Interesting New Tech

NASA has tested a lithium fed electronic thruster, which has the potential to greatly increase the thrust of high specific impulse space propulsion systems. (Up to about 2.5-25 newtons 25N=5.6 lb)

Typically various electronic thrusters can produce about 100 millinewtons. 

If you have a 100 tonne vehicle, with 6x 25N thrusters, you get an acceleration of .0015 m/s2.

ΔV	Units	ΔT
5.40	m/s	1 Hour
12.08	mi/hr
129.60	m/s	1 day
289.91	mi/hr
907.20	m/s	1 week
2029.35	mi/hr
3600.00	m/s	Delta v to get to Mars from LEO
8052.97	mi/hr

So basically, you can go from low earth orbit to coasting to Mars in 12½ days.  The trip would still take about 9 months.

Theoretically the spacecraft could use the increases ISP to further shorten the time involved, but I'm not going to spend the time on celesxtial mechanics to figure that out.

NASA engineers recently tested a next-generation electric propulsion system that could one day power a crewed mission to Mars.

NASA fired up a prototype of its electromagnetic thruster inside a vacuum chamber, reaching power levels of up to 120 kilowatts—the highest achieved in U.S. tests of an electric propulsion system. That’s over 25 times the power of the electric thrusters aboard the current Psyche mission, which launched in 2023 on a journey to explore a metal-rich asteroid.

………

Current electric propulsion thrusters rely on solar power to accelerate propellant, reaching high speeds over time through a low continuous thrust. NASA’s recently tested electromagnetic thruster, on the other hand, runs on lithium metal vapor. The lithium-fed magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thruster uses high currents interacting with a magnetic field to electromagnetically accelerate lithium plasma.

Lithium-fed thrusters could potentially operate at high-power levels, using propellant efficiently and providing greater thrust power than the electrical thrusters currently in use, according to NASA. Once fully developed and paired with a nuclear power source, the MPD could help reduce launch mass to support larger payloads for human Mars missions.

They are talking about 4-5 egawatts power, which probably would require nuclear power, 5 mW would require something like 10,000 m2 of solar arrays, but it should make things easier.

 

This is Not Going to End Well

The Trump administration has decided to roll back environmental regulations on new nuclear power plant designs.

Considering that some of these plants use an explosive material (molten sodium) as a coolant, this decision concerns me.

The Department of Energy says advanced nuclear reactor designs - many of which have so far existed mainly at the experimental, testing, or demonstration stage - generally pose limited environmental risk and can qualify for a streamlined environmental review for future projects.

The DoE announced the "categorical exclusion" for advanced nuclear reactors (ANRs) in a Federal Register filing on Monday, establishing a pathway that can allow ANR projects to proceed without a full environmental assessment or environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), provided specific conditions are met. The move follows Trump's executive orders directing agencies to streamline environmental reviews for nuclear reactors in order to accelerate their deployment.

A categorical exclusion means that a covered category of actions "normally does not significantly affect the quality of the human environment and therefore does not require preparation of an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement," the filing says. In this case, that's referring to ANRs, which include Generation III+ reactors, small modular reactors, microreactors, and stationary and mobile reactors.

Authorization, siting, construction, operation, reauthorization, and decommissioning of ANRs are all included in the categorical exclusion.

BTW, did I mention that the sodium cooled reactor is founded by Bill "Blue Screen of Death" Gates? 

Absolute nightmare fuel this is. 

About the DPRK's Nuclear Submarine

Official Photo of Kim Jung Un reviewing the submarine We have a report on the as yet unnamed 8,700 ton displacement boat, which is claimed to carry submarine launched domestic missiles.

It appears that the submarine is nearly complete from the fact that it has already received its anti-corrosion paint.

The weight of 8,700 tons, (probably metric tonnes) is about the same as a Virginia class boat, which is small for a modern SSBN.

One of the notable things is the extremely long sail, which implies that much like its predecessor, the Sinpo Class, and like the Soviet Golf and Hotel classes.

My guess would be that there are 6-8 missile tubes, and like the Sinpo, and unlike the Golf and Hotel, it is likely to be able to conduct underwater launches.

As to the effect on the frozen conflict on the Korean Peninsula, nothing until it is deployed, and perhaps a bit more stability after that, because Pyongyang will feel less vulnerable, assuming that it works as intended.

That's actually a big assumption, because this sub is about four times the displacement of their prior submarines. 

 

How Could Trump Make Things Worse?

That's Nesmith in the chef's hat

Well, how about planning to hand over weapons grade plutonium to private companies, because ……… I'm not sure, maybe he is a fan of the late Michael Nesmith? 

Members of the Democratic Party are expressing doubt for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) alleged plan to give at least 20 metric tons of weapons-usable plutonium to the private sector for commercial energy use.

Why isn't EVERYONE freaking out over this?

This makes, "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly," seem like the height of wisdom.

Such a move would risk putting weapons in the wrong hands and harming the nation’s defense, Democratic Senator Ed Markey explained in a letter to President Trump last week, reiterating arguments he and Democratic congressmen Donald Beyer and John Garamendi made in a previous letter earlier this month.

………

The lawmakers argue that the U.S. has avoided the commercial use of plutonium and challenged the proliferation of reprocessing technology for decades “to prevent nations with nuclear power plants from being able to extract plutonium from that fuel, which they—or terrorists into whose hands it could fall—could use to make nuclear weapons,” the letter from September 10 reads.

“Your plan—which would provide U.S. companies with plutonium from U.S. military stocks and subsidize them both to reprocess plutonium domestically and export reprocessing technology—would reverse our successful nonproliferation policy,” the lawmakers continued. “The United States cannot effectively discourage other countries from using plutonium for civil purposes if we use it ourselves.”

The letters come in the wake of an article by Reuters reporting that the Trump administration is planning to give plutonium from dismantled nuclear warheads to power companies as a potential reactor fuel.

Just incase you are wondering, there is a corrupt payoff intertwined with this proposal:

In May, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, to form a program to process surplus plutonium and make it available for reactor fuel and stop the surplus plutonium disposition program as allowed by the law, according to the fact sheet. The order contextualizes the move to “jumpstart America’s nuclear energy industrial base” within a global artificial intelligence race, among other things.

Senator Markey’s September 23 letter also calls out an apparent conflict of interest within the entire dynamic; Secretary Wright was formerly on the board of Oklo, a nuclear technology start-up and “the main company interested” in getting plutonium from the DOE.

“I am concerned that your Administration is moving forward with plans to transfer plutonium to Oklo and allow it to build a reprocessing plant not because these proposals make sense for the United States,” the senator writes, “but because Oklo stands to benefit financially and Secretary Wright is acting in his former company’s interest.”

Well, I'm going to be sleeping soundly tonight knowing that we are going to be giving bomb grade plutonium, sourced from retired nuclear weapons' pits, to another corrupt Trump crony.

BTW, did you know that this plutonium is not surplus?  The DoE is actually running short of plutonium as they refresh our nuclear arsenal.

Sweet dreams everyone. 

The Fruits of Colonialism

We know that the junta that took over in Niger tossed out the French, and the French company mining uranium.

Now, Russia is proposing that it build a nuclear power plant in Niger.

Given that, despite sitting on top of one of the largest Uranium deposits in the world, the desperately poor country is dependent on coal powered plants and imported power, this no doubt seems like a welcome development.

I'd be surprised if they ever break ground, I think that there are some severe development and infrastructure issues to be addressed first, but it is a masterful bit of in your face diplomacy by both Niamey and Moscow.

Russia has dangled the possibility of building a nuclear power plant in uranium-rich Niger - a vast, arid state on the edge of the Sahara desert that has to import most of its electricity.

It may be deemed impractical and may never happen, but the concept is yet another move by Moscow to seek a geopolitical advantage over Western nations.

Niger has historically exported the metal for further refining in France, but that is changing as the military-led country cuts off ties with the former colonial power.

The uranium-mining operation operated by French nuclear group Orano was nationalised in June, which cleared the way for Russia to put itself forward as a new partner.

It is talking about power generation and medical applications, with a focus on training local expertise under a co-operation agreement signed between Russian-state corporation Rosatom and the Nigerien authorities.

This is a direct consequence of France's neo-colonial arrangements with its former colonies, which are best described as looting.

There is a lot of hate for France in the Sahel, and it is completely justified. 

If ever brought to fruition this would be the first nuclear power project in West Africa. 

Shut Up and Take My Money!!!

Click to embiggen images








I have seen the Chernobyl-Inspired Humidifier.

This is even better than the nose snot egg separator.

Also, if you have a 3D printer you can download the STL files and print your own.

You know, there are food 3D printers now, so one could print a Chernobyl birthday cake.

The unit is small 130 mm x 150 mm long x 120 mm , but one could theoretically scale this up larger in your printer.

Also, you can add fragrances, I would suggest RADIUM by Caliber perfume, should you so desire.

Only $80.10 with 3 choices of backlight color.

Such a steal!

As the maker notes:

By pressing the button on the body, a moisture sprayer is activated from the reactor zone along with lights, creating the effect of burning and smoke during the disaster. This is not only a visually impressive spectacle but also a practical function – the model can work as a night light and a humidifier, which is very beneficial for health.

If you feel that this is in bad taste considering the suffering that this brought, I would note that the seller is from the Ukraine.

You can find instructions, and links to the STL models here .

 

Oops!

It turns out that amid the mass firing by President Apartheid Era Emerald Heir Pedo Guy™, they decided to layoff at least ⅙ of the staff at the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA).

These are the folks who are responsible for designing and maintaining America's nuclear arsenal.

They are trying to call them back now.

If I were one of those laid off employees, I'd start negotiating for one f%$# of a big re-signing bones:

The Energy Department is seeking to bring back nuclear energy specialists after abruptly telling hundreds of workers that their jobs were eliminated, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The employees, responsible for designing and maintaining the nation’s cache of nuclear weapons at the National Nuclear Safety Administration, were part of a larger wave of workers dismissed from the Energy Department, drawing alarm from national security experts. Between 300 and 400 NNSA workers were terminated, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The agency’s quick reversal was announced Friday in an all-staff meeting. The NNSA is seeking to recall the workers because they deal with sensitive national security secrets, according to the people, who weren’t authorized to talk about the matter, which is not public.

Those cuts are especially concerning because the positions typically require high-level security clearances and training that can take 18 months or longer, said Jill Hruby, who served as the NNSA administrator during the Biden administration.

"Gee, now you want me back?  I've started a consulting business, here is my rate card."

………

The NNSA is a semi-autonomous arm of the Energy Department responsible for producing and dismantling nuclear weapons, providing the Navy with nuclear reactors for submarines and responding to radiological emergencies, among other duties. 

So these are the guys who get called when the nuclear sh%$ hits the fan, and you just dumped them like they were radioactive.  (Yeah, I know, cheap joke.  I gotta be me.)

At the rate this is going, we're going to be envying 3rd world nations for the competence and honesty of their bureaucracies.

Remember When I Said That Microsoft Wants to Reopen Three Mile Island?

I described Microsoft's plan to be the exclusive purchaser of the output from that plant as jumping the shark.

But it just got even worse, because the owner of the plant, Constellation Energy, is seeking government subsidies to restart energy production.

So now, it's not just Microsoft throwing money at the most notorious nuclear plant in the United States to power its misbegotten efforts in artificial intelligence, they want the taxpayers to subsidize this.

The owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant is pursuing a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee to help finance its plan to restart the Pennsylvania facility and sell the electricity to Microsoft to power data centers, according to details of the application shared with The Washington Post.

The taxpayer-backed loan could give Microsoft and Three Mile Island owner Constellation Energy a major boost in their unprecedented bid to steer all the power from a U.S. nuclear plant to a single company.

Microsoft, which declined to comment on the bid for a loan guarantee, is among the large tech companies scouring the nation for zero-emissions power as they seek to build data centers. It is among the leaders in the global competition to dominate the field of artificial intelligence, which consumes enormous amounts of electricity.

………

The restart plan has already generated controversy as energy experts debate the merits of providing separate federal subsidies for the project, in the form of tax credits. Constellation’s pursuit of the $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee, which has not been previously disclosed, is likely to intensify that debate.

………

A loan guarantee would allow Constellation to shift much of the risk of reopening Three Mile Island to taxpayers. The federal government, in this case, would pledge to cover up to $1.6 billion if there is a default. The guarantees are typically used by developers to lower the cost of project financing, as lenders are willing to offer more favorable terms when there is federal backing.

And if Microsoft changes its mind in the years that it will take to reactivate the plant?  The taxpayers will be on the hook.

Taxpayers would be on the hook if difficulties or delays occur during the refurbishment of the plant, which are almost certain.

F%$# no.

You Know that AI Has Jumped the Shark When

Microsoft proposes restarting the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to power their LLM efforts.

Truth be told, this is more like jumping C. megaladon.*

Are these people even listening themselves? 

What's next? Restarting Chernobyl or using Fukushima for cooling water?

The idle Three Mile Island Unit 1 nuclear power plant may soon be coming back online in Pennsylvania, thanks to a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) between Microsoft and Constellation Energy, which owns the shuttered facility.

TMI Unit 1, which was retired for economic reasons in 2019, is slated for a potential revival as the Crane Clean Energy Center (CCEC), according to Constellation's announcement of a new PPA with the IT giant.

While the terms of the deal remain undisclosed, reopening the facility will require approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, though that might not be a hard sell.

It SHOULD be a hard sell.  It should be a f%$#ing hard sell.

Constellation noted that Unit 1 will need "significant investments" to restore the plant, with work needed on the turbine, generator, main power transformer, and cooling and control systems.

So basically, they have to replace or refurbish or refuel everything?  That's reassuring.

Lest you think this is the same Three Mile Island facility that had a partial meltdown in 1979, described as the worst commercial nuclear accident in US history, it's not: That happened at TMI Unit 2, located next door.

By next door, they mean in the same facility, and designed by the same firm, with slight differences in size and power output.

Unit 1, on the other hand, "operated at industry-leading levels of safety and reliability for decades before being shut down for economic reasons," according to Constellation. The facility was shut down after it failed to get a needed subsidy renewed that the company said was key to competing with cheaper fossil fuels.

Yeah, that's kind of like saying, "Yeah, what happened at Grenfell Tower was bad, but look at all the other buildings with aluminum faced polyisocyanurate panels.  None of them have burnt down.

^*The largest shark, and likely largest predator fish ever. It died out some 1.5 million years ago. The Genus is still in dispute, between either Carcharodon (Great White) or Carcharocles (broad toothed Mako). So in jumping C. Megalodon, you have jumped the biggest shark ever. 

Stating the Obvious

It has been clear for a long time that nuclear power is ruinously expensive when one looks at the full fuel cycle cost and includes the enormous subsidies that are part and parcel of the nuclear industry.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) has done an analysis for Australia, and the conclusion is that the increase in energy costs and diversion of capital from renewable energy sources would likely set back decarbonization efforts for years, if not decades.

I could have told them that.

I spent about 6 months working on just the nuclear waste end of the fuel cycle, and that alone was complex, expensive, and a likely source of pollution: 

A nuclear-powered Australian economy would result in higher-cost electricity and would “sound the death knell” for decarbonisation efforts if it distracts from renewables investment, a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) argues.

The report comes as ANZ forecast September quarter power prices will dive as much as 30% once government rebates kick in. A separate review by the market watchdog has found household energy bills were 14% lower because of last year’s rebates.

BNEF said the federal opposition’s plan to build nuclear power stations on seven sites required “a slow and challenging” effort to overturn existing bans in at least three states, for starters.

Even if they succeeded, the levelised cost of electricity – a standard industry measure – would be far higher for nuclear power than renewables. Taking existing nuclear industries in western nations into account, their cost would still be “at least four times greater than the average” for Australian wind and solar plants firmed up with storage today, Bloomberg said.

It is not just BNEF though:

………

Bloomberg’s analysis complements CSIRO’s [The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation] GenCost report that also found nuclear energy to be far more costly than zero-carbon alternatives. Australia’s lack of experience with the industry would result in a learning “premium” that would double the price of the first nuclear plant, according to the CSIRO.

………

If governments tried to rely on inflexible generators – whether coal-fired or nuclear – as renewables increased, they would have to resort to subsidies and other market interventions at a cost to taxpayers, Bloomberg said.

“This report speaks for itself,” the energy minister, Chris Bowen, said. “It’s another example of experts confirming that nuclear energy is too slow, too expensive and too risky for Australia.

Yes, but the nuclear industry is donating to the The Liberal–National Coalition, and they want that money.

Besides, we all know that anthropogenic climate is a hoax, amiright?

It Was Inevitable

The government of Niger has revoked the operating license of the French government owned nuclear fuel company Orano at the Imouraren mine, likely because it has not done anything to develop its concession, and hence deliver any royalties, for nearly a decade:

Orano said it has been excluded from the Imouraren mine in northern Niger which sits on an estimated 200,000 tonnes of the metal, used for nuclear power and weapons.

Mining was meant to have started at Imouraren in 2015 but development was frozen after the collapse in world uranium prices in the wake of the 2011 Japanese nuclear disaster.

The Niger government did not immediately comment on the company's statement. But it had vowed to review mining concessions in the country and the mining ministry had warned that it would take away Orano's licence if development work had not started by June 19.

A week before the deadline, Orano told AFP that "preparatory work" had recently started at Imouraren.

Yeah, like 3 porta-potties, I guess.

………

The junta vowed to review foreign mining concessions in the country after it took power in July last year.

The military rulers have also turned against France, ordering out French troops based in the country and increasing criticism of the former colonial power. Niger has increasingly turned to Russia and Iran for support.

Chinese, Australian, US, British, Italian, Canadian, Russian and Indian firms have secured uranium mining licenses in recent years. In 2022 there were 31 prospecting permits and 11 mining licences.

The Azelik mining company, majority held by Chinese interests, is increasingly taking over uranium mining in the north of the country that have been suspended for the past decade because of poor profitability.

Considering the terms of the concessions that prior regimes in Niger gave to French interests, the term larceny comes to mind, I am surprised that they could not make the numbers work.

There have been a string of coups in the Sahel over the past few years, and anger over the continued French economic and political dominance over their former colonies has been a driving force behind the military overthrow of these government.

To the Juntas now ruling these countries, hating on the French is both good policy and good politics.

Another Episode in a Long History of Self-Dealing

I've noted before that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has a long history of failing up.

What I haven't focused as much on is that he has a long history of self dealing as well.

He was fired as CEO of Y Combinator largely because of concerns that he was using his position to self deal. "Altman had developed a reputation for favoring personal priorities over official duties and for an absenteeism."

It looks like he's doing it again, setting up a sweetheart deal with his nuclear fusion startup, Helion.

But don't worry, Altman pinky swears that he recused himself on this.

Right, and I look better in a tight leather cat suit than Scarlett Johansson:

OpenAI is reportedly in talks with Helion to get access to the startup's not-yet-possible nuclear fusion-driven electricity generators.

The negotiations were revealed by a Wall Street Journal report, which claims any deal would provide "vast quantities" of power to OpenAI for operating datacenters of machine-learning work.

Altman, CEO of OpenAI, separately serves as the chairman of Helion's board of directors with a $375 million stake in the nuclear firm. He has recused himself from the negotiations, it's stated.

Getting OpenAI as a customer would be a win for Helion, which aims to build practical useful fusion power plants using technology that's still under development. Whatever deal the two parties agree to, it could mean more R&D for Helion so it can pursue possibly-not-workable nuclear fusion tech.

When I was a young lad, this sort of behavior was actually criminal, and people were arrested for doing this.

I Could Tell You That

Roll Tape!The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has issued a report finding that  small modular reactors (SMR) cannot deliver on their promise of faster and cheaper nuclear energy.

This is not a surprise for me, I worked briefly in the nuclear industry, and I know that the technology cannot be made cheap or fast.

What did surprise me is that the existing record is as bad as it is:

Miniature nuclear reactors promise a future filled with local, clean, safe zero-carbon energy, but those promises quickly melt when confronted with reality, say a pair of researchers.

Known as small modular reactors, or SMRs, miniaturized atomic power plants have been touted as a way to ensure the world meets climate change mitigation goals as fossil fuels are phased out in favor of renewables and nuclear sources.

With a few SMR projects built and operational at this point, and more plants under development, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) concludes in a report that SMRs are "still too expensive, too slow to build, and too risky to play a significant role in transitioning away from fossil fuels."

IEEFA doesn't have many data points to pull from, with only three SMRs actually online around the world – one in China and two in Russia. A fourth, in Argentina, is still under construction and perfectly illustrates the point IEEFA researchers try to make: It's running far over cost and is facing budget constraints that could affect its future.

The other three SMRs have run into similar issues. They've all been way more expensive than initially agreed upon, and proposals for SMRs in the US face related issues, the report finds.

Per-kilowatt hour costs for SMRs proposed in the US by NuScale, the first company to receive US regulatory approval for SMRs, have more than doubled since 2015. Costs projected by X-Energy and GE-Hitachi for their SMRs have similarly risen since initial proposals.

………

Along with those costs, IEEFA research points out that none of the SMRs built so far have come anywhere close to meeting proposed construction timelines. The two Russian units were supposed to be built in three years, but both took 13. The Shidao Bay SMR in China was estimated as a four-year project but took 12, while the ongoing CAREM 25 in Argentina was also proposed as a four-year development but has so far taken 13.

So, SMRs to date have not been any faster or any cheaper than the current large nuclear plants, which is to say that they will be a useless waste of resources because they will be too late.

The SMR movement is largely driven by the idea that if you unleash the free market on nuclear power, the results will be magical, or so the free market mousketeers argue. 

It turns out that the promise of SMRs are not magical, they are mythical.

Son of Orion

NASA is working on a new propulsion system which promises a nearly 20 fold increase in ISP over chemical rockets and thrust levels in the tens of thousands of pounds by technologies used to detonate thermonuclear warheads.

Short version is that nuclear fusion at levels well below break even still generate a lot of neutrons, and these induce fission, which generates a plasma providing thrust. 

It sounds a lot like the Orion program from the early 1960s, which involved dropping nuclear bombs out the back of a spacecraft to shove it along its course:

Engineering research outfit Howe Industries is working with NASA to develop a new plasma-based propulsion system that might help solve the problem of moving around the solar system faster with bigger payloads.

Early studies suggest the pulsed plasma rocket (PPR) propulsion system could produce up to 100,000 N [22,481 lbf] of thrust within a 5,000-second impulse.

The concept has been developed from an earlier Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF), but is smaller, simpler, and less expensive, according to NASA.

"The exceptional performance of the PPR, combining high [specific impulse] and high thrust, holds the potential to revolutionize space exploration. The system's high efficiency allows for manned missions to Mars to be completed within a mere two months," NASA said.

PuFF relies on fission-ignited fusion systems that have already been proved in thermonuclear weapons. But instead of a bomb, the aim is to produce a controlled jet of plasma.

These are indeed impressive numbers with the  ISP numbers on par with other high ISP propulsion systems like ion drives.

That being said, it seems to be an awfully bumpy ride.

This is Called a Death Rattle

Billions over budget, and over a decade late, the first nuclear power plant built in the US since the last century has come on line.

The customers of Georgia Power are going to be paying through the nose for this for years.

I worked briefly in nuclear power, on the back end of the fuel cycle, and it will never be viable for commercial use.

Even if everything is done right, and frequently it is not done right, it is ridiculously expensive even with the heavy subsidies:

It's more than half a decade late coming online and has cost billions more than estimated, but Georgia Power's Vogtle Unit 3, the first US nuclear reactor built from scratch this century, has finally come online.

Located near Waynesboro, Georgia, the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant's third reactor will supply an estimated 500,000 homes and businesses in the region with power. Utility companies in Georgia, Florida and Alabama all receive electricity generated by Vogtle's existing reactors, the first two of which came online in the late 1980s, and a fourth power facility is due to come online within the next year.

"Today's achievement … marks the first day of the next 60 to 80 years that Vogtle Unit 3 will serve our customers with clean, reliable energy." said Georgia Power CEO, chairman and president Kim Greene. Georgia Power said its overall energy mixture is now approximately 25 percent nuclear.

Construction on Vogtle 3, and its sister reactor Vogtle 4, began in 2009, making it the first nuclear reactor built from the ground up this century, but not the first new reactor in the last 23 years.

That honor belongs to Tennessee-based Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, which brought its second reactor online in 2016. Watts Bar Unit 2 began construction in 1972, but was paused in 1985. Construction wasn't resumed until 2007, and took another nine years to finish.

With Vogtle 3 online, Georgia Power is now turning to the completion of Vogtle 4, which it believes will be ready late in the fourth quarter of 2023 or early 2024. Once Unit 4 is online, Vogtle's total output will make it the "largest generator of clean energy" in the US, Georgia Power said.

"Largest generator," of nuclear power in the US?  Here's an investment tip:  If you can bet on their bankruptcy, it's a pretty good bet.

After all, one of the causes for the delay was the bankruptcy of the plant manufacturer, Westinghouse.

Tweet of the Day

Another advantage over nuclear is that every time a brushfire war breaks out, you don't need to worry that someone is going to shell the solar panels.

— 🌊🌊🌊 Contrariwise (@mrcontrariwise) July 15, 2023

I spent a few months working on the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, and it convinced me that nuclear power is not viable on any level.

The whole thing at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant reinforces this.

Today in Wicked Bad Ideas

The US is offering nuclear submarine technology to Australia.

In addition to enraging France and potentially screwing up NATO relations in a way that Donald Trump could only dream of, France has withdrawn its ambassadors from both the US and Australia.

Given that France had a deal with Australia to sell them its submarines, and this was announced with no notice to Paris, the reaction is not a surprise.

That being said, I my concerns are technical rather than foreign relations.

You see, to save weight and to extend the intervals between refueling, the US navy fuels its reactors with bomb-grade uranium.

The exact percentage of enrichment is classified, but the consensus is that the fuel is well above 90% enriched.

Giving this technology to Australia is a proliferation nightmare.

What's more, this technology is not necessary, as the Australian Navy does not have the need to deploy thousands of miles away from their base with an underwater transit.

With a basic diesel electric submarine, and a supplementary 1MW nuclear reactor, which would not require HEU, you could get unlimited endurance, and continuous underwater speed of more than 5 knots.^*

For short bursts of speed, you would still have the batteries, and for long deployments, you would use the diesel engine, as Australia's current submarines do.

This has, "Failure," written all over it, and not just because of the proliferation issues, but because it creates another avenue for various opponents to acquire details of the technology.

Fail.

^*The Virginia class boats are capable of "More than 25 kts submerged" with a 30MW powerplant. If you assume that half of the 1MW power output goes to operating the submarine, you have 500 WK available for propulsion. Given that power required proportional to the cube of the speed, 500KW gives you about 6 kts.

Nuclear Power, Meet Blue Screen of Death

I've written about Bill Gates plans to create a sodium cooled fast breeder reactor before. 

Well, they (Warren Buffet is involved as well) have now selected a location for the prototype reactor.

I have a number of problems with the reactor in addition to Bill Gates' involvement:

• Molten sodium will leak, and it is highly flammable, and is potentially explosive. (The history of sodium cooled reactors is universally horrible)
  
• The reactor uses 20% Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU), which enriched is enough to make a bomb.  (You can at levels in excess of 10% enrichment)
• By design, it produces large amounts of Plutonium. (Traveling Wave Reactor)
  

Needless to say, I am not sanguine:

Power companies run by billionaire friends Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have chosen Wyoming to launch the first Natrium nuclear reactor project on the site of a retiring coal plant.

TerraPower, founded by Gates about 15 years ago, and power company PacifiCorp, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, said on Wednesday that the exact site of the Natrium reactor demonstration plant was expected to be announced by the end of the year.

Small advanced reactors, which run on different fuels to traditional reactors, are regarded by some as a critical carbon-free technology than can supplement intermittent power sources like wind and solar as states strive to cut emissions that cause climate change.

"Regarded by some," Huh?  

Maybe if your last name is, "Strangelove."

………

“This is our fastest and clearest course to becoming carbon negative,” Wyoming’s governor, Mark Gordon, said. “Nuclear power is clearly a part of my all-of-the-above strategy for energy” in Wyoming, the country’s top coal-producing state.

This statement is absolutely false.  The construction of time for reactors is measured in decades, while wind turbines go up in a few months. 

If we need to move now, pretty much any other power source is online faster.

The project features a 345 megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor with molten salt-based energy storage that could boost the system’s power output to 500MW during peak power demand. TerraPower said last year that the plants would cost about $1bn.

The molten salt energy storage, but using mechanical storage like pumped water is simpler, cheaper, and more efficient.

About the only thing more terrifying than Bill Gates starting up a bunch of nuclear reactors, he's alreay half way to a bond villain, would be if Comcast were to be running those plants.

I Am Not Sure How I Feel about This

Both DARPA and NASA are moving forward with plans to develop nuclear thermal rockets.

While nuclear thermal propulsion do not match the efficiencies of electric (Ion, etc.) propulsion (an ISP of about 1000 for nuclear thermal as versus up to 5000 for electric propulsion and about 300-500 for chemical rockets) they provide more efficiency than chemical rockets, and more thrust than electric propulsion. 

It makes a lot of sense for satellites in various earth and lunar orbits where you need to change position rapidly. 

I'm not sure how sanguine I am about the possibility of putting a few hundred pounds of enriched uranium in orbit though.

From the NASA story:

More than sixty years after the U.S. began serious studies into nuclear propulsion for space travel, NASA is taking the first steps on a new path to develop nuclear-powered engines for crewed missions to Mars by the end of the next decade.

The agency is reviewing industry responses to the first phase of a plan with the Energy Department to mature a prototype nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) reactor and engine design for use in space. The congressionally directed initiative, which is also supported by ongoing NASA/Energy Department research into advanced nuclear fuels, will ultimately lead to the building and testing of demonstrators.

Beyond this, the vision extends to the potential development of a full-scale nuclear-powered system for a crewed mission to Mars that would be launched in 2039. The new capability, which could be based on either NTP or synergistic nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) technology, would also provide power for future crewed and robotic deep-space exploration missions as well as faster, more responsive resupply flights to lunar and Martian outposts.

NEP is about having more energy available for an electric propulsion.

It is still a low thrust system, but provides much more delta V over time.

DARPA's proposal is more about providing satellites that can move between geostationary orbits and lunar orbits quickly and flexibly to deal with treats presented by some sort of rival in space:

A nebulously named “Deterrence Layer” is on the drawing board for the National Defense Space Architecture, and that could mean the return of a functioning U.S.-operated, nuclear-powered satellite in orbit by 2025 for the first time in 60 years.

The need for the Deterrence Layer may depend on what China and Russia do next. If rival militaries establish a presence in the region of deep space between geostationary and lunar orbits, the U.S. Defense Department believes a future spacecraft—an “advanced maneuvering vehicle” (AMV)—will be needed to charge out as far as the Moon, hopefully just to remind an adversary to keep a tight leash on any nefarious plans in cislunar space.

………

What is envisaged for the AMV is a propulsion system that produces a high amount of thrust compared to its weight yet is significantly more efficient than chemical propulsion.

………

In the NERVA ground tests and SNAP-10A orbital tests, NASA and the military used a fission reactor fueled by highly enriched uranium, the same radioactive material used to make nuclear warheads.

For DRACO, DARPA has specified a technology shift to high-assay, low enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel. Unlike weapons-grade uranium fuel that is typically enriched to 80%, HALEU is by definition only enriched between 5% and 20%—although the exact level is not being released. HALEU in the form of uranium metal will be furnished by the government to GA-EMS for the DRACO reactor.

The choice of HALEU exploits a bureaucratic loophole created by former President Donald Trump. His presidential memorandum signed on Aug. 20 delegates approval for the launch of a spacecraft using uranium that is enriched below the 20% threshold to the head of the sponsoring agency instead of the White House. In effect, the memorandum transfers the launch authority decision for DRACO from the president to the secretary of defense, perhaps along with the risk in case anything goes wrong.

Nuclear loopholes in space.  Now THERE'S a reassuring term.

I understand the advantages of such a system, but I am concerned about the potential safety risks, both for NTP and NEP propulsion.

This Will Not End Well

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's most senior nuclear scientist, was assassinated outside of Tehran today.

The Iranians are blaming the Israelis, but the timing of this action would imply that this may be the part of a coordinated attempt between Israel (whose Mossad, unlike the CIA, doesn't routinely screw up such operations) and the US, specifically the Trump administration, to foment an actual shooting war with Iran before Biden takes office.

Or, it could be just some random group of dudes with an amazing intelligence network and operational experience:

Iran has vowed retaliation after the architect of its nuclear programme was assassinated on a highway near Tehran, in a major escalation of tensions that risks placing the Middle East on a new war footing.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was ambushed with explosives and machine gun fire in the town of Absard, 70km (44 miles) east of Tehran. Efforts to resuscitate him in hospital failed. His bodyguard and family members were also wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said Israel was probably to blame, and an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed retaliation. “We will strike as thunder at the killers of this oppressed martyr and will make them regret their action,” tweeted Hossein Dehghan. 

There will be no claim of responsibility.  Whoever did this was a pro, and pros don't make claims of responsibility.

The killing was seen inside Iran as being as grave as the assassination by US forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qassem Soleimani in January.

Israel will face accusations that it is using the final weeks of the Trump administration to try to provoke Iran in the hope of closing off any chance of reconciliation between Tehran and the incoming US administration led by Joe Biden.

Which is why reports of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's secret meeting with both Netanyahu, and Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is significant. 

You had three people who are all forceful backers of open warfare between the United States and Iran allegedly in a room together, with the knowledge that a less confrontational approach to the Islamic Republic was in the works with the new administration in a room together.

It does not strain credulity that they all agreed that an immediate escalation of tensions would be beneficial for them agendas.

Fakhrizadeh had been described by western and Israeli intelligence services for years as the leader of a covert atomic bomb programme halted in 2003. He was a central figure in a presentation by the Israeli prime minister, Benajmin Netanyahu, in 2018 accusing Iran of continuing to seek nuclear weapons. “Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh,” Netanyahu said during the presentation.

I don't think that the Iranians have any hard evidence, but I do believe that their conclusions are a reasonable conjecture by the Iranian state security apparatus.