227th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers

Sep 21, 2014 | Fukushima Commentary

September 21, 2014

The Hiroshima Syndrome’s Fukushima Commentary is proudly hosting the 227th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers. This week’s edition includes articles by Dr. Jim Conca, Brian Wang, Harold Bailey, Leslie Corrice and Dan Yurman.

Here’s the Fact or Fiction (?) quiz for this week… The symbol “Pu” for Plutonium was originally due to a joke?

Now…for this week’s Blogs. To read the full articles, please click on the individual links.

From Dr. Jim Conca of Forbes Magazine –

A Nuclear Primer – It’s All About Uranium

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2014/09/20/a-nuclear-primer-its-all-about-uranium/

From Brian Wang’s Next Big Future (2) –

First Water-based Nuclear Battery can be used to Generate Electrical Energy for decades with photovoltaics breakthrough

 http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/09/first-water-based-nuclear-battery-can.html

(and)

Two UAE reactors should be operational by 2020 and Saudi Arabia could complete twelve nuclear reactors from 2022-2034

 http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/09/two-uae-reactors-should-be-operational.html

From Meredith Angwin’s Yes Vermont Yankee –

The Electricity Rate Decrease Shows the Ongoing Value of Vermont Yankee

(Guest post by Harold L. Bailey)

  http://yesvy.blogspot.com/2014/09/electricity-rates-decrease-thanks-to.html#.VB78CaN0wdV

From The Hiroshima Syndrome’s Fukushima Commentary –

Fukushima Evacuees Prosper while Tsunami Refugees Languish

 http://www.hiroshimasyndrome.com/fukushima-commentary.html

From Dan Yurman’s Neutron Bytes –

GE Hitachi gets ESBWSR design certification from NRC

 http://neutronbytes.com/2014/09/16/ge-hitachi-gets-esbwsr-safety-certification-from-nrc/

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Fact or Fiction (?) answer – Fact.

Nicholas Kemmer of Cambridge theorized the existence of Plutonium and proposed the names Neptunium for element 93 and Plutonium for number 94 because Neptune and Pluto were beyond Uranus (the source of the name for Uranium).  Chemists Edwin M., McMillan and Philip Abelson of Berkeley Laboratories confirmed Plutonium’s existence in 1940.  Glenn Seaborg was on the team that first produced Plutonium from neutron bombardment of Uranium, later in 1940. Seaborg facetiously said that the symbol for Plutonium should be Pu, and not Pl (the first two letters of its name), since its pungent aroma was enough to make someone say “Pee-Yoo!”  Seaborg never thought his little joke would ever come to anything, but the naming committee accepted “Pu” as the symbol. http://fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/pubs/00818011.pdf