Algae for fuel in Japan

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/11/22/scientist-says-he-can-end-japans-energy-woes-by-turning-algae-into-fuel/

I just thought this was interesting, since it also reminded me of the previous post about the algae energy house too.

-Maria

Energy Dept. Is Told to Stop Collecting Fee for Nuclear Waste Disposal

Energy Dept. Is Told to Stop Collecting Fee for Nuclear Waste Disposal

"A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Energy Department must stop collecting fees of about $750 million a year that are paid by consumers and intended to fund a program for the disposal of nuclear waste. The reason, the court said, is that there is no such program."  

 Article dealing with nuclear waste/ Yucca mountain .   

-Marianne

Nuclear disarmament at the touch of a few buttons

In the film G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the president of the United States demonstrates the solution to all of our nuclear weapon problems in a few short minutes. Here's the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzvnDaL8bnc

Ridiculous, but humorous.

-MIles Worthington

Wind Power in Japan

http://japandailypress.com/japan-wind-power-has-capacity-to-replace-nuclear-floating-turbines-tested-near-fukushima-0939244/

I found this tiny, but interesting article about the capability of of wind power in Japan.

-Maria 

Final paper resources

I posted a bunch of general resources to this blog for last year's class that are still mostly quite useful, so I suggest browsing that post:
http://theunstablenucleus.blogspot.com/2012/11/extra-resources-on-nuclear-weapons.html
It contains links to key policy documents, anti-nuclear organizations, and an article on why nuclear weapons should be given the Nobel Peace Prize.  Lots of good stuff!

For this semester, here are a few additional interesting starting points for final paper issues/topics:

1) Recent book on the safety of nuclear weapons:  Eric Schlosser has written a book called "Command and Control:  Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety."
There have been loads of interviews with him and articles about the book and related topics, so even if you don't read the whole book you can track down some interesting commentaries just by finding some of those articles.

2)  The Union of Concerned Scientists has a fact sheet on nuclear weapons facilities in the U.S.
Start here to find out what they are and where they are, but then look at news sources to see what current economic/social/political issues might surround these facilities and their work.

3) Articles on a few random specific topics:
A thought-provoking analysis of the situation with Iran from the Economist
Washington Post on the ending of an agreement between the U.S. and Russia for recycling bomb-grade uranium
National Journal piece on U.S. missile defense and related issues with Russia

Happy paper writing!

pop culture radioactivity in "fringe"

So on the super non-scientific side-- "Fringe" is a pretty dumb/ super fun TV show about the FBI's "fringe division," who deal with weird/ unexplainable phenomena mostly having to do with crazy chemical weapons and mechanical portals to a parallel universe. I've noticed them throw around "radioactive" as a catch-all scare word a few times but this one episode, "The Cure," centers on it in a pretty ridiculous way. A woman who gets an experimental cure for a disease walks into a diner and within minutes everyone in the room starts spurting blood out their eye sockets and dies-- purportedly because the cure made her radioactive. While I think scientifically debunking pop culture sci-fi stuff is a little silly, I found a few articles about the realities - here's one: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/4288445

Sadly I couldn't find a clip of the diner scene :( but here's a still of the diner window for dramatic effect

-selden

David Suzuki talks about Fukushima

Here's a somewhat heavy video from a talk with scientists David Schindler and David Suzuki about the Fukushima disaster. They talk about risk assessment and the potential for another meltdown in the forth reactor that could arise if a 7 or above earthquake were to happen again in Japan. This could cause severe problems for the country as well as affect the west coast of the U.S. I looked more into Suzuki and it doesn't seem like he's the type of scientist who is out to make a name for himself by scaring people, it seems like he's just trying to inform the public with the real facts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=iTqzqoKMLEg#t=171

-Austin

     I recently stubbled upon this interesting film called "Radio Bikini". It provides an account of the events that transpired on the Bikini Islands during nuclear bomb tests. Much of the film is taken from the documentation done by the government. Footage focuses on the lives of soldiers, camera men, and locals, their individual accounts are also provided.
I found that it put a face to the location, and made it clear that peoples' lives will have forever been changed by the events that transpired May 20, 1956.

-Sara

A few interesting things

I forgot to post for the last few weeks, so I'm going to make up for it by posting everything I meant to post.

First, an article from Scientific American that says that there is more radiation released from coal burning than from a running nuclear plant. I'm personally not surprised by that. Ideally no radiation should be released from a nuclear plant, whereas coal plants don't do much to stop emissions.

Here is the link to that.

Next, a Wired science article expanding on the potential use of Thorium as a new, better source of nuclear energy. It even mentions the molten salt reactor design, which I must say sounds awesome.

Another link.

Finally, on a slightly sillier note, I found the website to a 'long-term' luxury bomb shelter. It's kind of hilarious. I doubt any number of amenities and fancy rugs could reassure anyone if any situation arose where something like this would be necessary.

Last link.

Okay, that's enough stuff for now. I'll try to find something interesting for next week too.

Ben Roy

Cockroaches Surviving A Nuclear Blast?

Here's a short Mythbusters video about the theory that cockroaches can survive a nuclear explosion...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-6cIy_s8pQ

+ Karly

Interesting infographic from the Union of Concerned Scientists

Related to the NRC hearing discussed below, the Union of Concerned Scientists (a non-profit group that often critiques the nuclear industry and the U.S. regulatory agencies) has put together an infographic trying to explain the nuclear waste situation and advocate for particular approaches.  It's interesting - see what you think:

http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/images/np/nuclear-waste-dry-cask-infographic-large.jpg

NRC hearing near Chicago next week!

In case you are interested, there's a public hearing to get comments on "Waste Confidence" for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  Here are the details:

Public Hearing on Nuclear Waste in Oak Brook
Date: Tuesday, November 12
Time: 6:00-10:00 p.m.
Location: Chicago Marriott Oak Brook, 1401 West 22nd St., Oak Brook, IL 60523

Here's information from the NRC about this process:
http://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/wcd/pub-involve.html

If you can't attend this hearing but want to weigh in on current nuclear waste policy, the NRC is also accepting written comments.  This is an opportunity to push the NRC towards particular approaches to nuclear waste storage if you have strong opinions about how it should be done. 

More on David Ropeik vs. Helen Caldicott

There's been more exchange in the New York Times about the risks of radiation.  The "Dot Earth" blog reports on fact-checking Helen Caldicott's statements about studies of Chernobyl casualties... and pokes some holes in her argument:
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/helen-caldicott-chernobyl-and-the-new-york-academy-of-sciences/

Pandora's Promise

Tonight at 8pm on CNN they are premiering a new documentary called Pandora's Promise. The documentary focuses in on the benefits of nuclear power and claims to "explode" your preconceived thoughts on what you thought you knew about nuclear energy.

Watch it! The website says it will also soon be on Netflix.

http://pandoraspromise.com/

+ Karly