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Michael Crichton – Unpopular Truth
Charlie Rose – Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton : on the future
Author Michael Crichton Dies
Chernobyl disaster effects
“…The Chernobyl disaster triggered the release of substantial amounts of radiation into the atmosphere in the form of both particle and gaseous radioisotopes, and is the most significant unintentional release of radiation[citation needed] into the environment to date. It has been suggested that the Chernobyl disaster released as much as 400 times the radioactive contamination of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[citation needed] However, the work of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) suggests that the two events cannot be simply compared with a number suggesting that one was x times larger than the other; the isotopes released at Chernobyl tended to be longer-lived than those released by a bomb detonation, producing radioactivity curves that vary in shape as well as size. …”
“…Dose to the general public within 30 km of the plant
The inhalation dose (internal dose) for the public (during the time between the accident occurring and their evacuation from the area) in what is now the 30 km evacuation zone around the plant has been estimated (based ground deposition of caesium-137) to be between 3 and 150 mSv {between a 1 in 6666.67 and a 1 in 133.33 chance of a fatal cancer, assuming the ICRP risk factor of a 5% of a fatal cancer per Sv of exposure} for adults (depending on the distance from the reactor and the day of evacuation) and for one year old children a dose estimate of between 10 and 700 mSv {between a 1 in 2000 and a 1 in 28.57 chance of fatal cancer} has been made.[1] Thyroid doses for adults were between 20 and 1000 mSv, while for the one year old infants these were higher at 20 to 6000 mSv. For those who left at an early stage in the accident the internal dose due to inhalation was 8 to 13 times higher than the external dose due to gamma/beta emitters. For those who remained until later (day 10 or later) the inhalation dose was 50 to 70% higher than the dose due to external exposure. The majority of the dose was due to Iodine-131 (circa 40%), tellurium and rubidium isotopes (circa 20 to 30% for Rb and Te).[2]
The ingestion doses in this same group of people have also been estimated using the caesium activity per unit of area, isotope ratios, average day of evacuation, intake rate of milk and green vegetables and what is known about the transfer of radioactivity via plants/animals to humans. For adults the dose has been estimated to be between 3 and 180 mSv while for the one year old infants a dose of between 20 and 1300 mSv has been estimated. Again the majority of the dose was due to Iodine-131 and the external dose was much smaller than the internal dose due to the radioactivity in the diet.[3]
Short-term health effects and immediate results
The explosion at the power station and subsequent fires inside the remains of the reactor provoked a radioactive cloud which drifted not only over Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, but also over the European part of Turkey, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Poland, Estonia, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Ireland, France (including Corsica[4]), Canada[5] and the United Kingdom (UK).[6][7] In fact, the initial evidence in other countries that a major exhaust of radioactive material had occurred came not from Soviet sources, but from Sweden, where on April 27 workers at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant (approximately 1100 km from the Chernobyl site) were found to have radioactive particles on their clothes. It was Sweden’s search for the source of radioactivity, after they had determined there was no leak at the Swedish plant, that led to the first hint of a serious nuclear problem in the Western Soviet Union. In France, the government then claimed that the radioactive cloud had stopped at the Italian border. Therefore, while some kinds of food (mushrooms in particular) were prohibited in Italy because of radioactivity, the French authorities took no such measures, in an attempt to appease the population’s fears (see below).
Contamination from the Chernobyl disaster was not evenly spread across the surrounding countryside, but scattered irregularly depending on weather conditions. Reports from Soviet and Western scientists indicate that Belarus received about 60% of the contamination that fell on the former Soviet Union. A large area in Russia south of Bryansk was also contaminated, as were parts of northwestern Ukraine.
203 people were hospitalized immediately, of whom 31 died (28 of them died from acute radiation exposure). Most of these were fire and rescue workers trying to bring the disaster under control, who were not fully aware of how dangerous the radiation exposure (from the smoke) was (for a discussion of the more important isotopes in fallout see fission products). 135,000 people were evacuated from the area, including 50,000 from the nearby town of Pripyat, Ukraine. Health officials have predicted that over the next 70 years there will be a 2% increase in cancer rates in much of the population which was exposed to the 5–12 EBq (depending on source) of radioactive contamination released from the reactor. An additional 10 individuals have already died of cancer as a result of the disaster.
Soviet scientists reported that the Chernobyl Unit 4 reactor contained about 180–190 metric tons of uranium dioxide fuel and fission products. Estimates of the amount of this material that escaped range from 5 to 30 percent, but some liquidators, who have actually been inside the sarcophagus and the reactor shell itself — e.g. Mr. Usatenko and Dr. Karpan — state that not more than 5–10% of the fuel remains inside; indeed, photographs of the reactor shell show that it is completely empty.[citation needed] Because of the intense heat of the fire, much of the ejected fuel was lofted high into the atmosphere (with no containment building to stop it), where it spread. …”
Japan earthquake: Explosion at Fukushima nuclear plant
“…Tokyo Electric Power said four of its workers had been injured in Saturday’s blast at Fukushima, 250km (155 miles) north of Tokyo, but that their injuries were not life-threatening.
An evacuation zone around the damaged nuclear plant has been extended to 20km (12.4 miles) from 10km, and a state of emergency declared.
An estimated 200,000 people have been evacuated from the area, the International Atomic Energy Agency says.
Continue reading the main story Tests showed at least three patients evacuated from a hospital near the plant had been exposed to radiation, public broadcaster NHK quoted local government officials as saying. They were among a group of people waiting outside the hospital for rescue helicopters when the explosion hit the plant.
Government spokesman Yukio Edano said the force of the explosion had destroyed the concrete roof and walls of a building around the plant’s number one reactor, but a steel container encasing the reactor had not been ruptured.
Mr Edano said radiation levels around the plant had fallen after the explosion. He added that sea water was being pumped into the site to lower temperatures. …”
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Over 1,000 feared killed as megaquake strikes Japan
9.0 Japan earthquake shifted Earth on its axis
“…Friday’s earthquake off the eastern coast of Japan was upgraded to a magnitude 9.0 by the Japan Meteorological Agency, the Kyodo News agency reported Sunday.
The agency’s scientists probably had access to new data, said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Susan Hough. “If they’ve upgraded, I expect USGS might follow suit,” she said, adding that it was not unusual for magnitudes to move up or down by 0.1, because large earthquakes can be tricky to measure.
“It’s not surgical precision,” she said.
Other details are emerging. The quake probably shifted the position of Earth’s axis about 6.5 inches, said Richard Gross, a geophysicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, in an e-mail. …”
“…The Japanese have the best seismic information in the world,” said Lucy Jones, chief scientist for the Multi-Hazards project at the U.S. Geological Survey, at a Saturday news conference at Caltech in Pasadena. “This is overwhelmingly the best-recorded great earthquake ever.”
Already, just over 36 hours after the quake, data-crunchers had determined that the temblor’s force moved parts of eastern Japan as much as 12 feet closer to North America, scientists said, and that Japan has shifted downward about two feet. …”
U.S. Media Criticized for Japan Earthquake Coverage
How Things Work : How Does the Richter Scale Work?
What is the rating scale of earthquakes?
Earthquakes are measured using the Richter Scale, which is a logarithmic scale ranging from 0-9. (Logarithmic means that with each increase of one on the Richter scale, there is a tenfold increase in energy.) The scale is as follows:
Less than 2.0 : Micro : Not felt. 2.0-2.9 : Minor : Not felt, but recorded. 3.0-3.9 : Minor : Felt, but rarely cuse damage. 4.0-4.9 : Light : Noticable shaking of items, damage unlikely. 5.0-5.9 : Moderate : Damage to poorly constructed buildings, unlikely damage to specially designed buildings. 6.0-6.9 : Strong : Destructive for up to 100 miles across populated areas. 7.0-7.9 : Major : Serious damage over large areas. 8.0-8.9 : Great : Serious damage over areas of several hundred miles. 9.0-9.9 : Great : Devastating damage in areas thousands of miles across. 10.0+ : Great : Yet to be recorded
“…The Richter Scale is used to rate the magnitude of an earthquake — the amount of energy it released. This is calculated using information gathered by a seismograph. The Richter Scale is logarithmic, meaning that whole-number jumps indicate a tenfold increase. In this case, the increase is in wave amplitude. That is, the wave amplitude in a level 6 earthquake is 10 times greater than in a level 5 earthquake, and the amplitude increases 100 times between a level 7 earthquake and a level 9 earthquake. The amount of energy released increases 31.7 times between whole number values.
The largest earthquake on record registered an 9.5 on the currently used Richter Scale, though there have certainly been stronger quakes in Earth’s history. The majority of earthquakes register less than 3 on the Richter Scale. These tremors, which aren’t usually felt by humans, are called microquakes. Generally, you won’t see much damage from earthquakes that rate below 4 on the Richter Scale. Major earthquakes generally register at 7 or above.
Richter ratings only give you a rough idea of the actual impact of an earthquake. As we’ve seen, an earthquake’s destructive power varies depending on the composition of the ground in an area and the design and placement of manmade structures. The extent of damage is rated on the Mercalli Scale. Mercalli ratings, which are given as Roman numerals, are based on largely subjective interpretations. A low intensity earthquake, one in which only some people feel the vibration and there is no significant property damage, is rated as a II. The highest rating, a XII, is applied only to earthquakes in which structures are destroyed, the ground is cracked and other natural disasters, such as landslides or Tsunamis, are initiated. …”
Computers need electricity for power and cooling both on the desktop and in server rooms and data centers.
Larger LCD screens and monitors also need significantly more electricity as will “electric” cars if they become affordable over the next decade.
Nuclear power plants currently supply about 20% of the electrical needs of the United States and 16% world wide.
Nuclear power plants are experiencing a revival both in the United States and abroad especially in China, India, France, and Japan.
One key component of such a plant is its computer operating system or the Instrumentation and Control (I&C) Systems.
Given the challenges of such an operating system, one can only speculate as to whether or not the largest software company in the world, Microsoft, will take an active part in developing–Windows Nuclear–the operating system for nuclear power plants from the micro to large nuclear power plants.
Will Microsoft partner with General Electric to build the next generation of nuclear power plants in the USA as well as abroad?
Will there be a Windows Nuclear?
Go Nuclear!
Background Articles and Videos
Nuclear power plants, world-wide
“…As of end 2007 the total electricity production since 1951 amounts to 59,450 billion kWh. The cumulative operating experience amounted to 12,750 years by the end of 2007.
EuroNews – Futuris – new generation of nuclear power plant
epr areva
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P&T Bullshit Nukes, Hybrids and Lesbians Part 1
P&T Bullshit Nukes, Hybrids and Lesbians Part 2
P&T Bullshit Nukes, Hybrids and Lesbians Part 3
Microsoft Data Centers – getting bigger and better
Michael Manos, Microsoft’s data center guru talks about Scry
Electricity use and efficiency of servers and data centers: A review of recen…
“…The Internet economy depends on a reliable computing infrastructure. While earlier reports of information technology using vast amounts all electricity were grossly exaggerated, these facilities still use electricity, and this use is growing rapidly. Recent analysis indicates that data center electricity use in both the US and the world roughly doubled from 2000 to 2005, and this growth is expected to slow only modestly over the following five years. Growth of this magnitude represents a substantial business opportunity for technology companies. This talk will describe results of recent work analyzing trends in total data center power use and how this growth varies by major world region. It will also explore the misplaced incentives and institutional failures that impede data center efficiency investments on a large scale. Finally, it will describe business, government, and research efforts to improve efficiency in these mission critical facilities, including recent work by the Energy Star program to promote server and data center efficiency.
Speaker: Jonathan Koomey
Dr. Koomey held the MAP/Ming visiting professorship in energy and environment at Stanford University for the 2003-2004 school year, and is now a Consulting Professor at Stanford. …”
“…Cloud computing seductively offers the chance for fast efficient centralised computing for the masses reputedly with an eco-friendly footprint. Rather than being environmentally sound, these huge data centre behemoths ─ housing server farms with literally tens of thousands of high performance servers ─ consume vast amounts of energy. An unforeseen consequence of centralising cloud computing is it’s continuously growing electrical load which cannot easily be shed and could even become a tipping point with a peak load that takes the electrical grid past the point of catastrophic failure. …”
Massive Electrical Load
“…It is no coincidence that data centres are located near large power sources. The power they consume is staggering. In a recently announced data centre based in California, some 40,000 servers are housed; each draws perhaps 1 amp so that total power used is at least 10 megawatts. Arguably these servers that bring cloud computing to life could be considered more efficient working far harder than those under utilised servers and personal computers based at home or offices. However large the server’s power consumption is, it still represents just a fraction of the total utility bill since the data centre must operate a thermal control system to dump the waste heat generated by the servers as a physical by-product of creating and delivering a virtual world to our desktops. …”
“…Nuclear power is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nuclei via controlled nuclear reactions. The most common method today is through nuclear fission, though other methods include nuclear fusion and radioactive decay. All utility-scale reactors[1] heat water to produce steam, which is then converted into mechanical work for the purpose of generating electricity or propulsion. In 2007, 14% of the world’s electricity came from nuclear power. More than 150 nuclear-powered naval vessels have been built, and a few radioisotope rockets have been produced. …”
“…As of 2005, nuclear power provided 6.3% of the world’s energy and 15% of the world’s electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for 56.5% of nuclear generated electricity.[2] As of 2007, the IAEA reported there are 439 nuclear power reactors in operation in the world,[3] operating in 31 countries.[4]
In 2007, nuclear´s share of global electricity generation dropped to 14%. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the main reason for this was an earthquake in western Japan on 16 July 2007, which shut down all seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant. There were also several other reductions and “unusual outages” experienced in Korea and Germany. Also, increases in the load factor for the current fleet of reactors appear to have plateaued.[5]
The United States produces the most nuclear energy, with nuclear power providing 19%[6] of the electricity it consumes, while France produces the highest percentage of its electrical energy from nuclear reactors—78% as of 2006.[7] In the European Union as a whole, nuclear energy provides 30% of the electricity.[8] Nuclear energy policy differs between European Union countries, and some, such as Austria and Ireland, have no active nuclear power stations. In comparison, France has a large number of these plants, with 16 multi-unit stations in current use. …”
Instrumentation and Control (I&C) Systems in Nuclear Power
Plants: A Time of Transition
“…I&C systems are the nervous system of a nuclear power plant. They monitor all aspects of the plant’s health and help respond with the care and adjustments needed.
Progress in electronics and information technology (IT) has created incentives to replace traditional analog instrumentation and control (I&C) systems in nuclear power plants with digital I&C systems, i.e. systems based on computers and microprocessors. Digital systems offer higher reliability, better plant performance and additional diagnostic capabilities. Analog systems will gradually become obsolete in the general IT shift to digital technology. About 40% of the world’s operating reactors have been modernized to include at least some digital I&C systems. Most newer plants also include digital I&C systems.
Digital I&C systems have posed new challenges for the industry and regulators, who have had to build up the methods, data and experience to assure themselves that the new systems meet all reliability and performance requirements. In general, countries with more new construction of nuclear reactors have had greater incentives and opportunities to develop the needed capabilities. Other countries are still in the process of doing so. …”
“…The real-time operating system is used where software failure can lead to catastrophic consequences, even death – from high-speed trains to air traffic control towers to highway toll systems. It’s also used in more than 100 different types of cars on the road.
For Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which operates nuclear power plants in Canada, China and Slovenia, downtime just isn’t an option. About 15 to 20 years ago, the Mississauga, Ont.-based company turned to QNX’s real-time operating system to keep its plants running. Since then, it’s upgraded to version 4.0 and is now rolling out 6.0 – and that’s it. …”
“We chose QNX initially because of its micro-kernel architecture, its performance and its real-time capabilities,” said Ross Judd, manager of information and control systems development with Atomic Energy. “Our applications are real-time applications – they involve data acquisition through machine interfaces and control rooms.”
“…”Remember the old style of Christmas lights where you had a big long string and if one bulb burned out the whole thing burned out and you had to go through each one and find out which single bulb failed? That’s Microsoft.”
Only a few components that are critical to maintaining the operation of a function are in what’s called the protected kernel. All other elements are in modules that plug into the kernel. That means if one function fails, it won’t bring down the other functions; they’re protected from corrupting each other.
“When you’ve got Microsoft on your desktop and you have a problem with Explorer or Excel, it can hang up your computer where your only option is to shut the entire thing down,” said Shewchuk. “It might be something as silly as a printer driver, but it affects the whole operating system because all the code is in this monolithic structure.”
In a micro-kernel operating system, upgrading software consists of slotting in one module, rather than bringing down the entire system. “If you want to go from having one switch to multiple switches, you can link those together seamlessly without bringing the entire system down and having to reboot an entirely new system up,” he said.
The old-fashioned way of thinking was that when you hard-wired all these applications together, your systems could run faster. That was true 20 years ago when systems were much less complex, said Shewchuk, but nowadays even simple devices connect to the Internet and have a graphical capability, and many of them are networked.
“The amount of code and complexity of coding becomes more and more difficult and the amount of discipline it takes to maintain the operating system in those environments is incredibly complex,” he said. “It’s a more clean, defined process for coding in a micro-kernel.” …”
Truck-delivered Micro-Nuclear Reactor for Clean Energy Within Five Years
Edwin Black
“…Micro-nuclear reactors about the size of a hot tub, prefabricated and delivered by trucks, will begin revolutionizing electric energy supply within five years, according to information gleaned from government scientists and corporate energy sources. If successful, the breakthrough will change the face of global energy supplies.
New nuclear battery technology pioneered by government scientists at Los Alamos—the facility that developed the first atomic bomb—has been licensed to private companies for mass production and distribution. In its initial format, each micro-reactor will produce just 25 megawatts, but enough to provide electricity for 20,000 average American-sized homes or a major industrial project. Daisy-chained, these micro-reactors, each one about twice the size of an average man, can supply enough electricity to power an entire small city or suburb. Initially, the reactors will be placed in isolated industrial and residential areas, such as oilsand enterprises and underdeveloped African nations in need of power.
The miniature nuclear marvels will be factory-sealed in concrete, and delivered by truck, train or ship for burial under close international nuclear regulatory supervision. The reactors will produce heat which will boil an adjacent water source to create the steam that typically turns turbines that generate electricity. …”
“…Hyperion Power Generation, Inc. (HPG) was formed to bring to market the unique Hyperion (formerly Comstar) small, modular, non-weapons grade nuclear power reactor invented by Dr. Otis “Pete” Peterson at the United States’ famed Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico. Through the commercialization program at LANL’s Technology Transfer Division, HPG was awarded the exclusive license to utilize the intellectual property and develop a product that will benefit the U.S. economy and global society as a whole.
The next multi-million dollar phase of work on the development of Hyperion, underwritten by private investors, continues, Hyperion will play a key role as a solution for climate change and the energy crisis. …”
“…The NRC has long sought standardization of nuclear power plant designs, and the enhanced safety and licensing reform that standardization could make possible. The Commission expects advanced reactors to be safer and use simplified, passive or other innovative means to accomplish their safety functions. The NRC’s regulation (Part 52 to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations) provides a predictable licensing process including certification of new nuclear plant designs. This process reflects decades of experience and research involving reactor design and operation. The design certification process provides for early public participation and resolution of safety issues prior to an application to construct a nuclear power plant. …”
“…When the industry first said several years ago that it would resume building plants, deep skepticism greeted the claim. Not since 1973 had anybody in the United States ordered a nuclear plant that was actually built, and the obstacles to a new generation of plants seemed daunting.
But now, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 21 companies say they will seek permission to build 34 power plants, from New York to Texas. Factories are springing up in Indiana and Louisiana to build reactor parts. Workers are clearing a site in Georgia to put in reactors. Starting in January, millions of electric customers in Florida will be billed several dollars a month to finance four new reactors.
“…According to a recent study by the Natural Resources Defense Council it’s because of that ginormous TV set you just bought. We always figured that LCDs and plasmas used less power than CRTs, but apparently digital HDTVs actually suck up more power than analog TVs (see the chart below), and to make matters worse, we’re buying bigger and bigger television sets than we used to. They’re predicting that in four years our TVs will be consuming 50% more power per year than they do today, what worries them is that hardly anyone thinks about how much power their TV is going to use when they’re buying it (we certainly don’t), so they’re trying to get manufacturers to make their displays more energy efficient and are asking the EPA to establish a single annual energy-consumption number for TVs that’s sort of like the one they already have for air conditioners. …”
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