaries to our community’s classrooms where he championed all things nuclear to the rising …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Sweden plans new nuclear reactors by 2035, will share costs – Reuters

Reuters

Energy Minister Ebba Busch said the government was planning a “massive build out” of new nuclear power by 2045. “It’s decisive for the green …t

how modelling is unlocking the potential of nuclear power – – Queen Mary University of London

– Queen Mary University of London

But radioactive waste from nuclear power plants has been one of the most significant environmental challenges of recent decades. Spent fuel from …

Broken turbine blades cause shutdown at Russian nuclear plant – Reuters

Reuters

Russia’s state nuclear power corporation has reported that turbine blades broke at a plant where the company has installed two reactors of a type …

Nuclear War

NEWS

‘Devastating’ impact: Nuclear war in US would wipe out 300 million, report says

The Times of India

US News: A report in Scientific American warns of the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear attack on the United States, with an estimated 300 …

Ukraine-Russia war – latest: Poll reveals much of world doesn’t have same view of war as West

Sky News

North Korea is specifically after a military satellite and its own nuclear weapons programme. Today there has been potential progress on this, as …

Flag as irrelevanNuclear war in the US would wipe out 300 MILLION: New models reveal the ‘devastating …

Daily Mail

nuclear attack on the United States’ missile silos would blow radioactive fallout to every state and parts of Mexico and Canada, killing more …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Radiological Health – Iowa Department of Health and Human Services

Iowa Department of Health and Human Services

nuclear power plant accident, a nuclear explosion or a dirty bomb are examples of radiation emergencies. During a radiation emergency, the goal is …

A new climate emergency emerges in adaptation finance needs – Frontline – The Hindu

Frontline – The Hindu

A new climate emergency emerges in adaptation finance needs. The latest … nuclear power plant. In a work published recently in the journal …

Myanmar orders civil servants, ex-military to prepare for emergencies – Inquirer.net

Inquirer.net

The military ruled Myanmar with an iron fist for 50 years after seizing power … nuclear energy‘. MOST READ. Camilon case: Cop exec says sorry to PNP …

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

On NATO’s Arctic front line, watching Russia’s nuclear threat | The Hill

The Hill

… threats and naivete about Moscow. “It might be hard to … Tags NATO nuclear threat Russia-Norway border Russia-Ukraine war ukraine Vladimir Putin …

Doomsday Clock Nears Midnight as Global Tensions and Nuclear Threats Escalate

nbcrightnow.com

… War, its purpose was to highlight the perils of nuclear weapons. However, its scope has expanded to include the threat of climate change since 2007.

Doomsday Clock Nears Midnight as Global Tensions and Nuclear Threats Escalate | National

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Current status of Yellowstone volcano – is it due to erupt? – NationalWorld

NationalWorld

Yellowstone Caldera, commonly known as Yellowstone Supervolcano, has been subject to constant apocalyptic speculation over its eruption date. Even …

LLAW’s ‘All Things Nuclear’ #450 (11/14/2023)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

NOV 14, 2023

Share

LLAW’s COMMENTARY:

If the “Scientific American” can say it, I sure as hell can too! My mission, as always is to convince the human population to wake up, understand, and realize the critical nuclear war situation we are in and to convince a majority of us to stand up and put a stop to it. I am daily capable of reaching out, primarily through Facebook, to at least a third of the earth’s human population who can read my Posts via Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and other social media. This Post is also on Substack and my website (from where you are reading this now), and will be even more available as I locate the connections I need to accomplish what need not be a failed effort but unless there is soon to be a strong popular movement toward destroying “All Things Nuclear”, all things nuclear may well destroy us, creating Earth’s 6th Extinction. Yes, it is that serious . . .

Today I am Posting an editorial article from “Scientific American” that describes, in part, what I have been warning the human population about in my nightly Posts for the last year and a quarter. I have also mentioned this incredibly poor decision by the U.S. government and its military previously in my own Posts.

Thanks for reading All Things Nuclear! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

The editors of this upscale periodical publication report in their headline and leadline nearly all that needs to be said if the world’s People population would simply open their eyes and pay attention to what we are on the verge of doing to our planet Earth as well as ourselves and all other life on our only home: ~llaw

The U.S.’s Plans to Modernize Nuclear Weapons Are Dangerous and Unnecessary

The U.S. should back away from updating its obsolescent nuclear weapons, in particular silo-launched missiles that needlessly risk catastrophe

And then there is this: “Perfectly poised to refight the cold war, these overhauled bombs will waste $1.5 trillion and threaten life on Earth for the century to come.”

I would have said this in a more dark and urgent way by not putting an extended timeline on the awaiting disaster. The disaster could happen, as nothing more than the U.S.’s announced plans could begin to happen as early as tomorrow morning.

The Text from Scientific American:

DECEMBER 1, 2023

4 MIN READ

The U.S.’s Plans to Modernize Nuclear Weapons Are Dangerous and Unnecessary

The U.S. should back away from updating its obsolescent nuclear weapons, in particular silo-launched missiles that needlessly risk catastrophe

BY THE EDITORS

Illustration of two hands lifting the top of the U.S. Capitol building, with a rocket placed within in.
Credit: Adrián Astorgano

December 2023 Issue

Defense

This article is part of “The New Nuclear Age,” a special report on a $1.5-trillion effort to remake the American nuclear arsenal.

The U.S. is planning to modernize its unwanted, unneeded and unsafe nuclear triad of land-, sea- and air-based weapons. Perfectly poised to refight the cold war, these overhauled bombs will waste $1.5 trillion and threaten life on Earth for the century to come. We should rethink this miserable folly rather than once again squandering our wealth while driving a new arms race.

As detailed in this issue of Scientific American, this plan to burn money while imperiling the world has been widely criticized in nuclear policy circles. “Russia and the United States have already been through one nuclear arms race. We spent trillions of dollars and took incredible risks in a misguided quest for security,” former U.S. defense secretary William J. Perry wrote in 2016 as the plans first materialized. “There is only one way to win an arms race: refuse to run.”

Although the Biden administration canceled proposed Trump-era sea-launched missiles, the U.S. nuclear arsenal still bristles with some 3,700 weapons, around 1,700 of them deployed for military use and the rest in storage overseen by the Department of Energy. This quantity is more than enough to threaten the destruction of humanity and Earth’s biosphere—and it is only a fraction of the world’s total, leaving out Russia’s similarly large stockpile and smaller ones in China and other nations. Lowering the numbers and thus the risks of these weapons is a responsibility the U.S. and the Soviet Union first recognized at the end of the 1960s, and this goal should drive military and political decision-making now.

Instead the U.S. is sleepwalking into an ill-considered and little-discussed resurrection of its three-pronged cold war nuclear forces. Meanwhile China is expanding its own arsenal (to one-fourth the size of the U.S.’s). New submarinesmissiles and planes, all designed to fit into a military strategy first conceived before the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, will by 2050 leave the dead hand of the past steering us into another century of pointless risks. In this future, a mistake or misjudgment could exterminate humanity, as nearly happened repeatedly throughout the cold war. We are simply fortunate, nothing more, to have survived the hundreds of false alarms that rang over those decades.

At the center of the government’s proposal is a $100-billion bid to fill 450 nuclear silos in five inland states with hundreds of new nuclear missiles set to launch on hair triggers. Built before submarine-launched missiles became large, accurate and untraceable, these relics are now justified as a “nuclear sponge” to absorb a Russian attack on the U.S. Why plant a $100-billion nuclear “kick me” sign on the country’s breadbasket?

We cannot store the nuclear waste we have now, never mind the additional waste that will result from building these missiles. The so-called nuclear sponging mapped in this month’s issue [see “Sacrifice Zones”] would kill up to several million from radiation exposure, with hundreds of millions in North America being at risk of exposure to lethal fallout. Even a limited nuclear war between India and Pakistan would kill tens of millions worldwide and cause global famine—but how can the U.S. argue for other nations to disarm while burnishing its own nuclear sword in such a heedless fashion?

We aimed this Damoclean sword at ourselves during the cold war when we produced 70,000 of the plutonium “pits” that trigger thermonuclear warhead explosions. Weapons tests of these blasts have left every part of Earth’s surface contaminated with plutonium, with hotspots such as the Rocky Flats in Colorado and the Hanford sites in Washington State still requiring tens of billions of dollars for cleanup. Faltering efforts to restart pit production for the nuclear-modernization effort have cost $18 billion to $24 billion, much of it wasted, and, by the admission of weapons officials at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, they don’t even seem to be immediately necessary.

Why are we risking so much when the lessons of the 20th century are so clear? In the words of the 1991 START Treaty that capped the cold war, “nuclear war would have devastating consequences for all humanity … it cannot be won and must never be fought.” Disregarding Russia’s inability to turn its nuclear arsenal to military advantage while being bombarded by Ukrainian drones, our political class has fumbled away hard-won wisdom about the deadly futility of the arms race. We are recapitulating the dangers the world turned away from decades ago.

Who today benefits from disinterring the arms race? Only defense-industry shareholders and military contractors near silos in North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska. This, in a nation where we have just doubled child poverty out of a refusal to help lower-income families. Surely it would be cheaper, safer and smarter to build factories or universities or research labs in these places, construct low-cost housing next to new engineering or biomedical campuses there, and watch them boom, in a good way, for the next century at a fraction of the silo-overhaul price tag. The 900 nuclear missiles onboard U.S. submarines will meanwhile deter the feared nuclear first strike the obsolescent land missiles were meant to discourage at the dawn of the cold war.

“A worrisome new arms race is brewing,” United Nations secretary-general António Guterres said in September. “This is madness. We must reverse course.” We agree. The only real way to use nuclear weapons is never. They should exist only in numbers large enough to deter their use by others, which they already abundantly do, with not one warhead more.

ACCESS TO “LLAW’s ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated inks is listed below by nuclear Category. There are three Yellowstone Caldera stories available in this Post. The latest Sky News coverage of the Russia/Ukraine war is available at the end of the other categorized Posts.(Just a reminder: When linked, the access to the media story will be underlined. If there is no link to a media story of interest you can still copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking. Hopefully this will never happen.)

Today’s nuclear world’s News:

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Duke Energy says cancellation of first commercial small nuclear project won’t affect its NC plans

WHQR

Weekend All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:00 PM A Way With Words. 0:00. 0 … The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently approved NuScale’s design for …

Inside the $1.5-Trillion Nuclear Weapons Program You’ve Never Heard Of

Scientific American

According to an air force spokesperson, 17 samples taken at Warren tested positive for PCB, but all were below acceptable levels. … things will happen …

What Radioactive Fallout Tells Us about Our Nuclear Future – Scientific American

Scientific American

At this pace, by 2080, all 4,000 nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal will have new nuclear pits installed. … things. This is why we take sometimes …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

NuScale CEO defends modular nuclear plants after project cancellation – Reuters

Reuters

The CEO of NuScale defended his small, modular nuclear reactor business on Tuesday, saying work continues in the U.S. and two other countries …

The future of nuclear power is smaller, more modular – YouTube

YouTube

WRAL Investigates dives into the future of power production coming to North Carolina. The real question remains: What will happen to my power bill …

Russian nickel miner wants nuclear power for Arctic plant – The Barents Observer

The Barents Observer

Nornickel starts talks with Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom on the building of a small-scale nuclear power station in Norilsk.

Nuclear War

NEW

Nuclear Attack Worst-Case Scenario Would See 90% of Americans Wiped Out – Newsweek

Newsweek

As if nuclear strikes on U.S. cities weren’t potentially damaging enough, an attack on America’s missile silos would kill millions due to acute …

Five Works That Imagine Nuclear War and Its Aftermath | Tor.com

Tor.com

Their purpose is not to forestall nuclear attack but rather to document it, providing vital information that survivors (civilians, military staff, and …

The U.S.’s Plans to Modernize Nuclear Weapons Are Dangerous and Unnecessary

Scientific American

Perfectly poised to refight the cold war, these overhauled bombs will waste $1.5 trillion and threaten life on Earth for the century to come. We …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

South Korea and members of the US-led UN command warn North Korea over its nuclear threat

AP News

… nuclear ambitions and threats … nuclear weapons to protect the South in case of a North Korean nuclear attack.

South Korea and members of the US-led UN command warn North Korea over its nuclear threat

ABC News

… nuclear threat. Defense officials from South Korea, the United States and other nations have warned North Korea over its nuclear ambitions and threats.

Nations Condemn Israeli Minister’s Comments About Dropping Nuclear Bomb on Gaza

Time

… war, calling it a threat to the world … Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Iravani told the conference the nuclear threats …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Steamboat Geyser Rare Eruption in October – Jackson Hole Radio

Jackson Hole Radio

Another aspect of Yellowstone’s geological monitoring is ground deformation. GPS stations in the Yellowstone caldera showed a return to subsidence …

Plant Health As A New Effective Monitoring System For Volcanic Activity

Nation World News

… Yellowstone Caldera, Wyoming, US, to determine their reaction to hydrothermal activity (circulating fluids around the magma source are hot water …

New Insights into the Impact of Volcanic Activity on Plant Health – CityLife

CityLife

The research, led by Robert Bogue from McGill University, focused on the Tern Lake thermal area within the Yellowstone Caldera in Wyoming, U.S. By …

Sky News is no longer covering a section devoted only to the Russia/Ukraine war. So, unless the Brit paper changes its mind, we are all on our own for the latest news. They have done a brilliant job of providing the ‘actual’ news out of Ukraine and Russia involving this insidious war. ~llaw

LLAW’s ‘All Things Nuclear’ #448 (11/12/2023)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLAW’s COMMENTARY:

As randomly planned in order to provide an expanded term of understanding to what this nightly Post is all about, especially for new readers who may have missed most of the first year-plus of the cometary, this article from October 5th, 2023, is posted here tonight as what will become a usual Sunday review in general, but more importantly because of the daily increasing concerns about AI (Artificial Intelligence) and its rapidly growing ties and technical relationships to dangers related to operational controls and administration of nuclear power plants as well as, perhaps, nuclear weapons up to and even including nuclear war. ~llaw

Thanks for reading All Things Nuclear! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Subscribed

LLAW’s “ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” #410 (10/05/2023)

“End nuclear insanity before nuclear insanity ends humanity”

________________________

Tonight, while I’m working on the “Organization” plan for beginning a step-by-step “blue print” about how humanity might prevent “All Things Nuclear” from existing in the future, I am turning the Post over to “The Bulletin’s” evaluation of a growing AI/nuclear relationship.

There are six steps, as described in my Post #409 from last night that I will be working on. I will post each one of them in a draft form as consideration for convincing a majority of humanity to turn against all things nuclear in order to survive. The basic outline (brief and unedited) is described in last night’s Post.

Always keep in mind that the only way this proposal would never work is through the vocal or functional discontent or disconnect of a majority of planet Earth’s already divided human World(s) that I refer to as the “Organization”. If we can’t accomplish that then the rest is a futile dream not worth thinking about. I suspect the “Blue Print”, when completed will read much like or resemble an outline for a novel or a screenplay because it will seem like ‘science fiction’ to most of us. But to guarantee our survival as well as other life on our only home, it has to be more than imaginary and it has to happen. We could also use some unknown help from somewhere.

So, in that light I am going to post a recent “Bulletin” article that deals with the relationship of the advancing romance between AI and nuclear management that human beings may not be able to control. This article places an even more questionable light on the issue of human capability and expertise to deal with and control “All Things Nuclear” than ever before.

And it should be noted that we have not done a very good job of shepherding nuclear arms nor nuclear power and the heated issue of ‘all things nuclear’ is growing more frightening by the day. ~llaw

The following article is from “The Bulletin’s” September edition by Jingjie He, Nikita Degtyarev on September 11, 2023 (Please note that images are not shown, although some descriptions or captions are presented. Also, the references in the footnotes are not shown.

AI and Atoms: How Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing Nuclear Material

By Jingjie He and Nikita Degtyarev, September 11, 2023

Over the last decade, there has been an accelerated integration of artificial intelligence (AI)[1] into both the civilian and military fields. As a result, rising attention to the challenges of AI governance has manifested in three ways. The first challenge lies in the dual-use nature of AI in the civilian and military domains, which renders it difficult to monitor and oversee its militarization. The second derives from the policy-influencing power of the private sector, which has traditionally been limited to utilizing lobbying instruments. The final difficulty results from the changing nature of government-industry relations, where industries are leading the development and application of AI, and governments are falling behind industry in understanding its technological potential and regulating military applications.

A review of existing literature demonstrates that AI is well discussed within the military and broader strategic stability domain[2], including discussions surrounding AI use within the nuclear sphere to hack cyber systems, poison AI training data, and manipulate its inputs (Avin and Amadae 2019). The expert community further addresses AI and its applicability to nuclear safeguards.[3] However, current available research largely ignores nuclear material production (NMP), which is an essential phase in the development of nuclear weapons

This article bridges that gap by assessing the potential role of AI in nuclear material production while considering industrial practices.[4] In employing an industrial approach to technology scouting, we argue that AI has significant potential to improve nuclear material production by enhancing system efficiencies with the aim of optimizing output, reducing costs, and boosting safety in production associated with the development and production of nuclear weapons. A comprehensive list of the existing AI applications to nuclear material production-critical equipment and to related non-nuclear industry applications integrable to the nuclear material production is presented in Appendix 1, (immediately below the main text).

The AI-powered nuclear material production process raises concerns of the illicit and covert development of nuclear weapons. Therefore, a three-fold solution with feasible action plans is discussed in the final section. Although nuclear material production is the focus of this article, the findings, concerns, and solutions being addressed are also applicable to the broader debate on the production of material used to build weapons of mass destruction, including radiological, biological, and chemical weapons.

Proliferation-sensitive stages in nuclear material production

Nuclear material production consists of several steps, including mining and milling, conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, electricity generation, spent fuel storage, and reprocessing.[5] While each production step is important, the enrichment and reprocessing phases are the most proliferation sensitive phases. These phases provide the basis for enriching uranium and/or the separating the uranium and plutonium isotopes that are pillars[6] integral to the development of a nuclear weapon; thus, improved accessibility to these technologies through AI presents both horizontal and vertical proliferation risks[7] (Gartzke and Kroenig 2014).

Although the application of AI within the enrichment and reprocessing phases is an ongoing effort to further the application of nuclear science and technology for good, AI as a dual-use technology within nuclear material production space has been largely neglected within the academic and practitioner communities. Therefore, a widening opportunity for AI to aid in illicit and covert non-peaceful applications exists.

AI’s potential applications in the nuclear material production

Industrial applications of AI can be broadly divided into three categories: anomaly detection, automated optimization, and automated discovery. Each of these techniques has functioned and been applied in civilian industries, and each can affect proliferation-sensitive stages of nuclear material production. A summary of the key potential application of AI in the nuclear material production is illustrated in Table 1 with potential use cases specified in Appendix 1.

Table 1. Key potential applications of AI in nuclear material production

Anomaly detection. An AI anomaly-detection algorithm is trained to recognize machine or system data featuring “normal behaviors.” When real-time data deviates from the normality pattern, the AI algorithm will identify the anomaly. Early-stage defection alarms make inspection and fixation possible before mechanical or system breakdown.

The use cases of AI anomaly detection fall into two categories. First, AI is used by industries to monitor, detect, and diagnose faults in machines. An example is the anomaly detection of centrifugal pumps (Al Tobi et al. 2022; Nabli and Hassani 2009). Second, AI is also widely applied in cyber defense products to detect anomalies led by cyberattacks or infections, which is a growing threat to sophisticated nuclear programs (Al Tobi et al. 2022; Nabli and Hassani 2009). An example is General Electric’s AI cyber defense solution, Digital Ghost, which serves the US Department of Energy, an agency responsible for managing the nation’s enriched uranium supply, in protecting critical infrastructure (General Electric n.d.a).

The aforementioned applications can be readily integrated into the nuclear material production process, provided that the training, testing, and verification data of the critical machines and computer systems involved in the producing process are accessible. Specific applications include adopting AI anomaly detection solutions to prevent failure of critical nuclear material production equipment (like centrifuges) and computer systems (such as management or cyber defense systems). Similar AI solutions can also advance efficiency and safety in human-centric knowledge production processes that facilitate nuclear material production (like advanced fissile isotope separation methods[8]).

Automated optimization. Automated optimization solutions train AI algorithms to analyze data with predefined parameters in an industrial process. Based on this analysis, the algorithms can predict product quality and correct problematic parameters to improve it. When applied to complex systems, AI algorithms can set up many factors at different levels, simulate their performance, and identify the best combination for achieving optimized solutions.

The use cases of AI automated optimization in civilian industries are three-fold. The first is industrial production. For instance, artificial neural networks, a type of deep learning algorithm, are used to monitor and adjust the performance of centrifuges in the separation processes (Funes et al. 2009; Jiménez et al. 2008; Menesklou et al. 2021). The second is industrial design. Examples include determining the optimum configuration for race cars used in different races (Monolith AI n.d.), the optimum design of computer chips (Mirhoseini et al. 2021), and the optimum shape for the crown of a piston in a diesel engine (Bogaisky 2019). The third is logistic planning. Examples of this include the reduction of the airplane turnaround time and the optimization of delivery fleet routing (General Electric n.d.b; Google n.d.).

These AI optimization solutions can also be integrated into the nuclear material production with the availability of machine or system data. This has already been applied to optimize the dimensions of a rotating baffle in gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment (Migliavacca et al. 2002). Further potential nuclear material production use cases include improvement of machine, such as nuclear centrifuges, configuration; the design of machine (including centrifuge) parts; and the efficiency of the nuclear material production lines, such as the arrangement of centrifuge cascades and the broader management of the nuclear material production process. Other human-centric nuclear research can also benefit from automated optimization solutions, which may in turn revolutionize the nuclear material production.

Automated discovery. AI algorithms are trained to understand the rules of a game by identifying key parameters at an initial stage, then developing their own algorithms to determine the best solution for the game. For example, from playing games like AlphaGo, AlphaZero (Silver et al. 2017; Silver et al. 2018), to protein structure prediction, such as AlphaFold (Jumper et al. 2021), code generation (e.g., AlphaCode) (Li et al. 2022), and faster matrix multiplication discovery (e.g., AlphaTensor) (Fawzi et al. 2022), AI has demonstrated its capability to revolutionize the scientific world at an exponential rate. Nevertheless, in the nuclear sciences, the application of automated discovery remains in early development stages. Consequently, few existing industrial applications are ready to be integrated into the nuclear material production or even feasibility research.[9]

RELATED:

Popping the chatbot hype balloon

Automated discovery techniques not only advance computational and data processing power through hardware (examples include AI chips and computers) innovation, but also accelerate the development and upgradation of computer systems through automatic code generation (such as in cyber defense or industrial management systems). More significantly, the technique foresees the realization of machine-centric nuclear material knowledge production, as in the case of protein structure prediction[10], which accelerates the speed and accuracy of human-based research, for instance on new fissile isotope separation methods[11] and more efficient materials[12]. Automated discovery has the most potential among the three AI applications mentioned; as such applications advance, they could fundamentally affect the entirety of the nuclear material production lifecycle process.

The way forward . . .

As demonstrated, AI has already impacted several stages of nuclear material production, and its premise as a dual-use technology must be properly managed. While this endeavor requires an all-out effort from all involved parties, the scope of this discussion may focus on a three-dimensional solution.

Recommendation 1: State actors should be responsible for designing and executing effective nuclear material production-related data and infrastructure governance.

To account for the emergence of new dual-use technologies such as AI, existing legal and non-legal frameworks need to evolve.[13] However, the current political environment has constrained global consensus-building, even in cases where reaching consensus benefits all parties.[14] Nonetheless, states remain decisive actors in monitoring and regulating dual-use applications of AI as it relates to nuclear material production.

The scope of monitoring and regulating dual-use applications of AI should exclude AI algorithms; they are open-sourced and globally accessible, and therefore, essentially impossible to monitor and regulate. Instead, the scope should focus on two AI-supporting elements, the first of which is data. Since the precision of an AI solution depends on the quality and quantity of the training and testing data, the transfer of sensitive data around nuclear material production, including the peaceful production of nuclear material, should be safeguarded through enacting proper regulatory measures on technologies, data transfer, and security standards like cybersecurity.[15] The second focus should be on information infrastructure. As the function of AI-powered systems depend on advanced information infrastructures, including fast-speed broadband, cloud storage, AI chips, and supercomputers, among other things, the acquisition and transfer of these critical AI infrastructures should also be monitored. Therefore, export control of AI systems should focus on the transfer of training and testing data, as well as supporting infrastructure.

Data and infrastructure governance can be achieved via unilateral, bilateral, or multilateral solutions, as well as informal and formal means. A ready-to-implement platform is national export control regimes. Hitherto, the United States, the European Union, Russia, the People’s Republic of China, and other political entities with nuclear capabilities have increasingly fortified national legislation around functional export control mechanisms for technologies and data critical to their national security interests (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, n.d.; PRC 2017; PRC 2020; PRC 2021; European Union 2021; Federal Service for Technical and Export Control of Russia n.d.; Vladimirova et al. 2014). In addition to unilateral efforts, states should also pursue related multilateral discussions based on a shared interest in improving AI-specific export control regime mechanisms, rather than enabling diverging political positions to hinder such discussions (Fisher 1991). An existing conduit for facilitating discussions and future negotiations in this regard is the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), where member state participants agreed to voluntarily implement “guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports” (Nuclear Suppliers Group n.d.a).[16]

Recommendation 2: The non-proliferation sector should develop an AI-proficient workforce supported by external AI industry partnerships.

State actors, nongovernmental organizations, and intergovernmental organizations within the nuclear domain have had limited interaction with AI experts, resulting in a knowledge gap that can be reduced through collective discussions.[17] As such, building awareness and sustainable partnerships, both formal and informal, is vital.

To mobilize industry engagement in the non-proliferation sphere, a three-step approach should be taken by states, nongovernmental organizations, and intergovernmental organizations. First, researchers and scientists must develop and maintain a comprehensive understanding regarding the state-of-the-art AI research as well as most advanced industrial use cases associated with the nuclear material production. A visualized example is illustrated in Appendix 1. This can be self-initiated or under institutional cooperation[18]. Ideally, a fully developed table, as illustrated in Appendix 1, summarizing AI’s applicability to nuclear material production would be shared within the nuclear policy making community to develop a shared understanding on the subject, which in turn could serve as the foundation for future policy discussions.

Second, platforms and initiatives must be created and expanded to integrate the AI-related industry into the nuclear policy debate. For example, several United Nations (UN)-based organizations initiated an “AI for Good” program to identify and promote AI applications that accelerate the furtherment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). A recent sub-initiative, entitled “AI for Atom,” addresses AI applications, methodologies, and tools that can advance nuclear science and technology (Peeva 2021). However, the impact of AI on nuclear material production and modernization, as well as its potential risks, has yet to be addressed. The broader “AI for Good” program could be expanded to include AI industrial partners to facilitate knowledge exchange around dual-use applications of AI and their potential implications in maintaining the non-proliferation regime.

Third, industrial advisory boards must be established within the relevant policy-making bodies. These advisory boards would serve two purposes: the minimization of the AI knowledge gap and the creation of effective export control guidelines. This effort could rely on intergovernmental organizations— including the International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, and by extension, the Wassenaar Arrangement and World Customs Organization—to promote discussions around emerging technologies and their potential implications for the maintenance of the non-proliferation regime. Meanwhile, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, as a binding mechanism, presents another means for member states to create effective export control guidelines through the inclusion of an industrial advisory board.[19]

Recommendation 3: Civil society and the international community should promote ethical AI as a means to incentivize government- and self-compliance in the AI industry.

Industries do not always comply with states’ policy goals or collective interests. Therefore, measures should be taken to stimulate industry compliance and engagement in non-proliferation efforts. Building a narrative that encourages compliance with AI ethical guidelines and regulations may involve highlighting the reputational costs of failing to comply and supporting the moral considerations of employees; such efforts could require outreach programs and government action (Stewart et al. 2016). For example, demonstrable industry-based association with the UN sustainable development goals has become increasingly important as companies manage employee and customer expectations surrounding sustainability, integrity, and values in an increasingly global and competitive market (United Nations Global Compact n.d.). Some of the leading suppliers of AI technology, including Amazon (Amazon n.d.), IBM (IBM 2018), and C3.ai (C3.ai n.d.), have expanded their business model to this end. Thus, the UN’s sustainability goals are promising instruments for governments, nongovernmental organizations, and intergovernmental organizations to leverage when negotiating for transparency and accountability within the AI industry.

Civil society organizations must be fully aware of their responsibility as gatekeepers of the non-proliferation regime and utilize their influence to counteract governmental policy preferences and industrial incentives that have the potential to negatively affect the effectiveness of efforts to manage the risk associated with AI’s use in nuclear materials processing. The first step toward achieving this goal is to increase civil society’s efforts to expose the potential of AI-driven industrial activities to increase the proliferation of nuclear material. The second step is to translate the policy preferences of civil society into customer-based reputational costs for the AI industry. For example, civil society groups could foster a grassroots initiative that encourages companies to agree to report end-users when transferring data, AI-powered systems, and supporting infrastructures with a potential to facilitate high-enriched uranium and plutonium production. Such an effort could stimulate market self-regulation, as companies see a way to reduce the possibility of reputational damage by adhering to the precepts of the UN’s AI for Good and Sustainable Development Goals programs.

____________________

A Digest of tonight’s (11/12/23) major nuclear media headlines is listed below by Category. There are no bonus Yellowstone Caldera headlines available. The link to Sky News’ coverage of the Russia/Ukraine war is available at the end of this Post. (Just a reminder: When there is no link to a media story of interest, copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking.)

ACCESS TO “LLAW’s ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated inks is listed below by nuclear Category. There are two Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this Post. The latest Sky News coverage of the Russia/Ukraine war is available at the end of the other categorized Posts.

(Just a reminder: When linked, the access to the media story will be underlined. If there is no link to a media story of interest you can still copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking. Hopefully this will never happen.)

And today’s nuclear world’s News:

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

A Pennsylvania man saw the true power of Atomic Annie – Little Rock Public Radio

Little Rock Public Radio

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:30 PM Marketplace. 0:00. 0:00. All Things … Russia is trying to change the dynamics by talking nuclear war and …

A Pennsylvania man saw the true power of Atomic Annie | New Hampshire Public Radio

NHPR

All Things Considered · Today’s Schedule · All Radio Programs · Printable … Russia is trying to change the dynamics by talking nuclear war and …

Nuclear reactor deal collapse challenges Portland company’s clean energy plan – KLCC

KLCC

All Things Considered. KLCC. All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:00 PM The World. 0:00. 0:00. All Things Considered. KLCC. 0:00 0:00. Available On Air …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

U.S. Nuclear Power Outages vs. Capacity – CleanTechnica

CleanTechnica

U.S. Nuclear Power Outages vs. Capacity. Every morning, each nuclear electricity generator in the United States reports its operating status to the …

U.S. Bets on Small Nuclear Reactors to Help Fix a Huge Climate Problem

The New York Times

A tangle of pipes and tanks in a large room. Steam feeding into the Unit 3 turbine generator of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Ga. When …

Nuclear project canceled in Biden clean energy agenda blow – Lincoln Journal Star

Lincoln Journal Star

A project to build a first-of-a-kind small modular nuclear reactor power plant has been terminated, a blow to the Biden administration’s clean …

Nuclear War

NEW

Putin ally outlines how Russia could kickstart horror nuclear war with NATO – Daily Express

Daily Express

Putin and his cronies have repeatedly threatened Europe and the US they with Russia’s nuclear arsenal since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Russian military official predicts how nuclear war with Nato might start – The Times of India

The Times of India

Europe News: A former Russian military officer has warned that tensions between Russia and NATO countries could escalate into a nuclear …

Putin Ally Threatens to Obliterate NATO Countries With Nuclear Weapons – Newsweek

Newsweek

An attack by Russia against one of these members, therefore, could lead to a much broader international conflict. Newsweek reached out to NATO …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Russian military official predicts how nuclear war with Nato might start – The Times of India

The Times of India

The threat of using nuclear weapons against Western nations has increased amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian officials and state media have …

Putin Ally Threatens to Obliterate NATO Countries With Nuclear Weapons – Newsweek

Newsweek

Russian threats of a potential nuclear conflict with the West have … Russian colonel predicts how nuclear war with NATO could begin · Russia’s …

Nuclear-Armed Submarine-Launched Cruise Missile Could Come Back to Life

Warrior Maven

… nuclear threat environment is changing rapidly.” The Arms Control Today essay also cites support for the SLCM also coming from Senators Deb …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Katmai Volcano Volcanic Ash Advisory: VA NOT IDENTIFIABLE FROM SATELLITE DATA

Volcano Discovery

Katmai volcano. Stratovolcano with central caldera 2047 m / 6716 ft … List and interactive map of current and past earthquakes near Yellowstone …

The latest Sky News coverage of the Russia/Ukraine war:

Key points

LLAW’s ‘All Things Nuclear’ #447 (11/11/2023

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLAW’s COMMENTARY:

ACCESS TO “LLAW’s ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated inks is listed below by nuclear Category. There are three Yellowstone Caldera stories available in this Post. The latest Sky News coverage of the Russia/Ukraine war is available at the end of the other categorized Posts.

(Just a reminder: When linked, the access to the media story will be underlined. If there is no link to a media story of interest you can still copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking. Hopefully this will never happen.)

And today’s nuclear world’s News:

Nuclear Power
NEWS
Nuclear Power’s Newest Cautionary Tale | Cato at Liberty Blog Cato Institute NuScale Power, a nuclear start‐​up, announced termination of their Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP), a planned nuclear power plant to be built at …
Disputes over safety, cost around California nuclear plant – Spectrum News Spectrum News A state judge tentatively approved the blueprint to keep the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant operating for an additional five years, until 2030.
Nuclear reactor deal collapse challenges Oregon company’s clean energy plan Jefferson Public Radio … nuclear reactors in the country, potentially changing the renewable energy landscape and revitalizing the
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
The Air Force’s new nuclear stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, has taken its … – Beaumont Enterprise Beaumont Enterprise … nuclear weapons stealth … Sign up for a weekly update on all things business with our What’s New: Business in the Golden Triangle email newsletter!
Illinois lawmakers approve plan to allow small-scale nuclear development – WSIU WSIU All Things Considered · Morning Edition · Law Enforcement · Politics … nuclear reactor construction. Lawmakers on Thursday approved a proposal that …
Illinois lawmakers lift a moratorium on new nuclear power plants | First Listen NPR Illinois Next Up: 7:00 PM All Things Considered. 0:00. 0:00. Marketplace. WUIS. 0:00 0:00. Available On Air Stations. On Air Now Playing NPR Illinois | 91.9 …
Nuclear War
NEWS
Russian Colonel Predicts How Nuclear War With NATO Could Begin – Newsweek Newsweek “Do you even imagine an underwater nuclear explosion on the roadstead of Tallinn or Stockholm?” a retired Russian asked.
Russia’s nuclear weapons move sparks NATO fears – Newsweek Newsweek “Russia continues its brutal war in Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said. “We must continue to give the Ukrainians the weapons they need to stay strong on the …
Maps Show Biden’s New Nuclear Bomb Compared to Most Powerful US Weapons Newsweek The B61-13 is 24 times more powerful than “Little Boy,” the 15-kiloton bomb that the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. A map …
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
Nuclear reactor deal collapse challenges Portland company’s clean energy plan – KLCC KLCC … nuclear power plants. Their design makes any potential emergencies easier to contain than conventional reactors. The project’s collapse was …
Iceland issues state of emergency over volcanic eruption threat – TVC News TVC News Iceland has declared a state of emergency following thousands of earthquakes that sparked fears of a volcanic eruption … Nuclear Power Plant Ukraine, …
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
Russian Colonel Predicts How Nuclear War With NATO Could Begin – Newsweek Newsweek Russian threats of a potential nuclear conflict with the West have escalated over the course of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in late …
Russian Nuclear Blackmail Remains Ineffective – PRIO Blogs PRIO Blogs – Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Iran is escalating the war in Gaza, and Russia finds it opportune to continue its dialogue with Hamas. … the main threat emanates from Russia’s …
Iran slams ‘barbaric behaviour’ of Israel after perceived nuclear threats by junior minister YouTube Iran slams ‘barbaric behaviour’ of Israel after perceived nuclear threats … Israel-Palestine war: Israel a nuclear threat to West Asia? WION New …

The latest Sky News coverage of the Russia/Ukraine war:

Key points

LLAW’s ‘All Things Nuclear’ #445 (11/09/2023)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

NOV 9, 2023

1

Share

LLAW’s COMMENTARY:

The following statement and article from The Union of Concerned Scientists is a huge blow to the hopes of the entire nuclear power industry. If you read the article you will understand why nuclear power plants are extremely dangerous and also why greed and money play such a huge role in creating that danger.

Shortcutting ultimate safety at various phases of human nuclear construction and operation is the very reason why most all nuclear accidents have occurred in the past, and these supposedly future SMPs, even before they have a history, are no exception. From what has been reported here, and in other media, SMPs have been vastly overrated in their cost to build, operate safely, and cheaply. The nuclear industry continues to spread propaganda that is far from realistic, and the entire industry seems to be in the game for individual financial return rather than for any benefit to humanity and other living organisms on planet Earth.

Thanks for reading All Things Nuclear! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Having worked in the nuclear industry for parts of three decades, eventually learning that the industry is little more than wordsmithing hype, the fit the industry long ago threw over the media coverage of the 3-MIle Island nuclear accident and the concerns that accident created in the American public severely weakened the idea of more nuclear power plants, during which one major leader in the industry announced in a media-covered news (I was fortunately for me personally there to hear this because the phrase embarrassed me to my core.) to just let the reporters, protesters, and objectors ‘freeze to death’. He opened his speech this way in front of an audience of like-minded industry corporate executives: “Let the bastards freeze to death in the dark.”

That was when I’d had enough of the hype from the entire nuclear industry (regardless of whether or not any of us (and there were a few) believed that nuclear power was the safe, reliable, and inexpensive commercial product it was cracked-up to be compared to other fossil fuel power plants, and in the late spring of 1980, I resigned from my job and started my own company in gold exploration and other non-nuclear natural resources.

So my final humanitarian mission, now that the Russia/Ukraine war has stirred the divided human boiling pots toward nuclear war threats of expanding borders, economic and political domination, nation building, racism and other ethnic hatred, with all things nuclear by those threats or possibly actual war. As a result, we have ignorantly and blindly begun to build bigger and better nuclear weapons of mass destruction, even though we all inherently understand that no one, including other life, can survive a nuclear WWIII.

So it is, especially now that I see Russia, and all the rest of the nuclear endowed countries, have realized that nuclear power plants, with their radioactive fuel along with their nuclear reactors, combined with all that nuclear waste we have no idea what to do with, are additional potential nuclear weapons of mass destruction providing their ‘sitting duck’ participation in a nuclear war to be a ‘big-bang’ two-fer-one’ destructive force. By simply dropping nuclear WMD bombs where the nuclear power plants are in close geographical abundance, such as the eastern coasts of the United States and Canada you can plainly see that a commercial nuclear power plant to keep us “warm with the lights on” was never a good idea . . . ~llaw

Following is the welcome story, at least for me, of the likely impending failure of the ‘Small Nuclear Reactor’ of the recent addition to the nuclear industry. If this happens, and the general public everywhere learns how dangerous “All Things Nuclear” are, we may yet find a way to avoid allowing ‘Us’, as Pogo would say, causing the 6th Extinction in the 4 to 5 billion years our planet Earth has been around. Humans were not around for any of the 1st five extinctions by the way . . .

Small Nuclear Reactor Contract Fails, Signaling Larger Issues with Nuclear Energy Development in U.S.

Statement by Dr. Edwin Lyman, Director of Nuclear Power Safety, Union of Concerned Scientists

Published Nov 9, 2023

MEDIA CONTACT

Sanjali De Silva

Sanjali De Silva

Communications Officer

Energy, Climate Accountability

SDeSilva@ucsusa.org

202-331-5428

NuScale Power Cooperation, the first company in the United States to secure approval for the design of a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR), ended its contract with the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) on Wednesday. The companies cited rising costs as the reason for terminating the contract.

Throughout the development process, NuScale made several ill-advised design choices in an attempt to control the cost of its reactor, but which raised numerous safety concerns. The design lacked leak-tight containment structures and highly reliable backup safety systems. It also only had one control room for 12 reactor units despite the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) typically requiring no more than two units per control room. Additionally, the company led efforts to sidestep critical safety regulations, including requirements for offsite emergency response plans to protect nearby communities. But NuScale’s justification for all this regulatory corner-cutting—that the design is “passively safe”—was undermined when concerns about its passive emergency core cooling system arose late in the design certification process.

The end of the project reflects the fragility of the advanced nuclear power industry in the U.S., which has been driven by an oversupply of reactor developers and a lack of genuine demand. As new reactor developers look for utilities and other end users to buy their products, the high cost and risks of their experimental, untested technologies are proving too onerous.

Below is a statement by Dr. Edwin Lyman, the director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

“The termination of NuScale’s contract signals the broader challenges of developing nuclear energy in the United States. Placing excessive reliance on untested technologies without adequate consideration of economic viability, practicality, and safety concerns is irresponsible and clearly won’t work. The failure of this project underscores the need for decision makers to work diligently to ensure that the pursuit of nuclear energy aligns with the imperatives of public safety and financial feasibility.

“For all its problems, NuScale is one of the designs with the best prospects for commercialization because of its similarity to conventional light-water reactors, which allowed the company to learn from extensive operating experience and to leverage much of the existing nuclear power supply chain. Thus, the failure of the NuScale project with UAMPS does not bode well for the dozens of other, more exotic reactor types in various stages of development that are being touted as the next best thing in nuclear power, such as sodium-cooled fast reactors, gas-cooled reactors and molten-salt reactors. These reactors, which are based on much less mature designs and generally require fuels and materials that are not readily available, will be even riskier bets than NuScale for the foreseeable future. There are currently no other new nuclear power reactor designs under NRC licensing review.

“As private interests continue to turn their attention to emerging nuclear energy technology, lessons from this project should be held top of mind.”

ACCESS TO “LLAW’s ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated inks is listed below by nuclear Category. There are no Yellowstone Caldera stories available in this Post. The latest Sky News coverage of the Russia/Ukraine war is available at the end of the other categorized Posts.

(Just a reminder: When linked, the access to the media story will be underlined. If there is no link to a media story of interest you can still copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking. Hopefully this will never happen.)

And the rest of the nuclear world’s News:

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Illinois Senate approves plan to allow new nuclear reactors – IPM Newsroom

Illinois Newsroom

Pritzker vetoed it, citing among other things, a need to modernize oversight rules. … all those megawatts,” said Sen. Patrick Joyce, a Reddick …

Expecting Orders Worth ₹500 Cr From The Nuclear Sector In H2: MTAR Technologies | CNBC TV18

YouTube

… all the market action in real time: https … 10 Things You SHOULD Be Buying at Costco in November 2023. The Deal Guy New …

Lawmakers set to consider nuclear energy on final day of veto session | WCBU Peoria

WCBU

… All Things Peoria. Next Up: 5:30 PM Marketplace. 0:00. 0:00. All Things … nuclear moratorium in 1987. “As technology changes, we need to make sure …

Nuclear War

Nuclear War

NEWS

Nuclear War ‘Doomsday’ Clock Has Changed, Russian Physicist Says – Newsweek

Newsweek

“From the very first day of the war, Russia made no secret of counting on its nuclear weapons to ensure that nobody would come to Ukraine’s rescue,” …

The US, China and Russia Have a Three-Body Nuclear Problem – Bloomberg.com

Bloomberg.com

That’s why there’s talk again about counterforce versus countervalue strategies. The US in effect follows the former. That is, it sees nuclear warfare …

Nuclear Tensions Loom Over War Zones – IDN-InDepthNews

IDN-InDepthNews

Nuclear Tensions Loom Over War Zones … UNITED NATIONS | 9 November 2023 IDN) — The two ongoing military conflicts in Europe and the Middle East are …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

UN nuclear chief says nuclear energy must be part of the equation to tackle climate change

AP News

… Atomic Energy Agency told the U.N. General Assembly. Over a quarter of the electricity from nuclear power is low-carbon electricity and global …

Small modular nuclear reactor that was hailed by Coalition as future cancelled due to rising costs

The Guardian

… nuclear power plants could cost to build in 2030. He said this undermined arguments by the Coalition and other nuclear advocates, who had accused …

Small Nuclear Reactor Contract Fails, Signaling Larger Issues with Nuclear Energy …

Union of Concerned Scientists

NuScale Power Cooperation, the first company in the United States to secure approval for the design of a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR), …

NEW

Nuclear War ‘Doomsday’ Clock Has Changed, Russian Physicist Says – Newsweek

Newsweek

“From the very first day of the war, Russia made no secret of counting on its nuclear weapons to ensure that nobody would come to Ukraine’s rescue,” …

The US, China and Russia Have a Three-Body Nuclear Problem – Bloomberg.com

Bloomberg.com

That’s why there’s talk again about counterforce versus countervalue strategies. The US in effect follows the former. That is, it sees nuclear warfare …

Nuclear Tensions Loom Over War Zones – IDN-InDepthNews

IDN-InDepthNews

Nuclear Tensions Loom Over War Zones … UNITED NATIONS | 9 November 2023 (IDN) — The two ongoing military conflicts in Europe and the Middle East are …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEW

Saudi Arabia hosts Arab League emergency meeting over Israel-Gaza war – YouTube

YouTube

| What would happen if a nuclear bomb was dropped on a UK city? What Next? •813K views · 19:38 · Go to channel. Why Germany Hates Nuclear Power. Real …

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

Nuclear War ‘Doomsday’ Clock Has Changed, Russian Physicist Says – Newsweek

Newsweek

A Russian physicist argues that the Doomsday Clock should be moved backward due to global opposition to Russia’s nuclear threats.

Nuclear Tensions Loom Over War Zones – IDN-InDepthNews

IDN-InDepthNews

… threat of nuclear war, “should not be underestimated.” But the Israelis have not made any such threats—until 5 November. According to a report in …

Ignoring Russia’s Threats Would Be A Monumental Mistake – Fair Observer

Fair Observer

… war with Russia. Furthermore, the Russian authorities intensified their nuclear threats, and Dmitry Medvedev, the vice-chairman of the Russian …

The latest Sky News coverage of the Russia/Ukraine war”:

Key points

LAW’s ‘All Things Nuclear’ #444 (11/08/2023)

ALL THINGS NUCLEAR

LAW’s ‘All Things Nuclear’ #444 (11/08/2023)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

NOV 8, 2023


LLAW’s COMMENTARY:

One more evening and new (although most of the old are new too) especially to new readers who never saw or read those that were only available to Facebook faithful. So, as I’ve mentioned before, I will occasionally pick an older Post to points that have been made over the last year-plus that are important to the future of all life on planet Earth. But I have added my feelings about a Forbes article today . . .

This Post was short and intense – letting the images do the inferred “talking”. I well know those long roads to the uranium mines in Wyoming and other western states. I began my career in the uranium and nuclear industry at a mine called the Lucky Mc Mine in central Wyoming in the 1960s as an accountant for the San Francisco based company. I remained in the company’s uranium and other enterprises into the early 1980s. The 3-Mile Island nuclear accident prompted me to ‘escape’ from the nuclear business, realizing that the ‘stuff’ we were selling all over the world was immanently dangerous.

Over the years I have learned just how lethal “All Things Nuclear” are, and yet I see ridiculous stories in tonight’s media news from Forbes, with propaganda direct from the industry that headlines with How Policy Saved America’s Nuclear Power Plants, and leads on with this line. “Federal and state policy kept America’s nuclear power plants online to preserve clean energy supplies and prevent emissions increases and . . . I have to admit I laughed derisively at the opening to this article (and of course I will not read it because it is pure industry propaganda from the industry. Nuclear power plants do not produced ‘clean’ energy, and they are proud owners of the dirtiest and most toxic waste on the planet that they know what to do with except to dump it in the ocean. Oh, yes, it is ‘treated’, but what will happen when the ‘treatment’ wears off? And we haven’t even mentioned the words “meltdown” or “nuclear war” yet. ~llaw

Shared with the Public on June 8th, 2023 . . .

Uranium and its products of nuclear weapons and nuclear power is the road to Nowhere – a desolate world that looks something like this lonely road to the first step and the last step to desolation and annihilation.

Stop nuclear insanity before nuclear insanity stops humanity! ~llaw

All reactions:

14 You, Michelle UluOla, Deborah Hart Yemm and 11 others

TONIGHT’S CATEGORIZED NUCLEAR NEWS

ACCESS TO “LLAW’s ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated inks is listed below by nuclear Category. There are no Yellowstone Caldera stories available in this Post. The latest Sky News coverage of the Russia/Ukraine war is available at the end of the other categorized Posts.

(Just a reminder: When linked, the access to the media story will be underlined. If there is no link to a media story of interest you can still copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking. Hopefully this will never happen.)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Science is Everywhere camps at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History – YouTube

YouTube

13 Things from the 1970s, Kids Today Will Never Understand! … all of us’ I See the full speech. MSNBC New 1M views · 6:10 · Go to channel · A Recipe …

Feds come to Kemmerer to explain the permitting process for proposed nuclear plant

Wyoming Public Media

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent federal agency that oversees all things nuclear, like the TerraPower project near Kemmerer.

Holtec plans to build new nuclear reactors at its energy plants — but not at Pilgrim, for now

WCAI

All Things Considered · Podcasts …more programs · The Point · News Roundup … Holtec and other supporters contend that nuclear energy can be safe and …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

How Policy Saved America’s Nuclear Power Plants – Forbes

Forbes

Federal and state policy kept America’s nuclear power plants online to preserve clean energy supplies and prevent emissions increases as …

Should Texas Build More Nuclear Power Plants?

Texas Monthly

Even if nuclear takes off, it will be years before it catches up to the contributions of natural gas, or even wind power, to the state’s energy mix. “ …

Ukraine war live updates: Russia claims Kyiv attacked 3 nuclear power plants – CNBC

CNBC

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev claimed Wednesday that Ukraine tried to attack three nuclear power plants.

Nuclear War

NEWS

Kremlin says nuclear arms dialogue with US is necessary but not ready to be lectured

Reuters

After fears of a nuclear war were triggered by the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States and the Soviet Union sought to slow the arms race with …

Ukraine war live updates: Russia claims Kyiv attacked 3 nuclear power plants – CNBC

CNBC

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev claimed Wednesday that Ukraine tried to attack three nuclear power plants.

Why a Russian nuclear expert thinks the Doomsday Clock should move away from midnight

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 brought the nuclear risk to an entirely new level. From the very first day of the war, Russia …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Indian Point nuclear plant to conduct emergency siren test – News 12 – Westchester

News 12 – Westchester

The Indian Point nuclear power plant will be conducting a test of its emergency siren system this evening. All 172 sirens are scheduled to emit at …

My experience of the nuclear industry so far – IMechE

IMechE

… energy mix, particularly considering the current climate emergency. I strongly believe that nuclear power will be needed to power tomorrow, along …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

ARTHUR CYR: The Continuing Threat of Nuclear Weapons | Opinion | jacksonprogress-argus.com

Jackson Progress-Argus

Military threats are not only external. In early 1961, President Eisenhower closed his Farewell Address by warning of the dangers of our massive arms …

Why a Russian nuclear expert thinks the Doomsday Clock should move away from midnight

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

… nuclear threats that has been reaffirmed this year, a Russia nuclear expert argues … nuclear war cannot be won therefore must not be fought. But …

Preventing AI Nuclear Armageddon by Melissa Parke – Project Syndicate

Project Syndicate

… nuclear threats. And UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not mention the acute threat posed by nuclear-weapons-related AI applications at all, even …

The latest Sky News coverage of the Russia/Ukraine war”:

Key points