Floating nuclear plants‏

There is no limit to human imagination: Russia is now building its first floating nuclear power plant. The Russian government has decided to build a new type of nuclear plants: They are floating ! The first prototype should be ready in 2011. It will have the capacity to produce enough electricity for a small town of 200 000 habitants and will cost approximately 300 millions Euros. It will measure 140 meters of length for 30 meters width. There will be 140 persons working on the plant. The floating plant will be brought in a secure and quiet port in the baltic sea. The russian engineers believe that this type of nuclear plants could also be useful in the future for the desalinization of water. What about vulnerability to terrorism ? According to Russian authorities, everything has been forseen and the plant security will be taken care of by sophisticated electronic access control equipments ( eyes and finger print laser recognition and other things), and anti submarine attacks control systems. The plant is also expected to resist to the crash of a kamikaze plane. Apparently there is already a number of countries which expressed their interest of buying floating plants in the future. The list includes Canada, Malaysia, China, Indonesia and the Republic of Korea.

Let us wish us all good luck for the future...

Have you ever heard about “Radon” gas ?

All of you know about the Radium that was discovered by Pierre and Marie Curie, but only a few may know what is the radon.
The radon is a radioactive gas of natural origin. It has no smell and no colour. You can find it anywhere on the planet. It is a product of the disintegration of radium, itself a product of the uranium that can be found anywhere in the soil. Concentration of radon in the air depends on the type of soils. With granite or volcanic soils the production of radon is usually higher.
Radon can be used in medical radiotherapy . At the same time it was confirmed by the World Health Organization that it
can provoke cancers.
In France measures of radon gas levels are undertaken regularly on the whole territory by the National institute of nuclear safety, based on the principle that you can find Uranium almost anywhere in the soils.
While it is important to understand better the impact of Radon gas on public health and particularly cancer incidence, it cannot be compared with other major factors such as for example tobacco consumption, or urban pollution.
To prevent risks there should be a good ventilation of the room, and a covering of the soil.

France, the HEART of nuclear world.

Source: "L Atlas 2009 le Monde diplomatique Hors série , un monde à l'envers"

Nuclear Energy

The nuclear energy discussion


The civil nuclear energy has reach it highest production just after the oil crisis, but since several accidents such as Three Miles Island in 1979 and Tchernobyl in 1986, this development slowed down.

But this production isn’t starting again Nowaday?


Maybe we can suppose that:

• The augmentation of oil price (150 $ the barrel in 2008)
  
• The anticipation of oil shortage
• The climate changement

Are reasons of this new tendancy

The governement has found 2 solutions; The renewable energy and the nuclear energy.
Unfortunatly, the first solution could have limits and we all that nuclear energy is not the miracle solution. Indeed it we can indentify different problems: for instance:

• The irradiation worker, neighbour population.
• Radioactif material
• The nuclear wast management
• The nuclear weapon proliferation

In a few years time, it would be necessary to create an international organisation able to control nuclear energy production with the intention of reducing climate problems at the moment.

Radioactivity and human activity

During them destructions, the radioactive elements emit different radiations: alpha, beta and gamma.
The radiations alpha and beta are particles but the radiations gamma are electromagnetic waves. A paper can stop a radiation alpha, a plate of alumunim for a radiation beta, while a thick concrete wall, a plate of cast iron or gold is necessary for stop one radiation gamma.
The radiations affect the bodies by way external or internal.

A large part of the radioactivity is natural (for example in France, the natural radioactivity is 1.64 millisieverts a year).

But there is also an artificial radioactivity:
In France, the exposure comes mainly from the medical irradiation with 0.8 millisievert, only 0,06 millisievert a year results from fallout from the tries of nuclear weapons and from the leaks of the atomic energy.

But it is not the case everywhere...

The ITER project

Control on Earth of a «miniature Sun " to get back the energy which it emit: such is the objective of the program of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.

These new reactors shall use the principle of the nuclear fusion, and not the fission, as make it current reactors.

Advantages:
-iter will not emit of greenhouse gases - iter will not generate radioactive waste persistent element radioactive the period of which is lower or 30-year-old equal (the period of the tritium is 12,3-year-old equal)
- abundance of reagent necessities
- Possibility of covering all the needs in energy of the planet

Inconveniences:
-the nuclear fusion is maybe only a dream - project enormously costly (10 billion euro) which is not on to make a success. This money could serve for developer the renewable and useful energies of today.

-Concern the long term (not before 2050)

Nuclear technology and food preservation and water‏

Nuclear technology may have a growing impact on the food we eat and the water we drink. Let us explain why and how.

The use of nuclear reactors for desalinisation of water.

With growing shortage of water in many parts of the world due to climate change and population growth , the desalinisation of sea water is considered as a useful technology to obtain drinking water. The problem of this technology, is that it needs a lot of energy.... With decreasing oil resources, the use of nuclear technology for water desalinisation could be a interesting alternative. Recent research conducted by the French centre for Atomic Energy already indicates that production of water with nuclear plants would be 30 to 60% cheaper than using oil for this purpose.

The use of Nuclear radiations for preserving food.

Nuclear radiations can be used and are used for preserving food. The radiations destroy micro-organisms, and germs and as a result the food will be ''more healthy'' ( this may be a little exaggerated to use this word but it is the intent of the technique !) and preserve for longer. The radiation is of low intensity. Because of the low intensity the food treated is not considered as radioactive. In France, for example the following food products can be irradiated and authorized for selling: aromatic herbs, spices, dry fruits, cereals, frog legs, and shrimps.
While there is strong resistance in the public on the use of nuclear radiation technique for food sanitation and preservation, the technique is apparently used more and more often.......

nuclear anecdotes‏

The french web site "dissident-media" ( www.dissident-media.org/infonucleaire) is giving a number of incredible stories and anecdotes on nuclear. It is difficult to confirm if these stories are real or not but in any case please see herebelow three anecdotes that we found particularly interesting:

A portrait of Staline highly radioactive. The Figaro of 29 November 1993 would have reported that a portrait of Staline engraved on a plate of radium was removed from the museum where it was exposed and burried in a nuclear waste deposit in view of the high level of radiations it was producing.

Alcoholic drinks prohibited in french nuclear plants. Since 1993, alcoholic beverages have been prohibited in french nuclear plants following an accident in Palluel nuclear plant where an employee had stopped the functioning of 3 reactors because he was upset. During the investigation the technician said that he was in fact under influence of alcohol ( let us say that he was drunk !) following a little party in the plant with is colleagues.

Drink Vodka to protect yourself against radiations. On the label of the botle of russian Vodka ROSSIYSKAYA KORONA it is mentioned that it is a product ecologically pure, and that can prevent and protect against cancers, radioactivity and gastroenteritis.....! This would confirm why apparently the "liquidators" in Chernobyl were provided with good rations of Vodka. This makes sense: knowing that once you have been contaminated there is very little things you can do to stop the evolving of cancer, then with a good dose of Vodka you can observe patiently and with serenity the progression of your illness...These special properties of acoholic drinks are known since long: During first world war, french soldiers were advised to drink wine to protect themselves from ennemies' bullets.

Nuclear weapons in the world

If we analyse the countries which possess nuclear weapon, we can divise it in three groups.

The fisrt one is the states which are a part of NPT (nuclear no-proliferation treaty), in order of aquisition of nuclear weapon these are: United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France and China. This countries have nuclear weapons but they apply the policy of the treaty.

United States and Russia are the most importante owner of nuclear weapons, they possess more than 5000 nuclear weapons activate.

Then we have the countries we have nuclear weapons but which never sign the NPT. In this group we can find India, Pakistan and North Korea. North Korea had been a party to the NPT but withdrew in 2003. There is also the case of Israel. According to some testimonies this country would possess many nuclear weapons (Approximately 200) ,but Israel denies it.

In the third group we can find Iran, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Algeria. This states are suspected of being in the process of developing military nuclear programs.

Algeria possessed nuclear weapon but France dismantled it before the independence in 1962.

Brazil is developping nuclear program with cooperation of Argentina but he is suspected to develop a program to possess nuclear weapon.

Saudi Arabia would have done an agreement with Pakistan to have nuclear technology in exchange of petroleum.

Iran want to develop civil nuclear program, but the states which signed the NPT think that it wants also develop military nuclear program. Especially since Iran is surrounded by state possessing nuclear weapons (Israel and Pakistan) and so it feels threatened.

Nuclear quiz - the return...

Dear readers,

in view of the success of our previous quiz that can be measured by the astronomic number of hits on our blog, the administrators of the blog have agreed to be generous and work hard again for your entertainment and culture. Herebelow another 10 questions quiz for you:


1) Which country has the largest number of nuclear reactors in the world ( too easy !)

a) USA
b) France
3) Russia

2) What was the name given by the pilot to the Hiroshima bomb ?

a) Little boy
b) Little girl
c) little dog

3) How many people died immediately upon explosion of the bomb in Hiroshima ?:

a) 15 000
b) 50 000
c) 75 000

4) Of the following countries, which one does not have the nuclear weapon ?

a) Israel
b) India
c) South Africa
d) United Kingdom

5) What name was given to the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki ?

a) Enjoy
b) Sweet heart
c) Fat man


6) what is the percentage of our electricity produced with nuclear power in France ?

a) 90 %
b) 80 %
c) 70 %
d) 60%


7) Who wrote the novel " Hiroshima mon amour ' ?

a) Marguerite Duras
b) Marguerite Yourcenar
c) Francoise Sagan
d) Somoine de Beauvoir

8) Was Albert Einstein in favour of making the atomic bomb ?

a) Yes
b) No
c) May be !

9) Did Albert Einstein condemn publically the use of atomic bomb against Japan

a) Yes
b) No

10) Where did the first civilian nuclear accident took place ?

a) In Chernobyl ( Ukraine)
b) In Three miles Islands (USA)
c) In Windscale (United Kingdom)


Question Bonus 1:

In 1997 started the dismantling of the nuclear plant of Brennilis in the center of Britanny. This will produce more than 1500 Tons of waste. How long will it take to fully dismantle the plant ?


a) 10 years
b) 20 years
c) 30 years

Question bonus 2:

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, how many billion dollars are needed to dismantle the hundreds nuclear plants at the end of their life currently on the planet

a) 50 billions $
b) 100 billions $
c) 1000 billions $

Answers:

1: a
2: a
3: c
4: d
5: c
6: b
7: a
8; a
9: a
10:c
Bonus question 1: b
Bonus question2: c

A world free of nuclear weapons. Yes we can ?

Today, Sunday 06 April, President Obama addressed a crowd of 30 000 persons in the center of Prague, and launched an appeal to the world for a planet without nuclear weapons. He spoke about nuclear weapons as " the most dangerous legacy of the cold war". He said that he was refusing to be fatalistic about future proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world. He further announced something like that the USA were ready to show the example in dismantling their own nuclear weapons capacity. He also said that his government was ready to stop its antimissile shield plans ( that makes the Russians very nervous...!) if the government of Iran would accept to stop its own nuclear weapons plans. The same day Obama was speaking, North Korea, the most recent nuclear power launched a rocket to put a satellite in space. According to the western world, this was in fact a test of a new intercontinental missile. The world is becoming very dangerous and there is urgency to progress on this matter. This is what President Obama understood. In Prague he also spoke of the priority to fight against global warming. The use of nuclear energy, with other softer renewable energies such as the use of wind or of the sun, is one of the ways to produce energy with little effect on global warming. Is it possible to conceive a world with more nuclear reactors for producing energy and less nuclear weapons ?

A difficult question…..

Nuclear stories and cinema

Nuclear war, terrorism or apocalyptic post nuclear bomb stories have inspired movie directors since the Second World War and hundreds of movies have been made using this frightening theme. To name a few recent or less recent ones: Godzilla, Mad max, Terminator, Malevil, the War game, the Day after, Water world.

The stories can be classified in two groups:

Group 1: Movies in which the heroes have to prevent a nuclear catastrophe provoked by bad terrorists or before the end of the cold war by bad Russian generals hiding behind the iron curtain and fighting good Americans generals. The nuclear bomb can be transported by a plane, a submarine or even a train. Usually the good guys succeed in stopping the bad ones at the last minute and the world is saved from the nuclear war.

Group 2: Movies in which the story is taking place after the bomb has exploded, the nuclear war has taken place and a group of courageous (and beautiful) heroes which survived because they were hidden in a cave or somewhere under the ground when the war took place, come to the surface and find a devastated planet full of degenerated (ugly and degusting) mutant groups that try to eliminate them. Usually at the end the heroes succeed in rebuilding a civilization of peace and love and once again the good defeats the bad.

It is interesting to note that in the past there were more movies from group 1 ( the nuclear war has been avoided) and that most recent popular movies are more from group 2 ( the nuclear war already took place). Let us hope that it is not because the public and movie directors got used to the idea that the nuclear war should happen one day or another....