science
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Happy New Year! Now, about that earthquake . . .
Since late 2019, it seems like there has been a string of years where things just keep getting worse. 2024 decided to continue that trend by having a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Japan on New Years Day. Understandably, people get nervous when big earthquakes hit Japan. The nuclear accident at Fukushima happened almost 13 years…
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Spent Fuel Storage
One of the main concerns people have over nuclear power is what to do with the fuel after it has spent time in the reactor. This used fuel still emits significant heat for years afterwards, and is highly radioactive for centuries. Nuclear fuel spends about 6 years inside the reactor. Every 2 years, nuclear power…
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Technical Specifications
Nuclear power plants are required to comply with the conditions of their NRC-issued license at all times. A large part of this is contained in what are called technical specifications, also known as Tech Specs. The link to all currently approved Tech Specs is below. https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/techspecs/current-approved-sts.html Tech specs provide a box that you have to…
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Nuclear Power 101
When Einstein discovered that a small amount of mass can be converted into enormous amounts of energy, he set the stage for nuclear power. The first reactor was built under the squash courts at the University of Chicago by Enrico Fermi. It went critical on December 2, 1942. By Melvin A. Miller of the Argonne…
Sleepy Neutron's Nuclear Knowledge 