Fukushima Chain Reaction

Today marks the second anniversary of the historic earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan and led to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant  As might be expected  the occasion is marked by protest against nuclear power . Over the weekend in Paris, a "human chain" to protest nuclear power in France was staged in Paris with 4,000 - 20,000 participants, depending on who was doing the counting. Here's a poster promoting the event, featuring the "Nuclear Power - No Thanks" logo.

While on a visit in early June 2011, just two months after the accident, I picked up the following broadside for another demonstration in Paris.

Big Rock Point - the little plant that could

Big Rock Point Plant, operated by Consumers Power Company (now Consumers Energy), sat at the northern tip of the lower peninsula of Michigan near the town of Charlevoix. It was named literally for a "big rock" (Kitchiossining in the Chippewa language) left by a retreating glacier on the shore of Lake Michigan.  It was the fifth power reactor reactor in the U.S. and the first in Michigan.

It was a small plant, too, only about 67 MWe capacity, an early General Electric boiling water reactor design. You see the artist's conception in the post card above and the plant under construction below.

The plant operated for 34 years, from 1963 until 1997, when for economic reasons it was shut down.

At the time of its shutdown it was the oldest operating plant in the U.S. The American Nuclear Society named it a Nuclear Historic Landmark in recognition of its role as an early nuclear generating plant and for its production of cobalt-60 used in medical applications.

After plant closure in 1997, the decommissioning process began and the plant was dismantled and the site restored with only a remaining dry storage facility for spent fuel remaining on the site by 2006. The licensee produced an interesting brochure depicting the history of the plant and the decommissioning process.

For such a small plant, there certainly were a lot of postcards produced depicting it, as well as other promotional material like matchbooks and buttons!

Surf's up in South Africa!

It's been gray and dreary in Paris for most of the last couple weeks, so thoughts have drifted toward warmer, sunnier climes, perhaps the southern hemisphere where summer is in full swing.  How about South Africa? These cards feature the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station - or Kernkragstasie in Afrikaans - on the Atlantic coast near the tip of South Africa, about 30 km north of Capetown. A windsurfer swings by the plant below.

The Koeberg plant is operated by Eskom. The two units came on line in 1984 and 1985. During the apartheid period in South Africa, the site was attacked while the units were under construction in 1982 on the anniversary of the formation of the African National Congress. The resulting damage set back operation by about 18 months.

The card above was posted with a stamp also picturing the plant.

Auf Wiedersehen Atomkraft!

The German decision to abandon nuclear power after the Fukushima Daiichi accident is well known and the source of continued debate over its wisdom.  I picked up a reminder of the opposition to nuclear power in Germany this weekend while visiting Berlin. It combines the classic logo "Nuclear Power? No Thanks!" [Atomkraft? Nein Danke] with the nostalgic "Ampelmann" figure used on crossing lights to guide pedestrians at intersections throughout East Berlin under the former communist regime in the German Democratic Republic (DDR). The Ampelmann is so popular that he's been adopted in former West Berlin as well.

Above you see the Ampelmann (roughly the "traffic light man") in the "Stop" position.

And here's our man in both the "stop" and "go" positions. The Ampelmann is now sold on merchandise of all kinds - clothing, ornaments, candy, etc. - in Ampelmann stores and souvenir shops throughout Berlin. It's an ironic symbol of the victory of capitalism over communism, I suppose. As for Germany, the government has decided to shut down all nuclear plants by 2022. Here are two postcards of the Krümmel plant on the Elbe in Schleswig-Holstein which had suffered some performance problems and was shut down in 2011 at the time of the decision. It won't reopen.

The backs of these cards tout the plant for providing  safe and environmentally friendly electric power since 1984 for the north German region. "Energie ist Leben!" - "Energy is life!" - they say. The life of the plant, however, is now over.

Gentilly into the night...

A few reactors ended their operating life at the end of 2012. In Spain the 41 year old Garoña reactor was shut down permanently in December 2012 based in part on a new €153 million energy tax as well as refurbishment costs. Hydro Quebec recommended to the Quebec government closure of Gentilly 2, a 675 Mw CANDU 6 plant that began operation in 1983. Operation ceased December 28, 2012, and the plant now goes into a long-term storage pending final dismantling and decommissioning, expected in 2062.

Gentilly 1, a smaller 250-MW CANDU-BWR prototype that shut down in 1977. The Gentilly site hosted the only operating  reactors in Quebec; plans for a third unit were scrapped.

This card was posted in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, the ancestral home of the Burns (Brulé) family before they emigrated to the U.S. in the 19th century.

Happy Nuke Year!

I found a couple holiday themed items. The first is an anti-nuke button produced for the New Hampshire Seacoast Concerned Citizens group, sometime in the 1980's, when controversy boiled over the licensing of the Seabrook plant in New Hampshire. 

And I thought Santa was non- partisan! And for those wanting their holiday dessert, here's the Dounreay Fast Reactor, which operated from 1962 to 1977 at the tip of northern Scotland, dressed up like a Christmas pudding. 

The reverse of the card completes the phrase "The proof of the pudding..." with "is in the heating," and then gives a seasonal drink suggestion - the "Meltdown": "Put a lump of sugar, a twist of lemon peel, a twist of orange peel and a lot of brandy into a flameproof mug; light the mixture, stir and strain. Add strontium 90 to taste." Hmmm....The reverse of the card, which did not scan well, shows a crowd of revelers watching our pudding in flames. Well, if you're tired of the polemic, here's a simple winter scene courtesy of  Electricité de France of the snowy shoreline of the Moselle river with the Cattenom plant in the distance.

It's still the holiday season, so let's all sit back and raise a glass (I'll stick with champagne over a Meltdown!).

Bonne année à tous! Happy new year to all!

Happy New Year!

I've been away for a few weeks but look forward to new posts in 2013.  Although not on the "nuclear" theme, this is a great vintage postcard for the new year sent to my grandmother over 100 years ago. Strange!