Feb 5

http://thefilmarchive.org/

The Vallecitos Nuclear Center is a nuclear research facility, and the site of a former electricity-generating nuclear power plant in unincorporated Alameda County, California, about 30 miles east of San Francisco, in NRC Region Four.

It is owned by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and is located on State Highway 84 between Livermore, California and Interstate 680, south of Pleasanton, California.

The Vallecitos boiling water reactor (VBWR) was the first privately owned and operated nuclear power plant to deliver significant quantities of electricity to a public utility grid. During the period October 1957 to December 1963, it delivered approximately 40,000 megawatt-hours of electricity. This reactor – a light-water moderated and cooled, enriched uranium reactor using stainless steel-clad, plate-type fuel – was a pilot plant and test bed for fuel, core components, controls, and personnel training for the Dresden Nuclear Power Plant, a Commonwealth Edison station built in Illinois five years later.

The plant was originally a collaborative effort of General Electric and Pacific Gas and Electric Company, with Bechtel Corporation serving as engineering contractor. Samuel Untermyer II, the GE engineer responsible for the initial design of the VBWR, had performed much of the conceptual research at Argonne National Laboratory, while conducting heat transfer and nuclear physics experiments, including the BORAX experiments (boiling reactor experiment). The main power generating facilities closed in 1963.

The Vallecitos site includes the Radioactive Materials Laboratory where post-irradiation examinations are done. A small 100 kilowatt research reactor is still in operation at the site. Vallecitos also fabricates radioactive source materials used in medicine and industry, under a license issued by the State of California.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallecitos_Nuclear_Center

Duration : 0:0:55

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Jan 3

Excerpt from recently updated Operation Upshot-Knothole

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M65_Atomic_Cannon

Picatinny Arsenal was tasked to create a nuclear capable artillery piece in 1949. Robert Schwartz, the engineer who created the preliminary designs, essentially scaled up the 240mm shell (then the maximum in the arsenal) and used the German K5 railroad gun as a point of departure for the carriage. (The name “Atomic Annie” likely derives from the nickname “Anzio Annie” given to a German K5 gun which was employed against the American landings in Italy.) The design was approved by the Pentagon, largely through the intervention of chief of the Ballistics Section of the Ordnance Department’s Research and Development Division, Samuel Feltman, and a three-year developmental effort was begun. The project proceeded quickly enough to produce a demonstration model to participate in Dwight Eisenhower’s inaugural parade in January of 1953.

The cannon was transported by two specially designed tractors, both capable of independent steering in the manner of some extra-long fire engines. Each of the tractors was rated at 375 hp, and the somewhat awkward combination could achieve speeds of 35 miles an hour and negotiate right turns on 28 ft wide, paved or packed roads. The artillery piece could be unlimbered in 15 minutes and then returned to traveling configuration in 15 minutes more.

On May 25, 1953 at 8:30am local time, the Atomic Cannon was tested at Nevada Test Site (specifically Frenchman Flat) as part of the Upshot-Knothole series of nuclear tests. The test–codenamed Grable–was attended by then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Arthur W. Radford and Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson; it resulted in the successful detonation of a 15 kt shell (warhead W9) at a range of 7 miles. This was the first and only nuclear shell to be fired from a cannon.

Subsequent to the successful test, there were at least 20 of the cannons manufactured at Watervliet and Watertown Arsenals, at a cost of $800,000. They were deployed overseas to Europe and Korea, often continuously shifted around to avoid being detected and targeted by opposing forces. Due to the size of the apparatus, their limited range, the development of nuclear shells compatible with existing artillery pieces (the W48 for the 155mm and the W33 for the 203mm), and the development of rocket and missile based nuclear artillery, the M65 was effectively obsolete soon after it was deployed. However, it remained a prestige weapon and was not retired until 1963.

Duration : 0:1:6

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Dec 2

Health officials say a radioactive form of hydrogen that leaked from a Vermont nuclear plant into soil and groundwater has reached the nearby Connecticut River. State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Harry Chen said Wednesday water samples from the shoreline near the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant last month tested positive for small amounts of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that’s been linked to cancer when ingested in large amounts. Gov. Peter Shumlin wants more wells to pull contaminated water from the ground on the Vermont Yankee site. He says he’s “very concerned.” Tritium has leaked from nuclear plants around the country. It’s particularly problematic for Vermont Yankee as it seeks to renew its license. New Orleans-based plant owner Entergy Corp. is suing Vermont in federal court over the state’s efforts to shut the plant down.

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=NC-20110818-32001-USA

Duration : 0:1:50

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Nov 8

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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Nov 8

August 17, 2011 MSNBC
http://MOXNews.com

Duration : 0:14:53

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Oct 30

A short introductory film which emphasises that Export Control is a serious responsibility which affects us all. Find out more and take appropriate action where necessary.

Export Control Organisation (ECO) is the UK’s licensing authority responsible for assessing and processing export control licences for so-called “strategic” goods. A wide range of items fall under Export Control Legislation including so-called dual-use goods (such as nuclear, chemical or communications goods), torture goods, radioactive sources, as well as military items (such as firearms and ammunition).Companies looking to export are advised to contact the ECO for advice and if necessary apply for a licence.

For more information visit:
www.berr.gov.uk/exportcontrol
Or email: eco.help@berr.gsi.gov.uk
Tel: 020 7215 4594
To apply for a licence:

https://www.spire.berr.gov.uk

A transcript is available here:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file51298.doc

Duration : 0:8:23

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Oct 30

The elimination of the B53 by Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is consistent with the goal President Obama announced in his April 2009 Prague speech to reduce the number of nuclear weapons. The President said, “We will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same.” The dismantlement of the last remaining B53 ensures that the system will never again be part of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

As a key part of its national security mission, NNSA is actively responsible for safely dismantling weapons that are no longer needed, and disposing of the excess material and components.

Duration : 0:5:52

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Oct 19

Date: 12/08/1953 | Type: Tower 30m | Yield: 400kt

Joe-4 was the fifth Soviet nuclear test and demonstrated the use of fusion in a weaponizable design known as the Sloika or “Layer Cake” design. The device obtained nearly all of its yield from fission and was limited for practical purposes to yields of less than 1Mt. The RDS-6s warhead used a U-235 fissile core surrounded by alternating layers of lithium-6 deuteride spiked with tritium, and a uranium fusion tamper inside a high explosive implosion system. Though not a true thermonuclear weapon the USSR claimed it was, and in conjunction with the fact that it was air-deliverable caused considerable embarasment to the US. The US did not successfuly test a deliverable thermonuclear bomb untill 1954.

Duration : 0:1:57

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Sep 17

Javed Chaudhry – host of Kal Tak program in Pakistan – contrasts the principled existence of Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah with the unscrupulous conduct of today’s ruling elite. According to him, Pakistan’s chronic problems and failed-state nature is a direct consequence of successive regimes’ systematic violation of principles such as merit, integrity, honesty, punctuality, legality, and industriousness practiced by the country’s founder.

PLEASE READ MY COMMENTS ON THE VIDEO BEFORE WATCHING.

Duration : 0:4:35

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