Defiance from Iran

Wow, I wasn't expecting this! This weekend President Ahmadinejad ordered the Iranian nuclear agency to start planning for 10 new uranium enrichment plants! This comes on the tails of an IAEA resolution that was highly critical of Iran's nuclear program. The defiant announcement of plans to build 10 new enrichment plans will definitely change the dynamic of international negotiations, and is likely to hasten talk of serious sanctions.

Here's a BBC article on Iran's announcement.

Also, I followed a link to a long commentary by an Indian newspaper, the Hindu Times. It was a very interesting critique of the Obama administration's handling of this whole situation.
Hindu Times critique of Obama's approach to Iran

For background, here's an article on the IAEA resolution. It's also significant to note that the long-time head of the IAEA is retiring this week, which definitely adds some uncertainty to the situation with Iran.
Wall Street Journal article on IAEA reaching "dead end" with Iran

So much "nuclear news" lately...

Here's a trio of interesting news stories:

1) We've run out of a key material used to make radiation detectors used in ports around the U.S. The detectors in question are sensitive neutron detectors that are capable of detecting the neutrons produced by Plutonium-240 decay. These are the best detectors for potentially telling that a shipping container or vehicle is carrying plutonium or a plutonium bomb. The material needed for these detectors is Helium-3, which is actually a decay product of tritium, which itself is (ironically) an H-bomb component. The U.S. is no longer making tritium, so we have also run out of our resources of Helium-3 for making bomb-detectors. This is particularly interesting to me since my first couple of years of graduate school were spent building neutron detectors using Helium-3...
New York Times article on shortages in nuclear detector materials

2) There's a high-level committee of civilian scientists in the U.S. called the "Jason panel", who meet every year to advise the government on defense topics. They have just released a report that claims that there is no need to build replacement warheads to maintain our nuclear arsenal. The report claims that simply building replacement parts and maintaining existing warheads should be sufficient, according to current science. That's important - many people have argued that we need to start building weapons again because our arsenal is aging.
New York Times article on Jason panel report

3) A Swiss scientist just published some papers within the scientific community claiming that we might run out of the world's Uranium resources as soon as 2013! That would certainly squash any kind of "nuclear renaissance". This isn't making a lot of news yet but has appeared on a few blogs.
PhysOrg article on potential uranium shortfalls
This was an interesting article to have in mind when I came across another news article about lawsuits blocking a proposed Uranium mine near the Grand Canyon:
Arizona Daily Sun article on conservationist lawsuits blocking a uranium mine

Iran performs military drills to prove it can protect its nuclear sites

Tensions seem to be growing over Iran's nuclear sites. This weekend Iran performed military drills to prove they are capable of defending their nuclear sites, and potentially retaliating. They still claim they are willing to work out the fuel-swap agreement, but only under some additional conditions. The aspect of the whole situation that seems most unstable and complex to me is how the internal political debates in Iran are playing out, and how this has the potential to undermine international dialog.
L.A. Times article on the military drills


Also, it's interesting reading news from Tehran... here's an article making the case that Iran genuinely needs the nuclear fuel for medical purposes:
Tehran Times article on medical need for isotopes generated at reactors

Hey guys, check out Atomic Cafe made in 1982. Its an composition of newsreel footage, government archives, military training films and 1950s music reflecting the chilling and somewhat hilarious Cold War-era paranoia in the United States. You can easily find it with a Google Video search, but here is a link to the first 10 minutes:
Atomic Cafe 82 Min Documentary - VidoEmo - Emotional Video Unity

- Kelsey

Nuclear Policy readings (plus, link to update on Iran)

Howdy,

Thanks for all the great posts lately. Those postcards from Nevada are amazing! Unbelievable.

Check the portal page for the written assignment due next week in class, and also for one of the three readings. The other two are linked here:
Obama's April speech in Prague on nuclear policy
A 1999 draft document outlining India's nuclear policy

Also, here's an article from today reporting that the IAEA is expressing suspicions that Iran is hiding more secret nuclear plants, beyond the one we've discussed at Qum:
New York Times article on inspectors in Iran

Nevada Testing Tourism

Nevada always finds a way to make a tourist attraction out of something. The testing site in Nevada is relatively close to Las Vegas somewhere about 75 miles from the strip. The most hilarious is of course Miss Atomic Bomb. The casinos would advertise day trips out to bleachers near the north edge of the city to watch the explosions, sometimes they would be given badges which showed radiation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_badge_dosimeter. Most of the time they didn't.

Has anyone read the novel Hiroshima by John Hersey? I remember reading it in High School and it was one of the most intense reading experiences of my life. It details the experience of living through the blast from the perspectives of six people on the ground. I'll post some excerpts if I can find them.
--Margot

Obama seeking China's co-operation

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8362607.stm

"Reviving the global economy, dealing with a warming planet, securing future energy supplies, limiting the spread of nuclear weapons - these are among the biggest issues facing America's president and none can be tackled without China's help."

-Francesca S.

Hiroshima song

~Marissa and Swati

Right at Your Door

Hi everyone,
A few days back i watched this interesting Movie called
Right at Your Door(2006). It's about a dirty bomb that goes off in Los Angeles, spreading a toxic cloud. The movie shows the after math of a bomb and it kind of throws everyone in panic and noone know what to do. The whole moovie is kind of boring but it starts being interesting towards the end.
You can find a trailer for it on youtube and see if its something you might want to check out.


-Lesya B

For next week: Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Hi folks,

For next week, I'd like everyone to familiarize themselves with the history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I have posted a few interesting articles and videos, but I would actually prefer to have everyone do a little of their own research and see what they find. The topics I would like you all to think about are below. Note that there isn't any written assignment for this week, though.

Questions to try to answer in your readings/viewings/explorations:
The "Manhattan project": what was it? Who was involved?
Why did we bomb Japan in 1945?
What were the differences between the bombs used in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki cases?
What were the initial casualties and effects of both explosions?
What was the experience like for eyewitnesses?
What are some of the legacies?

A few links to get you started:
A U.S. Military video about the bombings, from early 1946 (everyone should watch this - very interesting)
A U.S. Department of Energy online history of the Manhattan Project. This is a very comprehensive site, with probably more information than you want. I would particularly recommend taking a look at the links in the section called the Dawn of the Atomic Era.
A commemorative website from the 60 year anniversary

Some survivor accounts can be found in many different places. A few to try:
"Voice of Hibakusha"
Re-post of art by survivors, which was posted earlier by Matt R.

New York Times article

Power for U.S. from Russia's Old Nuclear Weapons

I found this to be very interesting, especially the percentages concerning energy sources in the U.S. Enjoy!

- Christl

Why the U.S. Needs Nuclear Power

Dr. Aris Candris wrote this piece which was published in today's Wall Street Journal. Dr. Candris is president and CEO of Westinghouse Electric Co.

As America climbs out of one of its worst recessions in decades, we must keep in mind that long-term economic growth requires an abundant, affordable supply of electricity.

By 2030, electricity demand in the U.S. is expected to grow by 21% from its current level, according to the U.S. Energy Administration. To meet our needs we have several options.

One is to increase our dependence on fossil energy sources. Unfortunately, this will only add to the environmental burden caused by burning carbon-based fuels. Another option, the Obama administration's goal, is to increase the supply of energy sources that reduce the country's carbon footprint. These sources include solar, wind, hydro, biofuels and geothermal energy, as well as new domestic sources of natural gas, which burns cleaner than oil or coal.

Toward that end, the proposed Senate climate-change bill, sponsored by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) and John Kerry (D., Mass.), provides incentives to electric companies to use energy sources that reduce carbon emissions. The bill also expands federal loan guarantees to support the financing of new nuclear plant projects.

These loan guarantees are crucial for providing the financial security that's needed to build advanced nuclear energy plants. These new plants will promote energy independence, improve our country's economic competitiveness, and help provide a cleaner environment for future generations.

To be sure, the U.S needs to embrace all forms of renewable and sustainable energy technologies whenever possible. But the simple, unavoidable truth is that all renewable energy sources produce only a small percentage of our total electricity output. Wind and solar combined, for example, account for less than 5% of the total U.S. electricity supply. It is doubtful that they can be scaled up to a degree that would make a significant impact on rising electricity demand over the short or intermediate term.

Greater energy efficiency and conservation also make good business and environmental sense. But a 21% growth in demand for electric power, compounded by the need to replace aging power plants, is too great to satisfy with energy efficiency and conservation alone.

Nuclear energy, therefore, must play a larger role in our effort to become and remain energy independent, and to reduce carbon emissions. The growth of nuclear power will also have peripheral benefits, as it constitutes an economic stimulus package in and of itself.

To date, the recent growth of the nuclear energy industry has created at least 15,000 jobs, with many more on the horizon. Westinghouse's work alone in the deployment of four new nuclear plants now under construction in China will create or sustain an additional 5,000 U.S. jobs in 20 states. These jobs are in fields such as engineering and design, and in the manufacturing of fuel rods and assemblies, pumps, motors, circuit breakers, etc.

Beyond that, the American Council on Global Nuclear Competitiveness (a trade group) estimates the nuclear energy industry will create as many as 350,000 jobs over the next 20 years, many in traditional building trades (welders, pipe-fitters, construction workers) that have been hard hit by both global competition and the current economic downturn.

These projections are grounded in reality. To date, 25 new nuclear power plants have been announced for the U.S., 14 of them by Westinghouse. We expect the first of these new plants to come online about 2016.

Meanwhile, China and India have announced major nuclear power construction programs that will bring as many as 50 new plants online in each country over the next two decades. Nuclear power plants have proven to be the low-cost source of baseload electricity (electricity in large volume that is required all the time, and which is generated essentially only by coal and nuclear fuel). And as countries such as China and India increase the percentage of electricity generated by nuclear energy, American businesses and manufacturing companies will be at a distinct competitive disadvantage if they are forced to rely on electricity generated by comparatively more expensive energy sources.

President Barack Obama has repeatedly stated his belief that nuclear energy must play an important part in America's energy future, and he supports the Senate climate-change bill. In a town-hall meeting in New Orleans on Oct. 15, the president said: "We need to increase domestic energy production, employ safe nuclear energy like France, but also develop new sources of energy efficiency."

Mr. Obama's reference to France is highly relevant to the controversial issue of how to manage used reactor fuel rods. Until very recently, the U.S. government and nuclear energy utilities had planned to place this material in deep storage at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. However, because of political considerations, storage at Yucca Mountain will likely never happen.

Instead, Westinghouse and others in the industry are exploring alternatives such as the recycling of used fuel. This technology, developed in the 1970s, is used in France, which is the world's most nuclear-dependent and energy-independent country. Used fuel rods contain upwards of 85% of their original energy. Tapping this energy through recycling is environmentally sound and consistent with the goal of energy independence.

With huge new finds of domestic natural gas and a commitment to renewables, the U.S. has never been closer to realizing true energy independence. But to seize this opportunity, nuclear energy and renewable energy sources must be developed in harmony to provide the abundant clean energy that the American economy needs to grow.

U.S. Nuclear Power, Waste Issues, and Non-Proliferation Policy

There is so much going on in the "nuclear world" right now that I found it impossible to pick just a couple of articles to assign for next week. Consequently, I would like to have you read a whole bunch of articles, and I have scaled back the written questions so that they are pretty minimal (check the portal page for the pdf file with homework questions).

I hope that you'll find these topics as interesting as I do. We'll talk about these a bit at the beginning of class next week but then we will also start launching into discussions about nuclear weapons. The final article in this list is a first step in that direction, since it deals with current U.S. non-proliferation policy.

Future of Nuclear Power Plants in the U.S.:
New York Times article on our aging reactors
New York Times article on delays in the planning for new Westinghouse AP1000 reactors.

Politics of Nuclear Power in the U.S.:
A.P. article on how nuclear power is finding a way in to the debates on climate legislation

Nuclear Waste Issues, in the post-Yucca-Mountain era:
Scientific American article on nuclear waste issues
New York Times article on the Nuclear waste Technical Review Board's current activities

An Opinion Piece on Reprocessing:
L.A. Times editorial from mid-September by Frank von Hippel

U.S. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Policy
Foreign Policy article by Hilary Clinton

On Monuments

Here is the famous poem "Ozymandias" by Shelley (1818), which seems to relate to this question we discussed today about designing monuments that will last (and warn future peoples) for tens of thousands of years:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.<sup>[1]


More:</sup>


(from the DOE site)


(from an online exhibit)


^{Yucca mountain monument contest winning entry: blue genetically engineered cacti by ashok sukumaran)}




(concept by Michael Brill and art by Safdar Abidi, from WIPP exhibit on messages for 12000AD)