NO JOKING MATTER
Re: William Tucker’s Pass
the Plutonium:
The article “Pass the Plutonium” by William Tucker gave an
interesting perspective on the future of nuclear power.
The notion of the public losing its nuclear virginity and
starting to think like adults about the effects of a nuclear
accident could be supported by a recent article by Ann Coulter
titled “A Glowing Report on Radiation.” If one overlooks the a
snarky comments by Coulter, the data she mentions actually shows a
health benefit from events that exposed large populations to
radiation many times the limits set by regulators. If prostate
cancer and breast cancers actually decline years after the tragic
events in Japan, there may be reason to question the linear dose
theory that regulates most nuclear activities.
It was unfortunate that the publication date happened to
be April 1, since that date could lead people to not take the
article seriously.
— Joseph Bell
Marietta, GA
That is the most sensible article I’ve seen on nuclear
power. The Carter decision to stop reprocessing was not only bad
for the U.S., it represented a completely naïve way to think about
how sovereign nations and even children behave. Carter justified it
on the basis that the U.S. would set a good example and by doing so
lead other nations to not reprocess and isolate plutonium. That
sounds like what he might tell his 3rd grade Sunday
school students, be good and stay in line because that sets a good
example of the 1st graders. My experience is that the 1st graders
don’t pay attention to 3rd graders and it now looks like other
sovereign nations did not pay attention to the U.S. either. I
supported and voted for Carter and all other Democrats except
probably Mondale because the candidates put up by the other side
are always completely unacceptable to anyone but a rich fat cat.
That said, I have no problem with Democrats throwing Carter or any
other past president under the bus. The Republicans hero worship,
why should any else?
The public and more importantly the journalists really do
need to understand a bit of nuclear physics. Why is it hard to
explain that radiation happens when an atom changes from one
material to another? Half-life is the time that is needed for ½ of
the material to change. Iodine-131’s half-life is 8 days and
Plutonium’s half-life is 100,000 years. Put a pound of Iodine-131
in your right hand and a pound of Plutonium in your left hand. In 8
days you will only have ½ pound of Iodine but you will have
.9999995 pounds of Plutonium. The radiation from the Iodine will
have killed you while the radiation from the Plutonium is almost
negligible. The lesson: things with a short half-life are the
dangerous radiation source but they are soon gone. In Japan
Iodine-131 seems to be getting into the air and seawater, but it
will be gone (actually reduced by 99%) in a year. Cesium’s
half-life is about a 1½ so it will take 15 years to reach the 99%
decay stage but it is heavy so it will settle into the ground or
sea floor with no real way to concentrate into living things.
Saying spent fuel will be dangerous for millions of years because
it contains Plutonium is mixing facts. It is radioactively
dangerous for perhaps 100 years; the embedded Plutonium will
continue to decay for millions of years but the radiation from a
slight amount of plutonium embedded in tons of stable Uraniunm-238
may not even be detectable.
However, saying Plutonium is not radioactively dangerous
is not the same as saying it is safe. In pill size dosages it seems
to be a poison in the same sense that Arsenic is a poison. Further,
Plutonium can be used to make a nuclear bomb, but not from spent
fuel in anyone’s basement shop. Plutonium is created when a U-238
atom ingests a slow neutron (they are abundant in power plant
working reactors) then changes into Americium, which decays to
Plutonium-239. But in reactor fuel that lives for 6 years in a slow
neutron rich environment some of that Plutonium (Pu-239) will
ingest another neutron or two so the Plutonium mix will include
Pu-239, Pu-240, Pu-241…. The even number isotopes would poison a
bomb. Nations have built nukes with Pu from reactors. To do so they
clad the reactor with U-238 pads then remove the pads after a short
period (measured in weeks not years). This means very little of the
produced Pu-239 sees a secondary conversion. Because the pads
contain very little Pu-240 they could chemically isolate bomb grade
Plutonium. But apply the process to spent fuel and you get the mix
of Pu-x isotopes. To get bomb grade you then need to separate the
odd isotopes via a nuclear scale centrifuges, diffusion membranes,
etc . Those machines are found next to a power plant, not in a
basement shops for very good reasons.
Leaving spent fuel in a pool for 10 or 15 years will let
most of the fast decay and thus radioactively dangerous fission
byproducts degrade to stable lead. Then reprocessing to extract U
and Pu will reduce the waste remaining from tons to pounds. The
Uranium isotope mix is like natural ore so it can be enriched but
it can also be mixed with Pu to become MOX-like fuel for a slightly
modified reactor.
Alternatively the Pu could fuel a government owned and
tightly IEAI monitored fast neutron reactor that converts Pu to
power. Although the PURX process used in Europe for
reprocessing may not be the optimal one it will work until we
discover a better process. That we have not found that process to
date is really the criminal effect of Carter’s decision. We stopped
reprocessing research for 20+ years and in the world of research
you never find out anything if you don’t look. In the world of golf
they say “No short putt ever sinks.” Carter saw the possibility
that a longer putt might roll off into the rough so he putted
short. However, we are still on the green and the thunderstorm is
approaching.
— Tom Barker
A GOOD
MAN
Re:
Ben Stein’s A
Smile on My Face:
Thank you, Ben Stein, for fresh hope to start the day here
on our ranch in East Texas. I have been alone for a day while my
husband travels on business. While alone I became fixed on thoughts
of our two children serving in the military. One just returned from
a war zone, another leaves shortly for his 10th tour at war. And my
sadness had to do with Libya and wondering how deeply entrenched we
will become in a war so quickly entered in to, and quite
unsatisfactorily explained. I see friends in our small town each
and every day and they seem so carefree. Why wouldn’t they be, they
don’t worry about children leaving again for a war that should have
been won years ago. Instead we drag on with this war, start another
and find ourselves feeling for the children of a Daddy who they
have been around less than one-half their little lives.
Your optimism and love for country remind me why our
children serve, Mr. Stein. And it reminds me why our son and his
wife named their first daughter, Liberty. It is a precious reminder
of what we love and treasure so very much. And blessings to you for
loving an old dog so much as to put up with the inconvenience of
incontinence. Our oldest dog, a blind cocker spaniel, lived until
15 and she passed in her sleep recently. And her passing, the day
after my father passed on, nearly broke my heart along with losing
dad.
So, bright East Texas greetings to you. You would love
this part of the country, too, with its pine trees, dogwoods, good
hard working people and ranchers who love this land as much as
you.
— Beverly Gunn
East
Texas Rancher
Thank you for that article. Forty-two years ago, I was one
of those guys in WRAMC and was the recipient of some really neat
visits. Mr. Stein did a very worthwhile thing in blessing those
young men with his presence and good will. Thank him for me.
— Paul A. Guthrie,
Jr.
Eustis, Florida
I have no idea how to reach Ben Stein, but I have a
solution to his dog slipping down. Please tell him to buy dog rain
footies. They will give the dog the traction he needs to stay
afoot.
I went through the same thing with my beloved schnauzer of
16 years and it made the last months of her life much, much more
bearable.
— Don
Daughtry
Johns Creek, GA
Dear Mr. Editor (please forgive me if you’re a “she”
rather than a “he”):
Please pay Ben Stein more. :o)
Smiling in Fairport, NY
— Jim Scott
UP FROM UNIONS
Re:
RiShawn Biddle’s
Return of the One-Room Schoolhouse:
RiShawn Biddle is correct in calling for a 21st century
approach to education. The problem is that many teachers continue
to cling to their unions which support a yesteryear,
industrial-style model of negotiations and do little to actually
advance the profession.
Leaders in the reform effort often highlight innovations
in policy that affect student achievement. What they need to know
is that there is a new and innovative approach to teacher
representation that supports educators without the stigmas and
stifling contracts associated with labor unions known as the
Association of American Educators, a national nonunion organization
for professional educators.
Established in 1994, AAE is a modern day professional
educators’ association where educators can obtain important
benefits they need like legal and liability insurance but at a
fraction of the cost of unions. Further, AAE does not get involved
in political campaigns or issues outside of education.
AAE calls on reformers to not only be part of the push for
education innovation but advances in association representation
that seeks to guide teachers into a new age in the classroom. We
invite education leaders and teachers alike to join the hundreds of
thousands of educators already in the nonunion educators’
movement.
— Gary Beckner
Executive
Director, Association of American Educators
THE REAL CRIME
Re
Christopher Orlet’s Local
Hero:
Regarding the “Westboro bunch,” Mr. Orlet, I don’t think
ignorance is their crime. Would that were so. I think they know the
facts, and know full well what they do. Spewing hatred of the worst
sort, and vomiting their bile all over our best, our fallen young
men and women, and their bereaved families — that is their crime.
Overstepping the boundaries of decency not by inches but by
light-years, and laughing and bragging all the while — that is
their crime. And doing all of that for publicity, and in the name
of God — those are crimes, too. Crimes against humanity, and all
that is good in this world. So the real question, especially
regarding the recent Supreme Court decision, is whether this level
of vileness should be outlawed, and the answer probably is that it
should not be. They should be made to keep a respectful
distance from the fallen and their families, and leave the rest up
to a greater power. If God is watching, there is no way He can be
happy with these people.
— D.
Reich
Auburn,
NY
LET’S PLAY TWO!
Re: Aaron Goldstein’s My
2011 MLB Predictions:
I hope Aaron is right!. As a long time Cub fan who’s been
waiting since Ernie Banks came on the scene… I hope he’s right.
If he’s wrong it won’t be too long of a wait… they seem like they
have some very strong talent on the farm. So the future looks
bright(er).
— Frank
J. Baron
Glen Ellyn,
IL
