[ RadSafe ] News Coverage-- Re: HEU in Chile -

Thu Apr 15 14:49:20 CDT 2010

Hello all,

A day or 2 ago,  I posted a Sandia video of a train smashing into a 25 ton nuclear fuel shipping cask as an aside about the news coverage of the cask shifting in Chile.  Clearly, there was zero chance that the 25 ton shipping cask being loaded onto a ship in Chile,  
braced and blocked into an 
ocean going container, could not survive a 2 meter or so drop onto the 
deck of a freighter. It was silly for Rachel Maddow of MSNBC  to state that "disaster was 
narrowly averted"  when a loading crane hoisting 
the ocean going container with the 
cask containing 20 to 40 pounds of HEU on to the ship malfunctioned.

A good point of reference to understand the routine nature and safety of HEU shipment is the "Megatons to Megawatts" program which has been operating continuously since 1993. This program takes HEU from Russia and ultimately it ends up as LEU that is made into reactor fuel in the US,  that is then sold to utilities and burned in US NPP.  

Through late 2009, 375 metric tons of HEU [ equivalent to  15,000 warheads] had been transferred by Russia to a US company, downblended to LEU in factories in Russia, shipped to the US, and  turned into reactor fuel, and sold to US nuclear power plant operators.

I
 frequently watch the Rachel Maddow show and generally enjoy her take on 
various 
issues, and her interviews. However, recently  her
 coverage of nuclear issues has become  more and more out of touch with the 
facts on the nuclear  issues she has raised. She seems 
more
 willing to toss out anti-nuclear dogma rather than accurately report
 on various nuclear issues. 

In this regard,  I recall a 
quote from Alf, the alien TV character, in the 1980s show Alf:  "Dogma, 
dogma, dog manure".  

A few nights ago as one example, Rachel Maddow 
claimed that it was contradictory that the President would be signing 
treaties to bring HEU from various countries like Russia and the Ukraine
 back to 
the US for safe handling or disposal, while at the same time announcing 
an initiative to build more nuclear power plants which she said "ONLY 
CREATE MORE HEU".  WOW

Ms. Madow's misunderstanding and misstatements would be humorous if 
she and MSNBC 
did not reach a wide audience of people who are seeking accurate information, 
and are in positions of responsibility where their understanding of 
vital issues can affect what actions our Government, media, regulators, 
and members the public may take.

Nuclear power plants in the US of course don't create more HEU as Ms. Maddow 
incorrectly stated. Rather NPP operation since 1993 will soon have 
resulted in consuming 500 Metric Tons [ 1,100,000  pounds] of HEU, downblending into 
LEU,  and using the LEU for US electricity production.

The equivalent of 20,000 nuclear warheads will have been eliminated under 
the " Megatons to Megawatts" program. To date 375 metric tons of HEU, 
the 
equivalent of 15,000 warheads have been consumed in US NPPs after 
conversion to LEU fuel.  By 
comparison, the shipment from Chile involved a trivial amount of HEU, about 40 
pounds.

The just signed treaty negotiated in the few past months between the US 
and Russia will reduce 
warheads from about 2,200 to about 1,500 on each side which is being reported as a major initiative to "reduce nuclear warheads by one-third". True, but the Megatons to Megawatts program will have eliminated about 20,000 warheads worth of HEU over 20 years. And 1,500 deliverable warheads is still 
enough for 
each side to completely destroy the other. However, the new treaty 
is another step in the right direction.

For a description of the Megatons to Megawatts program which has 
received relatively little press [perhaps 
because it 
highlights a significant benefit to operating commercial nuclear plants 
in the 
US, not just in making electricity but to permanently eliminate Russian 
nuclear bomb 
source fissile material], 
see:

http://www.usec.com/NewsRoom/NewsReleases/USECInc/2009/2009-09-23-Material-For-15000-Nuclear.htm

From

the above Sept. 23, 2009 press release:

 "USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) announced
 today 
that the Megatons to Megawatts program has eliminated the equivalent of 
15,000 
nuclear warheads, completing 75 percent of the program’s goal, and is on

schedule to finish downblending the equivalent of 20,000 nuclear 
warheads into 
commercial nuclear power plant fuel by the end of 2013.“We are proud of 
our role 
in implementing one of the most successful nonproliferation programs 
ever,” said 
John K. Welch, USEC president and chief executive officer. “For more 
than 15 
years, the Megatons to Megawatts program has transformed this weapons 
material 
for the long-term benefit of mankind. In utilizing this fuel, America’s 
nuclear 
power plants have made us all safer while providing clean, 
emissions-free 
electricity to power our lives.”.............

To date, 375 metric tons of highly enriched uranium 
(HEU) have 
been downblended into 10,868 metric tons of LEU, enough to produce 
electricity 
that would meet the demand for a city the size of Boston or Seattle for 
approximately 575 years.Through the end of 2008, USEC had paid the 
Russian 
Federation more than $5.6 billion for the SWU component of the LEU 
delivered 
since 1995. The total amount paid to Russia through the 20-year life of 
the 
contract is expected to substantially exceed $8 
billion." 
=============

The permanent elimination by 2013 
of HEU from  20,000 Russian warheads, and conversion into nuclear fuel to be consumed in 
US nuclear reactors is a prime example of what has been a major step to fulfill the biblical admonition that humanity should beat their swords into 
plowshares, 
eliminating weapons and turning them into something for the benefit of 
humanity. Once the fissile material from nuclear warheads is sold by Russia to the

US to 
make commercial fuel, the HEU in the warheads cannot
 be used 
or diverted to rogue states or terrorist groups for nuclear weapons. 

Everyone

 wins by the US using domestic NPPs to get rid of HEU from Russia -- except 
terrorists who won't have potential 
access 
to any of the 20,000 nuclear warheads being eliminated by this existing 
Megatons 
to Megawatts program running thru 2013.

Let's hope that Rachel Maddow and other members of the media who 
influence a wide audience can begin to get their facts straight so the 
public has a chance of making informed decisions that collectively 
affect the security, environment, 
climate, and economic future of our country.

By the way, my previous post, for no special reason except that it is fun to watch,  mentioned another test video of an F-4 Phantom jet being crashed into the equivalent of a NPP containment. I overlooked including the link to the video of the   F-4 crash, and give a sense of how much it would take to breach a NPP containment. For those who like to see crashes and explosions, take a look at the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWdcVo6zIYI

Stewart Farber, MSPH

Farber Medical Solutions, LLC
Linear Accelerator and Medical Imaging Equipment Brokerage

Bridgeport, CT 06604

[203] 441-8433 [o]

website: http://www.farber-medical.com

PS: And for what it is worth, I will send this post on to Ms. Maddow at her MSNBC email. It is unlikely to have much impact on the accuracy of  her coverage on nuclear issues, but will make me feel better. One of my favorite quotes is by the Spanish philosopher Georges Santayana:

"To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood".
Santayana is best known for his quote: "Those who don't remember history, are condemned to repeat it." However, I like the first quote above more.
=======================

--- On Thu, 4/15/10, JPreisig at aol.com <JPreisig at aol.com> wrote:

From: JPreisig at aol.com <JPreisig at aol.com>
Subject: [ RadSafe ] HEU in Chile
To: radsafe at agni.phys.iit.edu
Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010, 12:32 AM

Dear Radsafe:

       This is from:    jpreisig at aol.com   .

       Greetings to Radsafers,

        <snip>    Hope you are well and that your jobs/careers are going well.

       HEU in Chile.  What's the problem????  Is the enrichment level high

      enough to worry about???  This highly enriched uranium is not being
       sent from Chile as one critical mass, is it???  I assume that the
       Uranium mass is being shipped in several sub-critical pieces.  There
       are no neutron triggering devices in the vicinity of the sub-critical
       masses, right???   A criticality expert is somehow involved in the
       sending of this HEU away from Chile,  No??? 
 <snip> 