Jan 11

https://www.facebook.com/CoasttoCoastafterDark?sk=app_106878476015645&app_data=page-1

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2011/11/30

http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/TheIliad.html ‘The Iliad’
C2C Science Advisor and head of the Enterprise Mission, Richard C. Hoagland, discussed the latest American and Russian unmanned efforts to reach Mars and what may be the true nature of those missions. He suggested that the agenda behind the Russian Phobos-Grunt craft is not to travel to the Martian inner moon, but to actually journey to the YU55 asteroid that recently passed by Earth. He theorized that the Russians are interested in this object because it is not merely an asteroid, but is actually a craft. The origins of this craft, Hoagland said, could be from an ancient civilization that once populated the galaxy but was destroyed in a massive war.

While the dueling Martian missions of the US and Russia may appear to be a new space race, Hoagland put forward the idea that it is really “a covert cooperation with the illusion of a competition.” In this scenario, he said, the Russians are hoping to land their craft on the YU55 and take samples of it. Meanwhile, the Americans may have used their secret spy plane, known as the X-37B, to “rendezvous with YU55 as it comes through the system” and take detailed images of the object. Hoagland pointed to news that the X-37B was ending its latest mission early as a potential sign that “it’s bringing something home.” He cited a BBC report which quoted a Russian astronomer who described “strange structures” on YU55 as well as the repeated comparisons of the ‘asteroid’ to an aircraft carrier as potentially leaked clues to what the object really is.

Regarding NASA’s Curiosity Rover, Hoagland surmised that, if his theories are correct, it will ultimately lead to the disclosure that there was once an ancient race of people on the Red Planet. He explained that the planned landing site for Curiosity is inside the Gale Crater on Mars, where a mysterious mountain sits in the center. The origin of this mountain, Hoagland noted, baffles astronomers. Based on his study of photos of this land mass, he contended that it is “an ancient structure.” Noting that Curiosity is nuclear powered, rather than solar powered like previous Mars rovers, Hoagland speculated that perhaps NASA plans on using the vehicle to explore inside this ancient structure. Beyond that, he revealed that Curiosity’s nuclear design will also allow for it to potentially be used to journey to Cydonia and examine the infamous anomalies found there.

Duration : 1:57:19

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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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Nov 24

May 1982 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Furl%3Dsearch-alias%253Dstripbooks%26field-keywords%3Dthree%2Bmile%2Bisland%26x%3D0%26y%3D0&tag=doc06-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325 Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/09/three-mile-island-accident-interview.html

The anti-nuclear movement in the United States consists of more than seventy anti-nuclear groups which have acted to oppose nuclear power and/or nuclear weapons in the USA. The movement has delayed construction or halted commitments to build some new nuclear plants.

Anti-nuclear campaigns that captured national public attention in the 1970s involved the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant, Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant, and Three Mile Island. More recent campaigning has related to several nuclear power plants, the proposed Yucca Mountain waste repository, the Hanford Site, the Nevada Test Site, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and transportation of nuclear waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Some scientists and engineers have expressed reservations about nuclear power, including: Barry Commoner, S. David Freeman, John Gofman, Amory Lovins, Arjun Makhijani, Gregory Minor and Joseph Romm.

Unit 1 had its license temporarily suspended following the incident at Unit 2. Although the citizens of the three counties surrounding the site voted by a margin of 3:1 to permanently retire Unit 1, it was permitted to resume operations in 1985. General Public Utilities Corporation, the plant’s owner, formed General Public Utilities Nuclear Corporation (GPUN) as a new subsidiary to own and operate the company’s fleet of nuclear facilities, including Three Mile Island. The plant had previously been operated by Metropolitan Edison Company (Met-Ed), one of GPU’s regional utility operating companies. In 1996, General Public Utilities shortened its name to GPU Inc. Three Mile Island Unit 1 was sold to AmerGen Energy Corporation, a joint venture between Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO), and British Energy, in 1998. In 2000, PECO merged with Unicom Corporation to form Exelon Corporation, which acquired British Energy’s share of AmerGen in 2003. Today, AmerGen LLC is a fully owned subsidiary of Exelon Generation and owns TMI Unit 1, Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, and Clinton Power Station. These three units, in addition to Exelon’s other nuclear units, are operated by Exelon Nuclear Inc., an Exelon subsidiary.

General Public Utilities was legally obliged to continue to maintain and monitor the site, and therefore retained ownership of Unit 2 when Unit 1 was sold to AmerGen in 1998. GPU Inc. was acquired by First Energy Corporation in 2001, and subsequently dissolved. First Energy then contracted out the maintenance and administration of Unit 2 to AmerGen. Unit 2 has been administered by Exelon Nuclear since 2003, when Exelon Nuclear’s parent company, Exelon, bought out the remaining shares of AmerGen, inheriting First Energy’s maintenance contract. Unit 2 continues to be licensed and regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a condition known as Post Defueling Monitored Storage (PDMS).

Today, the TMI-2 reactor is permanently shut down and defueled, with the reactor coolant system drained, the radioactive water decontaminated and evaporated, radioactive waste shipped off-site to a disposal site, reactor fuel and core debris shipped off-site to a Department of Energy facility, and the remainder of the site being monitored. The owner says it will keep the facility in long-term, monitored storage until the operating license for the TMI-1 plant expires at which time both plants will be decommissioned. TMI-1’s current license expires in 2014. On January 8, 2008, AmerGen Energy Corporation, the operator of TMI-1, submitted a license renewal application to the NRC. If the license is renewed, TMI-1’s license will be extended to 2034.

The China Syndrome is a 1979 thriller film which tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant. It stars Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, Scott Brady, James Hampton, Peter Donat, Richard Herd, and Wilford Brimley.

The movie was written by Mike Gray, T.S. Cook and James Bridges. It was directed by Bridges.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Lemmon), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Fonda), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (George Jenkins, Arthur Jeph Parker) and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. The film was also nominated for the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival and Lemmon won Best Actor for his performance. The movie’s script won the 1980 Writers Guild of America award.

Duration : 0:9:23

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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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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 10

The pivotal force of the opposition; prone to bring about a change in IRAN, revealed through the PMOI that despite the NIE report and International reluctance in inspecting the Iranian threat on nuclear arsenal, The mullahs have managed to misguide the International speculations, over their nuclear intentions, in a new revealed site called his site is using robots to verify and speed the nuclear acquirements of the fundamentalist regime in Iran. They have evolved their activities since April 2007 through a newly organized command base on nuclear arsenal in Khojeyr area. The regime is using this operation as a main success under the secret name ALIREZA NOORI .The NCRI said that the arsenal is not only against the National interests of the Iranian people but will be used as a leverage to blackmail and stay afloat this regime. They also said that this is exactly the result of appeasement policy of the West, in which they have labeled the PMOI the main opposition movement, playing softball. This is an International license for this regime to acquire the arsenal. The NCRI and PMOI, have so far have had 80 revelations so far ,each proved in time, but never used to stop the nuclear arsenal, because of this policy. The West has to change policy; there is no possibility of any change of behavior of the regime. The only possible and peaceful means to stop war, and genocide is to side with the Iranian people and first to delist the main opposition to the regime.

Duration : 0:5:33

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