Erik Moeller
boosted
Science 2025 Breakthrough of the Year: the seemingly unstoppable growth of renewable energy
Science 2025 Breakthrough of the Year: the seemingly unstoppable growth of renewable energy
beka valentine
boosted
Humans make mistakes all the time, yet nuclear power is extremely safe. A wide range of precautions and protocols are in place to ensure nuclear safety, starting from the work culture. This interesting video by Smarter Every Day shows the refueling process of a nuclear reactor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0afQ6w3Bjw
While seeing insides of a nuclear reactors and how they're refueled is interesting, I find the safety&security processes and practices around the process even more interesting.
This video gives you some idea why nuclear power-related accidents are so rare. People do make mistakes, but the overlapping and multilayered safety&security processes catch the mistakes before they can lead to bigger problems.
There are things to learn here for even the world outside of the nuclear industry:
- Having a work culture that encourages reporting mistakes without reprisal and reprimand helps catch issues early, as they are more likely to be reported.
- Identifying the critical systems and having layered safety&security is important. Not everything needs to be super tight. Applying the super tight rules everywhere would likely just make people ignore the rules, at least in part.
- Training is important. Understanding the reason why tight safety/security is in place in a system is crucial. With this understanding, it is more likely that the rules are obeyed.
Humans make mistakes all the time, yet nuclear power is extremely safe. A wide range of precautions and protocols are in place to ensure nuclear safety, starting from the work culture. This interesting video by Smarter Every Day shows the refueling process of a nuclear reactor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0afQ6w3Bjw
While seeing insides of a nuclear reactors and how they're refueled is interesting, I find the safety&security processes and practices around the process even more interesting.
This video gives you some idea why nuclear power-related accidents are so rare. People do make mistakes, but the overlapping and multilayered safety&security processes catch the mistakes before they can lead to bigger problems.
There are things to learn here for even the world outside of the nuclear industry:
- Having a work culture that encourages reporting mistakes without reprisal and reprimand helps catch issues early, as they are more likely to be reported.
- Identifying the critical systems and having layered safety&security is important. Not everything needs to be super tight. Applying the super tight rules everywhere would likely just make people ignore the rules, at least in part.
- Training is important. Understanding the reason why tight safety/security is in place in a system is crucial. With this understanding, it is more likely that the rules are obeyed.
Lisa Melton
boosted
Exclusive: #US Dept of #Energy forms $1B #supercomputer & #AI partnership with #AMD
The US has formed a $1 billion partnership with Advanced Micro Devices to construct 2 supercomputers that will tackle large scientific problems ranging from #NuclearPower to #cancer treatments to #NationalSecurity, Energy Secy Chris Wright & AMD CEO Lisa Su told Reuters.
#science #law #EnvironmentalLaw #electricity #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-department-energy-forms-1-billion-supercomputer-ai-partnership-with-amd-2025-10-27/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement
The US is building the 2 machines to ensure the country has enough #supercomputers to run increasingly complex experiments that require harnessing enormous amounts of data-crunching capability. The machines can accelerate the process of making scientific discoveries in areas the US is focused on.
#science #law #EnvironmentalLaw #AI #tech #energy #electricity #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis
#Energy Secy Wright said the systems would "supercharge" advances in #NuclearPower & #fusion energy, #technologies for #defense & #NationalSecurity, & the development of #drugs.
Scientists & companies are trying to replicate fusion, the reaction that fuels the sun, by jamming light atoms in a plasma gas under intense heat & pressure to release massive amounts of energy.
#science #law #EnvironmentalLaw #AI #tech #electricity #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis
Exclusive: #US Dept of #Energy forms $1B #supercomputer & #AI partnership with #AMD
The US has formed a $1 billion partnership with Advanced Micro Devices to construct 2 supercomputers that will tackle large scientific problems ranging from #NuclearPower to #cancer treatments to #NationalSecurity, Energy Secy Chris Wright & AMD CEO Lisa Su told Reuters.
#science #law #EnvironmentalLaw #electricity #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-department-energy-forms-1-billion-supercomputer-ai-partnership-with-amd-2025-10-27/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement
Poem
I went swimming in a nuclear pool
Call me what you will, I am no fool
It's the warmest water in Michigan I say
Better than a radium spa, any day!
I dove right into the nuclear plant pool
Hey, stop calling me a fool!
I no longer need a flash light in the dark
And you can see me glow as I walk across the park
Swallowing radioactive water is not so bad
Though the beeping of that Geiger counter is not so rad
I went back to work the next day
But why do people keep running away?
#poem (human composed)
Contractor falls into tank of water at Palisades
"COVERT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — A worker sustained minor injuries when they fell into a water-filled tank at the Palisades nuclear power plant in Southwest Michigan.
It happened Tuesday at the plant along Lake Michigan in Covert Township, south of South Haven, according to a report filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Palisades owner Holtec International told News 8 in a statement that a contractor was working in the containment building when they fell into a tank above the reactor that was filled with water in preparation for future fuel movements. The report says the contractor swallowed some of the water."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/contractor-falls-tank-water-palisades-171906888.html
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is expected to push for the accelerated revival of nuclear power to tackle inflation, a source of public discontent, with reactor restarts key to reducing costly fuel imports. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2025/10/23/economy/new-pm-takaichi-nuclear-power/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #economy #sanaetakaichi #nuclearpower #energy #lng
Alex Akselrod
boosted
Whee
The Guardian:Russia accused of sabotaging last power line into Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
"...Russia accused of sabotaging last power line into Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Satellite images of damaged area show no sign of shelling that Moscow says prevents repair
Dan Sabbagh
Wed 1 Oct 2025 15.30 EDT
Last modified on Wed 1 Oct 2025 21.30 EDT
Russia has been accused of deliberately sabotaging the last remaining power line into the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, after satellite imagery of the damaged area showed no sign of Ukrainian shelling that Moscow says is preventing a repair.
Outside power, normally used for cooling, has now been down for a record eight days, forcing the Russian operators of the plant in occupied Ukraine to rely on back-up diesel generators to avoid a meltdown of its six reactor cores...."
Whee
The Guardian:Russia accused of sabotaging last power line into Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
"...Russia accused of sabotaging last power line into Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Satellite images of damaged area show no sign of shelling that Moscow says prevents repair
Dan Sabbagh
Wed 1 Oct 2025 15.30 EDT
Last modified on Wed 1 Oct 2025 21.30 EDT
Russia has been accused of deliberately sabotaging the last remaining power line into the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, after satellite imagery of the damaged area showed no sign of Ukrainian shelling that Moscow says is preventing a repair.
Outside power, normally used for cooling, has now been down for a record eight days, forcing the Russian operators of the plant in occupied Ukraine to rely on back-up diesel generators to avoid a meltdown of its six reactor cores...."
Indonesia claiming the Cesium-137 in their shrimp from materials from a nuclear reactor, used to create steel.
"...Hanif explained that the element Cesium-137 found at the site came from a nuclear reactor, while Indonesia itself did not have such a reactor...."
BBC: US energy chief tells BBC nuclear fusion will soon power the world
"...Don't worry too much about planet-warming emissions, the US Energy Secretary has told the BBC, because within five years AI will have enabled the harnessing of nuclear fusion – the energy that powers the sun and stars...."
(AKA "Bulls***t Or AI Koolaid, What Did This Man Ingest")
"Those building solar farms, however, say building at scale is faster, cheaper and more efficient than a network of home-scale generation projects."
#GeorgeDriver, 2023
https://northandsouth.co.nz/2023/07/24/renewable-energy-by-2050/
I'm sure they don't have any vested interest in having people think that ...
(2/2)
"Ralph Sims says in future, small-scale nuclear power may prove more economic, and may be more palatable to the public if mass scale wind and solar farms are the alternative."
#GeorgeDriver, 2023
https://northandsouth.co.nz/2023/07/24/renewable-energy-by-2050/
Just no. Not now, not ever. I would happily risk prison time for nonviolent direct action to prevent construction even starting on a nuclear power plant in Aotearoa, and I doubt I'm alone in that.
(1/2)
Ika Makimaki
boosted
BBC: Jellyfish swarm forces French nuclear plant to shut
BBC: Jellyfish swarm forces French nuclear plant to shut
Electricite de France was forced to shut four atomic reactors after jellyfish clogged up filter drums at its Gravelines power plant. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/12/world/science-health/jellyfish-france-nuclear-heat-wave/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #sciencehealth #jellyfish #heatwaves #france #nuclearpower #climatechange
Kathy Reid
boosted
Four reactors at France's Gravelines nuclear plant have been forced to shut down because of a surge of jellyfish that clogged the cooling system. The plant uses water from a canal connected to the North Sea, which has a growing jellyfish population due to warming seas. Gravelines is one of France's largest nuclear facilities. EDF, the plant operator, says that the facility is undamaged but will need to be cleaned.
#France#NuclearPower#Jellyfish#MarineLife#Environment#ClimateChange#ClimateCrisis
Four reactors at France's Gravelines nuclear plant have been forced to shut down because of a surge of jellyfish that clogged the cooling system. The plant uses water from a canal connected to the North Sea, which has a growing jellyfish population due to warming seas. Gravelines is one of France's largest nuclear facilities. EDF, the plant operator, says that the facility is undamaged but will need to be cleaned.
#France#NuclearPower#Jellyfish#MarineLife#Environment#ClimateChange#ClimateCrisis
Christine Lemmer-Webber
boosted
What could go wrong?
"Trump expels all but one member of nuclear waste oversight board”