Top all-time · #2058
Atomic Insights
Personal blog · atomicinsights.comsciencepolitics
Atomic Insights is a personal blog at atomicinsights.com about science and politics. Since 2011, 39 different Hacker News readers have linked it 49 times, most often “China's high temperature pebble bed modular reactor achieves first criticality”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-09-18, and you can follow it by feed.
Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer
Most-linked posts?
- /south-texas-project-unit-1-tripped-at-0537-on-feb-15-2021/5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-02-17
- /smoking-gun-robert-anderson/3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2023-06-15
- /jimmy-carter-never-served-nuclear-submarine/3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-02-18
- /nrcs-imposition-of-aircraft-impact-rule-played-a-major-role-in-vogtle-project-delays-and-vc-summer-failure/3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-03-07
- /smoking-gun/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-12-22
- China's high temperature pebble bed modular reactor achieves first criticality2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-09-14
- Anti nuclear movement strategy paper in 1991 (2014)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-01-05
What Hacker News says?
Isn't the answer "Denver"? The city has a higher radiation dosage than average yet no more medical issues. Or at least that's something I heard once. A quick google brought up this site (which I have no idea who is sponcering) https://atomicinsights.com/science-falsified-no-safe-dose-hy... Also https://www.google.com/search?q=denver+radiation
Comment linking /science-falsified-no-safe-dose-hypothesis-radiation-now/
on ““We have no reason to believe 5G is safe””Submitted Building Curiosity’s nuclear power source as a story · 10 points
HN discussion> A nuclear plant stopped generating because the turbine froze; components were exposed to open air because Texas doesn't normally get that cold. That’s not true. The plant tripped because of a false alarm. The operators said the reactor would be back online shortly after safety checks. A whole turbine doesn’t freeze. The turbines are in buildings, not outside. Edit: Apparently, South Texas has its turbines outside.…
Comment linking /south-texas-project-unit-1-tripped-at-0537-on-feb-15-2021/
on “What went wrong with the Texas power grid?”Submitted China's high temperature pebble bed modular reactor achieves first criticality as a story · 8 points
HN discussionI stand corrected. I had trouble finding articles detailing how the nuclear plant was brought down, but then I found this: > On Monday, Feb. 15, 2021, at 0537, an automatic reactor trip occurred at South Texas Project in Unit 1. The trip resulted from a loss of feedwater attributed to a cold weather-related failure of a pressure sensing lines to the feedwater pumps, causing a false signal, which in turn, caused the…
Comment linking /south-texas-project-unit-1-tripped-at-0537-on-feb-15-2021/
on “What went wrong with the Texas power grid?”Submitted Oliver Stone’s “Nuclear” – Optimism for climate change and energy security as a story · 2 points
HN discussion> How do we communicate to civilisations in the future what we did in that mountain? The more dangerous stuff burns itself out quickly (short half-life), and the longer-lasting stuff is not very dangerous given the type of radiation it is and can be blocked quite easily So, probably bury it deep enough with little external sign that it's actually there, and if it is actually discovered it won't be that big of a deal…
Comment linking /time-for-plan-b-yucca-mountain-project-should-close-shop/
on “Nuclear energy is clean”Submitted Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThis is the most obtuse interaction I have ever had on this website. Is this simple enough? > In 1969, Robert O. Anderson, an oil man whose long career included a stint as the Chief Executive Officer of Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) (now part of BP, the company formerly known as British Petroleum), gave David Brower $200,000 to start Friends of the Earth (FOE). https://atomicinsights.com/smoking-gun-robert-anderson/
Comment linking /smoking-gun-robert-anderson/
on “Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat”Submitted Nukes kill more birds than wind? (2013) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2016/07/13/are-f... https://atomicinsights.com/smoking-gun-robert-anderson/ https://truthout.org/articles/top-oil-and-gas-lobby-spent-mo... http://climatecoalition.org/how-american-petroleum-institute... (sorry, no https) Russia has huge influence in German politics. I believe there is connection there as well, but I cannot find any public information to cite regarding fun…
Comment linking /smoking-gun-robert-anderson/
on “Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat”Submitted Is there a conspiracy against nuclear energy? (2020) as a story · 2 points
HN discussion>Although I think some among the anti-nuclear movement may have had subversive intent This is a dramatic understatement. It was coordinated by the Rockefeller Foundation from the very beginning: https://atomicinsights.com/how-did-leaders-of-the-hydrocarbo... >They may be wrong about the relative safety of nuclear power but they aren't morally defective people, so shaming them isn't appropriate. The moral failing tha…
Comment linking /how-did-leaders-of-the-hydrocarbon-establishment-build-the-foundation-for-radiation-fears/
on “Germany extends lifetime of all 3 remaining nuclear plants”Submitted ML-1 Mobile Power System: Reactor in a Box as a story · 2 points
HN discussionYou are right that I should have been clearer about the nuclear plant. However, the reason reactor unit 1 went offline appears to be accurate. https://atomicinsights.com/south-texas-project-unit-1-trippe... > The trip resulted from a loss of feedwater attributed to a cold weather-related failure of a pressure sensing lines to the feedwater pumps, causing a false signal, which in turn, caused the feedwater pump to tr…
Comment linking /south-texas-project-unit-1-tripped-at-0537-on-feb-15-2021/
on “The Texas power outage is a nation-wide problem”Submitted Examples of regulatory costs for nuclear energy development (2011) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionhttps://atomicinsights.com/south-texas-project-unit-1-trippe... Failure of feedwater supply attributed to cold-related failure of sensors.
Comment linking /south-texas-project-unit-1-tripped-at-0537-on-feb-15-2021/
on “Texas solar and wind resources saved consumers nearly $28B over 12 years”Submitted Who will be ThorCon's engineering, procurement, and construction contractor? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionBetween shameless scientific fraud from last century still affecting and harming nuclear policy to this day [0], and masses of idiots being easily influenced and swindled by foreign powers [1] (example specifically about the UK's case), I don't know why any such parties haven't been forcefully disbanded or put in the same category as terrorists, along with other organizations such as "Green"-"peace". They have at la…
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/LNT-and-NAS-Environ.-Res.-1.pdf
on “UK Green party drops longstanding opposition to nuclear power”Submitted Anti nuclear movement strategy paper in 1991 (2014) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI'm all for more nuclear, but FYI, nuclear plants were affected like everything else in Texas this week: https://atomicinsights.com/south-texas-project-unit-1-trippe... Ideally new ones would be designed better to avoid this possibility, but new nuclear plants take a minimum of 5 years if you're really sprinting. It's probably the most difficult, expensive, and time-consuming option compared to weather-hardening exi…
Comment linking /south-texas-project-unit-1-tripped-at-0537-on-feb-15-2021/
on “Electricity over $900/MWh in most of Western US now”Submitted New Fuel Rods Increase Nuke Plant Output, Improve Safety as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSee also: Gazprom, Gerhard Schröder (”Putin’s man in Germany” according to NYT) and the German nuclear power shutdown. https://atomicinsights.com/gazprom-profiting-mightily-from-g... https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/23/world/europe/schroder-ger...
Comment linking /gazprom-profiting-mightily-from-german-nuclear-exit/
on “UK's first small nuclear power station to be built in north Wales”Submitted Fukushima Nuclear Accident – Exceptional Summary by Murray E. Miles as a story · 1 points
HN discussionUnthinking, I'd always gone for Ralph Nader's 'the most toxic substance known to mankind'. http://atomicinsights.com/how-deadly-plutonium/ tells a different story. Point being - 'During the Manhattan Project in 1944 and 1945, 26 men accidentally ingested plutonium in quantities that far exceeded what is now considered to be a lethal dose. Since there has been a consistent interest in the health effects of this brand…
Comment linking /how-deadly-plutonium/
on “Analysis of Soviet smoke detector plutonium”> HTGR https://atomicinsights.com/chinas-high-temperature-reactor-p... has a summary of the past experimental reactors (skip half way down to the heading “Brief high temperature reactor history”), and explains some of the reasons past reactors have failed to be commercialised. It also explains one central problem with using gas: “Even with higher temperatures and higher efficiency, each core can produce 1/10th of th…
Comment linking /chinas-high-temperature-reactor-pebble-bed-modular-htr-pm-achieves-its-first-criticality/
on “Overhyping hydrogen as a fuel”See also: Gazprom, Gerhard Schröder (”Putin’s man in Germany” according to NYT) and the German nuclear power shutdown. https://atomicinsights.com/gazprom-profiting-mightily-from-g... https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/23/world/europe/schroder-ger...
Comment linking /gazprom-profiting-mightily-from-german-nuclear-exit/
on “Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet”Going rate at the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) is 250+ $/hour to just review documents which are several hundred thousand pages long. 'One of my key concerns was the effect on the schedules for new license applications – not only do applicants have to pay $273 for every regulator hour, but they have to pay the staff and contractors that they use to apply for permission and answer regulator questions. Longer l…
Comment linking /2011/12/audit-the-nrc.html
on “First new U.S. nuclear reactors in decades approved”However, there probably is quite a bit of tritiated water. Yes. Here's the tank farm.[1] It could probably be let out into the ocean without much harm, if not done all at once. But there's opposition to that. Meanwhile, it decays with a half-life of 12 years, so eventually it will be harmless. Frustratingly, the concentration of tritium is too low for commercial extraction. [1] http://atomicinsights.com/wp-content/u…
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/fukushimatanks_sm.jpg
on “High radiation readings at Fukushima’s No. 2 reactor complicate robot probe”Plutonium can be hazardous, but we've been able to work with it very safely. There is little reason to worry about storing it safely. "During the Manhattan Project in 1944 and 1945, 26 men accidentally ingested plutonium in quantities that far exceeded what is now considered to be a lethal dose. Since there has been a consistent interest in the health effects of this brand new substance (first discovered by Glenn Se…
Comment linking /how-deadly-plutonium/
on “A hole in Finland is being prepared to contain radioactive waste for 100k years”
