Nuclear Furlough

My old friends and colleagues at the NRC got the word today that the agency is out of money due to the appropriations impasse, so the furlough process has begun for all but the "excepted" or "essential" employees - mostly resident inspectors at power plants, emergency operations center staff, and the like.  I thought I'd pull out a few oddball items from my NRC past -- old envelopes that came into the office.

 I'm not sure how BNA had the impression that NRC had something to do with toys!

Apparently GANE (now Nuclear Watch South) and the Catfish Alliance confused us with the FDA, though admittedly NRC does regulate nuclear medicine. GANE was probably sending something about Vogtle Units 1 and 2.

And finally, you've got to give the sender credit. He or she picked the stamp and added the sentiment before sending in what was probably one of the many petitions to close San Onofre 1.

Well, if you can't work, my furloughed friends, it's time to hit the bar! 

How 'bout we meet at...

Drinks on me!

50 Years Ago - US Senate Ratifies the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the US Senate's ratification of the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, Outer Space and under Water, commonly known as the Limited or Partial Test Ban Treaty. The treaty had been formally signed in Moscow on 5 August 1963 by the US, the USSR, and the United Kingdom. The treaty was the culmination of efforts that began in the mid 1950s and efforts to reach an agreement were given new impetus after the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.

The postcard shows the US Senate in session, purportedly the first official photograph of the Senate in session as it voted on the treaty. The Senate approved a resolution of ratification of  the treaty by a vote of 80 to 19, greater than the required two-thirds majority vote under the Constitution.

A Comprehensive  Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty was signed in 1996 but has yet to enter into force for the lack of ratification by a number of countries, including the United States.  The web site of the CTBTO organisation has this sobering video of the history of nuclear testing by artist Isao Hashimoto:

Life extension in Canada and France

Plants in Canada and France have received the green light for additional years of operation. In Canada the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission authorized a 5 year extension of the Pickering license. There are 6 operating plants at the site and another two that have been permanently shut down. The plants are Candu 500 pressurized heavy water reactors.

The two operating units at Pickering "A" began operation in the early 1970s; the 4 Pickering "B" units were operational in the early 1980s. In permitting license renewal the CNSC put a hold on operation beyond 210,000 full power hours until additional safety assessments were conducted which are to address lessons learned" from the Fukushima Daiichi accident.

The French regulator - l'Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (ASN) - recently approved an additional 10 year period of operation for Bugey Unit 4. Bugey 4 is a 880 MWe pressurized water reactor that started operation in 1979 and is located northeast of Lyon. It is the second Bugey unit to have been extended to a 40 year operating life.

In France, a licence to operate a nuclear reactor does not specify a predetermined time limit, as compared to the US which licenses plants for 40 years with the option for renewal for an additional 20 year period. However, the law requires that the operator undertake a safety review every 10 years after which ASN makes decision on renewal. Effectively, Bugey 2 and 4 have passed the periodic safety review three times since operation began.

Here's the control room of one of the Bugey units. By their dress, these guys may have been part of the original operating crew! I've found a lot of postcards for the Bugey site.

  

And finally a shot of an old church with Bugey's cooling towers in the background.

Early devices - fission and fusion

I haven't posted in a while, but just to get things started again, I pulled a couple early items. The first is an early research reactor, the Aerojet-General Mechanics AGN-201. Two of these reactors are still under NRC license: since 1957 at  Texas A & M and 1966 at the University of New Mexico. The UNM license was renewed in 2011.

Our other item is the "Stellerator", on a card from the Smithsonian Institution. This device was displayed at the Atoms for Peace Conference in Geneva in 1958.

Iran's friendly atoms?

I'm back from St. Petersburg, Russia, where I was a speaker at AtomExpo, the annual conference sponsored by Rosatom which was held on the margins of the IAEA ministerial conference on Nuclear Power for the 21st Century last week. The conference includes a trade show and perhaps the largest booth was sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran.  Our Iranian friends were touting peaceful nuclear energy:

This brochure describing Iranian nuclear fuel production capability was featured at the booth and includes the slogan "Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapon for None."  Not sure what the imperfect English is meant to convey - Weapon? You mean there's only one?

The brochure was in Russian and English. Putting aside the consternation over the safeguards and nonproliferation aspects of Iran's nuclear program, it's worth recalling that Iran is the only country with an operating nuclear power reactor that has not ratified the Convention on Nuclear Safety. If Iran is to be believed, isn't ratification a necessary step?

Soviet first

I am off to Leningrad -- uh, St. Petersburg -- tomorrow for Atomexpo. I looked for some Russian nuclear power memorabilia in the collection and found a couple items.

Ham radio cards of the first civilian nuclear power reactor pop up now and then on eBay and similar trading sites.  The Obninsk Nuclear Power Station (Обнинская АЭС)  was built about 70 miles south of Moscow in Obninsk in the early 1950s. The small plant had a capacity of about 5 MWe and opened in 1954. 

 Boris contacted somebody by radio and recorded the event in 1958 on this card.

Another glorious achievement of the Soviet people! Or as the card says,

"October glory! All power to the Soviet peoples!"

Diablo Canyon runs alone

With the announcement of the shutdown of San Onofre Units 2 and 3, the two units at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant are the last operating nuclear power units in California. SONGS 2 and 3 join San Onofre Unit 1 and Rancho Seco near Sacramento as well as the early 65 MWe Humboldt Bay Unit 3 reactor in Eureka as shut down power reactors in California.

Diablo Canyon is set in a dramatic site on the Pacific Coast near San Luis Obispo. The plant has had its own controversies, including a hotly contested licensing proceeding that focused on the seismic design of the facility and a suspension of the initial operating license in the face of the discovery quality assurance errors. Diablo Canyon has been a prime focus of the anti-nuclear movement, led by the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace. Despite challenges, both units were licensed and survived judicial review and have had a generally good operating record.

Pacific Gas and Electric co. has filed for renewal of the Diablo Canyon licenses, but asked for deferral of the final NRC decision on the renewal application pending the outcome of further seismic studies in part being pursued to placate demands from the State of California.

Time will tell whether Diablo Canyon will negotiate the political as well as technical hurdles toward license renewal.