Nuclear Engineer

http://www.NukeNe.ws ABC Australia: Japan communities record Chernobyl-level radiation – “I have absolutely no trust in the Government” … “All they do is cover up and hide data” (VIDEO)

Japan asks Turkey to proceed with talks on nuclear power plant deal | Edano confirms plans with United States to strengthen bilateral atomic cooperation

Fukushima City begins decontamination work (Take your time, don’t strain yourself)

Mothers in Nuclear — Yes, They Do Exist

3 tons of radioactive water at 290,000 bq/cm3 of Cesium-137 leaks at Fukushima facility – Kurion Absorption Unit

URI mining licence reactivated

Shipyard drops court appeal

New Exposed Scandal Shows TEPCO Calculations in 2006 Showed Probability of Worst-Case Tsunami “dramatically increased” – 10% over 50 Years – Utility Took No Countermeasures

Environmental associations detect high radiation in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward Up to 5.47 mSv/hr and 6.7 mSv/hr in Edogawa ward

Environmental associations detect high radiation in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward – 19th Oct 2011

Discovery of radiation ‘hot spots’ in Tokyo sparks calls for decontamination standards – 19th Oct 2011

Local Official: “We are not human guinea pig” – Tells young people to leave Japan

Cyber Experts Warn Of Stuxnet-Like Virus – 19th Oct 2011

*WATCH* WSJ: Top Japan official on “alarming issue of recently discovered radioactive ‘hot spots’ in Tokyo and other areas far from Fukushima” (VIDEO)

Decon Bubble in Fukushima: Contractors Charging US$13,000 Per House

‘An unimaginable nuclear scenario’ possible in Kuwait – 19th Oct 2011

Fukushima Meltdown, the book, available at Amazon Kindle

Sanctions, flaws hobble Iran nuclear program: study

TEPCO asks for $9 bln in Fukushima aid: reports

Radioactive emissions from Fukushima plant fall: TEPCO

Stuxnet Mutation: Duqu

http://www.nukene.ws/story/cyber-experts-warn-stuxnet-virus-19th-oct-2011/20111019

Tokyo Katsushika Ward

http://www.nukene.ws/story/environmental-associations-detect-high-radiation-tokyos-katsushika-ward-547-msvhr-and-67-msvhr-edoga/20111019

http://www.nukene.ws/story/environmental-associations-detect-high-radiation-tokyos-katsushika-ward-19th-oct-2011/20111019

Reactor 1 Leaks 3 Tons Wastewater

http://www.nukene.ws/story/3-tons-radioactive-water-290000-bqcm3-cesium-137-leaks-fukushima-facility-kurion-absorption-unit/20111019

NM Mining

http://www.nukene.ws/story/uri-mining-licence-reactivated/20111019

NukeNe.ws is a current and comprehensive nuclear news site. Radiation updates, nuclear industry news, nuclear blogs, nuclear resources and radiation detectors for sale.

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Duration : 0:4:41

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Heather MacLean talks about her job as a Nuclear Engineer for Idaho National Laboratory.

For more information about INL careers, visit http://www.facebook.com/idahonationallaboratory.

Duration : 0:1:34

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U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
Idaho Operations Office

SL-1 The Accident: Phases I and II
A13886VNB1

Describes this nuclear accident from the point of view of the Atomic Energy Commission.

Considering the time, this film report is exceptionally candid about the vulnerabilities of nuclear reactors. This first civilian reactor accident was especially gruesome in that one of the reactor operators was shot into the ceiling by an expelled reactor vessel plug and control rod. Views of the internal wreckage are fascinating. The cause of this accident has never been determined, although operator error has been alleged.

Documentaries of this quality are rare in the U.S. nuclear community, at least for the general public.

Producer: U.S. Atomic Energy Commission; Creative Commons license: Public Domain

The SL-1, or Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One, was a United States Army experimental nuclear power reactor which underwent a steam explosion and meltdown in January 1961, killing its three operators. The direct cause was the improper withdrawal of the only movable control rod. The event is the only fatal reactor accident in the United States.

The facility, located at the National Reactor Testing Station approximately forty miles (60 km) west of Idaho Falls, Idaho, was part of the Army Nuclear Power Program and was known as the Argonne Low Power Reactor (ALPR) during its design and build phase. It was intended to provide electrical power and heat for small, remote military facilities, such as radar sites near the Arctic Circle, and those in the DEW Line. The design power was 3 MW (thermal). Operating power was 200 kW electrical and 400 kW thermal for space heating. NASA system failure studies have cited that the core power level reached nearly 20 GW in just four milliseconds, precipitating the reactor accident and steam explosion.

On December 21, 1960, the reactor was shut down for maintenance, calibration of the instruments, installation of auxiliary instruments, and installation of 44 flux wires to monitor the neutron flux levels in the reactor core. The wires were made of aluminum, and contained slugs of aluminum-cobalt alloy.

On January 3, 1961 the reactor was restarted after a shutdown of eleven days. Maintenance procedures commenced, which required the main central control rod to be withdrawn a few inches; at 9:01 p.m. this rod was withdrawn almost to the top of the core, causing SL-1 to go prompt critical. In four milliseconds, the heat generated by the resulting enormous power surge caused water surrounding the core to begin to explosively vaporize. The water vapor caused a pressure wave to strike the top of the reactor vessel. This propelled the control rod and the entire reactor vessel upwards, which killed the operator who had been standing on top of the vessel, leaving him pinned to the ceiling by a control rod. The other two military personnel, a supervisor and a trainee, were also killed. The victims were Army Specialists John A. Byrnes and Richard L. McKinley and Navy Electrician’s Mate Richard C. Legg.

Reactor principles and events
Fission produces neutrons with a wide range of energies. In all light-water-moderated reactors (LWR), to sustain fission of the U-235 the reactor core needs to have water present to moderate (slow down) the neutrons produced by the nuclear reaction. This process is called “thermalizing” and increases the probability of the neutrons causing fission. When reactivity is inserted in the reactor core, more neutrons are available and power rises. Several factors limit the increase in power.

The first limiting factor is that, given a proper initial spectrum of neutron energies, water has a negative reactivity coefficient. Having a negative reactivity coefficient means that, as the water heats up, the molecules are farther apart (water expands and eventually changes phase) and neutrons are less likely to hit hydrogen atoms, so fewer neutrons are thermalized by collisions with the hydrogen in the water and the probability of fission decreases. This removes reactivity from the core. The lower the temperature, the closer the molecules, the greater the number of neutrons thermalized and the greater the core reactivity. It is also possible to design a reactor core that has an entirely different neutron energy spectrum such that it has conditions for which water has a positive reactivity coefficient. A graphite-moderated, water-cooled reactor like the RBMK reactors at Chernobyl may have a positive reactivity coefficient for coolant (water) temperature.

Duration : 0:40:23

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Nuclear fuels researcher Jon Carmack talks about the satisfactions of a career in nuclear engineering.

For more information about nuclear energy careers, visit http://www.facebook.com/idahonationallaboratory.

Duration : 0:2:12

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Technorati Tags: atomic, atoms, biohazzard, careers, ciencia, contamination, core, decontamination, DOE, electricity, energia, energie, energy, engineering, fissile, fission, hazard, INL, Jon Carmack, laboratory, Meltdown, nucleaire, nuclear energy, nuclear fuels, nuclear waste, Power, radiation, Reactor, recherche, research, science, scientist, steam, sustainable power, wissenschaft