Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with nuclear

Thorium - the other nuclear fuel

sien — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:05:52 -0800

Why haven't thorium nuclear reactors been used much compared to Uranium reactors? It would appear there are sizable reserves of thorium available and that reactors based on thorium would produce considerably less nuclear waste and could be considerably safer than Uranium based ones. Given that thorium reactors would appear to have advantages what is the catch? One reason that appears is that the Uranium fuel cycle sets up the infrastructure to support nuclear weapons. However, there are a number of countries such as Japan, Canada, Sweden and others that have nuclear reactors but no weapons why didn't they start using Thorium reactors or at least start researching?

Or is it just the cost of an alternative system to Uranium based reactors? But given that Canadian CANDU reactors can use Thorium why haven't they?

Note, answers about how bad nuclear power is in general are off topic. Please don't put them here. That is a separate issue.

It gets 20,000 miles to the isotype!

Funmonkey1 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:12:49 -0800

[ScienceFilter]: I want to drive a nuclear powered car. If nuclear power is good enough for submarines, why can't the technology be scaled down? Looking for big picture such as limitations, environment, storage, infrastructure and adaptations required.

How destructive are current U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals relative to their maximum levels?

Joe Beese — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:54:02 -0800

How destructive are current U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals relative to their maximum levels? For simplicity's sake, we can define "destructiveness" as combined gross megatonnage, unless you have a better idea. I'm also assuming that it makes sense from a political/military perspective to consider weapons stored in former Soviet Union countries as belonging to Russia's maximum arsenal but not to its current arsenal, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Bonus points if you can find a link to a widely circulated graphic from the early-80s freeze movement. It represented the world's nuclear stockpile with dots placed in a rectangular matrix. Each dot represented one Hiroshima bomb, I think. One group of 3 dots was circled to indicate all the explosions in World War II - or something like that. And above them were dots and dots and dots...

Information on the Chinese nuclear power industry

tawny — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 06:44:36 -0800

I have to produce a report on the Chinese nuclear power industry. Are there any good resources online to get me started? The focus is mainly on links between the state and business, and risk assessment for interested parties. I can read Mandarin.

Inverted maritime nuclear reactors

sindark — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:43:40 -0800

What design features, if any, allow nuclear reactors on submarines to survive being inverted? Most nuclear reactors don't need to be designed with the possibility of turning upside down in mind, but I suppose those on nuclear submarines must be. While rolling over wouldn't be pleasant for the crew, I imagine it's something that could conceivably happen in battle or as the result of an accident. As such, it might be a possibility that the designers kept in mind when designing these reactors. How would they be different from conventional reactors? Is any information about this publicly available?

I'm trying to recreate a nuclear apocalypse

ictow — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:22:35 -0800

I need an audio clip of a nuclear attack warning. Double points go to 50s-style announcer versus EAS computer voice. Triple points go to clips that are free and easy to get. I've got the explosion part, I just need that foreboding warning before it happens. Thanks!

Post-Nuclear comic book?

arniec — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:41:33 -0800

What is this post-nuclear holocaust comic book I had as a kid? In the early 80's I went to Canada and bought a couple comic books that were in digest form. Both were collections.

The one I'm trying to remember seemed to be an anthology of nuclear war and post-nuclear war stories. The stories were not connected in any way other than it was after the nukes went off, and I recall the art being drastically different in the stories as well.

The story I remember best was a boy and his dog who survived the blast but his parents did not. He wasn't sure what to do or where to go. It ended talking about how his skin was turning green, his dog's hair was falling out, and he felt sick...

Anyone able to find this book for me?

To help with the timing, the other comic I bought with it was a collection of "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" where Jimmy had a dream that he was king of an alien world, then he woke up and told Superman about it, and Supes wondered if that world was a dream of if the "real world" with Superman was a dream.

Thanks for any help!

The Microwave of Death !?!?

dancestoblue — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:04:03 -0800

Is cooking (or re-heating) my food with a microwave destroying the food, sucking out nutrients that would not be removed by heating on the stove top in a stainless pan? I've heard this here and there, dated an Earth Mother South Austin Woman who was/likely is certain that I may as well put nuclear waste products AND rat poison in my food, pretty much heard the same about twenty minutes ago from a woman working in the vitamin/supplements department at Whole Foods, yet another Austin Earth Mother type; just the fact that I said the word 'microwave' caused her to get a big frowny face, looked like she had gas or something. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I like to toss broccoli with just a shade of water into the microwave for a couple of minutes, or re-heat my rice and beans or soup or whatever. Related: Does cooking vegetables in a pressure cooker rob them of needed nutrients? I just Googled and found widely varying opinions, and all of them certain of their validity: Either "Microwaves Are Death !!!" (insert heavy, unhappy music here, music that starts on its own upon opening the page) or "Hey, what the heck, those folks are nuts; microwave cooking is the best thing since sliced bread."

So I'm coming here to get the bottom line.

If you are of the "Microwaves Are Death" community, do you now or have you ever owned Birkenstock sandals, or were you considering purchasing some this afternoon?

If you are of the "Microwaves Are Just Swell" camp, are you smoking a cigarette as you read this, and/or maybe sucking down a MacDonalds Quadruple Bacon Burger of Death supersized with fries and a diet coke?

All kidding aside, I trust this community. Give me the news, gang.

Thanx!

How come we aren't all mutants?

SpacemanStix — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:51:55 -0800

According to this chart, there have been 2,422 nuclear explosions since 1945, including above ground, under ground, and in the sea. I'm somewhat amazed that this isn't having more of permanent negative effect. Does spreading out all the nuclear activity allow our ecosystem to absorb the radiation in reasonable intervals? Chernobyl has been a wasteland since the reactor meltdown. Was it simply that much more radioactive than actually testing bombs?

Bomber? WWIII? Someone ejects? Help me remember this movie.

jimmyhutch — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:19:13 -0800

A bomber movie - I remember it from childhood. WWIII, drama, I'm pretty sure it was in color. I remember this movie from my childhood that starts out with a B-52 bomber (I think) delivering its payload, and then the crew dealing with their new reality that, since WWIII has started, there's really nowhere for them to land - or really even exist. One crew member ejects to his death (supposedly), and the other crew members keep flying.

I also remember in this movie that the president survives whatever attack occured, but is injured. That's about all I can remember. But this movie has been plaguing my mind lately, and I want to see it again.

I know for a fact it isn't Fail Safe, The Day After (1983, Jon Lithgow), or Dr. Strangelove.

Anyone got any idea what this could be called? I seem to remember something about a title - "The Rockets' Red Glare" or something? IMDb has not been so helpful, nor has The Google. I checked for several possible titles, but "The Rockets' Red Glare" definitely ain't it.

Help me find an animated TV ad from this past summer.

itchi23 — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 12:19:49 -0800

Where can I find a (preferably downloadable) online copy of a recent TV commercial advertising a nuclear power company? I saw the ad all summer on CNN (United States) and I'm not sure if they're still running. The ad is a quirky animated piece showing the step-by-step process of nuclear energy, from mining to usage. It's presented in a 3D isometric perspective, similar to eboy/pixel art. I'd like to present it to a class I'm teaching, as the ad style liberally borrows from a Royksopp music video from a few years back. Thanks!

Where's the truth?

pelican — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:23:25 -0800

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran is only seeking "peaceful nuclear activities"; Presidential Candidates contend Iran is seeking nuclear weapons. Which is right? I can't trust sources from my own country (U.S.) What does a more objective (is there such a thing?) view say?

Seeing the industrial and political landscape of the southwest

salvia — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 16:25:55 -0800

I'm taking a road trip through the southwest, and I'd like to see places with an interesting backstory or that show you "behind the scenes." I'm interested in places with political, economic, environmental, or industrial significance. Can you recommend some? Here's the route: Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Moab, Phoenix. I have 11 days. I've done most of this as a tourist before, so I'm interested in seeing some of the more hidden sights.

As I said, I'm interested in the politics, economics, history, environmental, and industrial factors behind the landscape. I'm still modifying the route so I can check out interesting places. Here are the kind of places I'm talking about:

- power infrastructure (Black Mesa, the Glen Canyon Dam)
- water infrastructure (aqueducts, river diversions?)
- the nuclear program (I'm missing the Trinity Test Site visitor day by a week! Should I still go to Alamogordo? Where to go near Los Alamos?)
- mining booms and busts, related pollution (Moab's uranium tailings pile; oil, gas, and coalbed methane development)
- industrial-scale production of anything from cattle to computer chips
- Native American history (the Cochise stronghold)
- prisons, military bases, and other nearly-blank spaces on the map (obviously, I can't enter, but I would like to know they're there)
- anything else related to political, economic, or cultural geographies (I really like Jake Kosek's stuff)
- wildlife protection or environmental restoration areas, current environmental disputes

I'm interested in current or upcoming issues, not just history, and I have just started trying to get up to speed about some of the work going on now. If you have anything interesting you'd like to share but would need kept fairly quiet, my email is in my profile. (I work for an environmental nonprofit, so I understand that certain information is sensitive and needs to stay fairly confidential to keep sites from being defaced or overrun with visitors, or to protect ongoing acquisitions, negotiations, or investigations.) Thank you!

Please help me find a specific atomic test picture.

gnash — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:05:38 -0800

Where can I find a picture that I saw a long time ago? It was a picture of an atomic bomb test with soldiers standing and watching the explosion silhouetted by the explosion.

What does a supercomputer do?

jonathanbell — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 02:21:32 -0800

What do supercomputers actually do? Specifically... In this BBC story about IBM's new Blue Gene/P supercomputer, it states that its predecessor, the Blue Gene/L, is housed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where it is 'used to ensure that the US nuclear weapons stockpile remains safe and reliable'. My question is, how?

What's it like to work in the Navy's Nuclear Power program.

concrete — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 02:17:02 -0800

Looking for stories from anybody involved with the Navy's Nuclear Power program. Last week, I got a call from a Master Chief with my Navy Recruiting District, who suggested that I change my school guarantee from Utilitiesman to one of the ratings in the Nuclear field.

If you've gone through the program, please tell me what it was like for you and what I should expect. What's the work like? What will I have to do to access the educational programs offered? What will I need to do to advance? What commissioning programs are available? How readily do the job skills taught relate to private sector work, both in and out of the nuclear industry? What should I do to prepare while I'm still in DEP?

Essentially, I'm looking for the things I can't learn from the recruiters or the Internet.

Tours to the atomic blue glow?

Rash — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:13:02 -0800

Where can I go to see Cherenkov radiation -- not some simulation with a blue light in a deep-water bath, but the real thing -- as a tourist? Some museum, perhaps; or do nuclear power plants give tours?

Or would I really rather not, for health reasons? Is it unsafe? Could seeing it blind me?

How many nukes would we need to replace oil, coal, natural gas

DarkForest — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:13:32 -0800

Lets just say that the U.S. decided to stop burning hydrocarbons (oil, coal, natural gas) completely for environmental reasons. Lets say that everything went electric. Cars, Power Plants, factories, everything. How many nuclear plants (using current technology) would we need to produce? Would there be one in every moderate sized town? Also, how long would the raw materials last before another energy crisis was imminent (peak uranium, I guess)?

risks of nuclear power

edtut — Sun, 27 May 2007 03:51:48 -0800

what is the difference between radiation poisoning, burn due to radiation, contaminated/heavy water, etc. what are the differences between nuclear power plant accidents and atomic bombs. i have studied this stuff ages ago, and will do more research, but would be interested to see the usu range of inputs from meta. i want to know primarily about the differences between the risks of bombs and the risks of nuclear power plants. but any detail on isotopes used, half life and long term risks, damage done, types of contamination, safety for both modes, transport risks, waste storage, and any related topics. thanks

Yes, but how many seconds to midnight?

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 14:59:06 -0800

So how close exactly were we to nuclear war? It's often said that at some point during the past fifty years the world was "on the brink" of nuclear war - in hindsight, I wonder how close to the brink?

atomic age poster art

NGnerd — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 16:26:53 -0800

Do you know of a good place a guy could buy an atomic age pro-nuclear propaganda poster around here? I'm trying to buy that special nuclear engineer in my life a super-cool 1950's era propaganda poster in support of nuclear power/bombs/rockets...whatever. She's got a fetish for modern art, so i'm trying to find something which mixes the svelt form of modern art with the horrifically naive idolization of the atom. However, i've come up dry in searching for atomic age art, nuclear posters, and the other general keywords that come to mind. Do you know of a specific organization or artist that might have this type of stuff? help me obi wan kenobi, you're my only hope.

Would it be feasible to dump nuclear waste into volcanoes?

PenDevil — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:53:57 -0800

Would it be feasible to dump nuclear waste into volcanoes? One proposed method to get rid of nuclear waste is to dump it into a subduction zone between two tectonic plates. But that would entail transporting the waste to massive depths and would probably be impractical for large quantities.

So why not just dump it into a volcano? Obviously it would be a volcano that is hopefully not going to erupt soon (and spray radioactive ash all over the place) but could an active volcano, accessible at the surface, with a suitably large magma pipe (so that their's a good chance the containers go into the mantle) be a potential way to get rid of nuclear waste? Even if the containers don't go all the way into the mantle they're still basically buried beneath a mountain?

I mean it worked for Frodo right? Or is it too risky?

Nuked from orbit?

mikeh — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 20:22:59 -0800

What is the origin of the phrase, "(something) should be nuked from orbit," or "nuke it from orbit?" I've heard it used a number of time but I'm not sure whether it was popularly used by a famous figure or if it's just one of the cold war-isms that permeated my mind after living with a guy for a semester in college who secretly hoped the events of "Red Dawn" would come true.

Long Term Communication

b1tr0t — Fri, 05 May 2006 19:30:39 -0800

If you had to warn people 10,000 years in the future to stay away from a site, how would you do it? previously on the blue

Energy, Lots of Energy

BigBrownBear — Thu, 04 May 2006 07:42:04 -0800

If I wanted to learn all about the energy industy, what would be some good books and resources? From listening to the Watt and reading the Energy Blog, I've gotten very interested in the energy industry, peak oil, and alternative energies. I'd love to read some really good or really important books on the topic. These can be general overviews or technical.

Also, any good free online materials are great, because, well, they're free.