Taishan Nuclear Power Plant

Taishan nuclear power plant is near the coast in Guangdong Province in China. That’s about 60km west of Macau, and about 120km west of Hong Kong. It is 50km south of Taishan itself, a city with a population of 500,000.

On about the 15th June, various news sources reported on an incident at the plant. Fuel rods were damaged and gas released. The suggestion was that the gas was released as a way to deal with the problem. Or perhaps the release or escape of the gas was as part of the problem.

A New York Times article of 16th June states that “Nuclear scientists in the United States and Europe said in interviews this week that a buildup of radioactive gas in the water surrounding the fuel rods, while not uncommon at reactors elsewhere, was often a sign of poor design, manufacturing or management.”

Given the context, that comment at least raises the possibility that poor design, manufacturing or management is widespread worldwide.

That aside, which way do the prevailing winds blow in that part of Guangdong? An article as recent as the 13 May in the journal Nature states that “The region is influenced by the East Asian monsoon system, which is characterized by prevailing northeasterly and southwesterly winds in winter and summer, respectively.”

So if there was a major problem at this time of year, the wind would carry towards Macau and Hong Kong.

Update 20 June 2021

On 17 June, The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that “The China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) informed the IAEA yesterday that a minor fuel cladding failure  had occurred at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant.”

The article goes on to explain that cladding failures are not uncommon. But it doesn’t explain what the cladding is beyond the obvious that it clads the fuel rods.

The glossary in the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission website (US.NRC) states that cladding is “The thin-walled metal tube that forms the outer jacket of a nuclear fuel rod. It prevents corrosion of the fuel by the coolant and the release of fission products into the coolant. Aluminum, stainless steel, and zirconium alloys are common cladding materials.”

I guess that if the cladding is damaged then coolant can reach the fuel rods. If that happens, then the fuel rods can release fission products into the coolants.

I understand that Taishan has about 60,000 fuel rods in its construction. The reports state that ‘about’ five rods were damaged. Why don’t they know the exact number that were damaged?

What causes a cladding tube to fail? Is it a mechanical failure when it hits against something? Is it a chemical failure because the heat generated in the rod punctures it? And how much radioactive gas was released to deal with the problem?

Update 21 June 2021

A report on the incident on June 16 by Reuters mentioned that another incident was reported by the Chinese National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) in April. A burst of radioactive gas unexpectedly entered a pipe at Unit 1’s waste gas treatment system just as workers were trying to seal it, triggering an alarm.

Several outlets report that a Zhang Zhijian, a professor at the College of Nuclear Science and Technology at Harbin Engineering University died in what is described as mysterious circumstances. He is reported to have fallen off a building at 9.34 am on June 17, 2021. It is inevitable that some news reports will see his death as linked to Taishan incident, whether that is the case or not. What strikes me is Harbin University reporting the time of death so precisely.

Update 30 July 2021

The Financial Times reported on 30 July that the French nuclear operator EDF had recommended that the reactor be shut down because of a build-up of inert gases in the primary water circuit.

Also on 30 July, China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN) issued a statement on its website at cgnpc.com that after consultation they had shut down the reactor to find the cause of fuel damage, and replace the damaged fuel and that the reactor is safe and controllable.

The Sunday Times on 30 July reported that following an increase in radiation levels that had prompted warnings from its French designers of an “imminent radiological threat”, the authorities had shut down the reactor.

Climate Change Action and Corporate Lobbying

Now that climate change is a big issue, how easy is it for a company to swing around and improve its compliance with climate action targets? It probably depends on how energy intensive the company is.

Airlines are big fuel burners, obviously.

Commercial airliners burn Jet-A, which is a mix of refined kerosene and burns at temperatures at or above 49 °C (120 °F). The benefit of using a kerosene-based fuel is that it has a much higher flash point than gasoline-based fuel, meaning that it requires significantly higher temperature to ignite and is therefore safer.

Kerosene, also known as paraffin, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid derived from petroleum. And therein lies the problem and the reason why airlines are in trouble. There is no easy answer to a substitute for jet fuel from fossil fuels. Biofuels are a possibility, but then the real cost of biofuels has to be costed in. What benefit to mankind if untold acres is given over to producing feed for airliners?

A section in the daily email from QZ mentioned that shareholders at Delta Airlines are being asked to vote on a proposal that Delta reports on its lobbying regarding climate change. The board at Delta recommends voting against the proposal, and the proposal itself mentions that it was put to the meeting last year and achieved 46% of the vote total.

I cannot imagine why the Delta board would be against the proposal if their policy is as they set out in the reasons why the oppose the proposal.

So why, you may ask, did QZ even mention the vote? It’s because according to Influence Map, Delta gets an E in the climate performance rankings.

Influence Map describes itself as:

the world’s leading database of corporate and trade association lobbying of climate policy around the globe. Analysis and metrics on how the world’s largest corporations’ climate policy engagements align with the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Abut Delta, Influence Map says:

Delta Air Lines appears to have limited, negative engagement with US climate policy. Delta Air Lines has opposed attempts to repeal a tax on jet fuel in the US state of Georgia and appears to support a long-term role for fossil fuels in global aviation. Delta also remains a member of multiple industry associations that actively and negatively lobby against ambitious climate policy including Airlines for America, which has lobbied against national climate regulation for aviation in the US.

To put Delta’s ‘E’ in context, Influence Map covers 100 top companies and gives, for example, Unilever a ‘B+’ and the energy supplier EDF a ‘B’.

The Pull-Up Method For Extending Missile Range

The Korea Herald reported on Apr 28, 2021 that the South Korean Defense Minister had commented on a recent test flight of North Korean missiles.

He was reported to have said that the missile flew 600 km by the “pull-up” method. That was a revision of an earlier statement that the missile flew 450km. So naturally, I wanted to know what this method is.

It turns out it is a way of using the atmosphere and the region above the atmosphere. It is rather like skimming a stone across the water on a lake.

In a normal flight, a missile follows a parabolic trajectory. That’s much as would happen if you were to throw a ball into the air to reach its target.

The pull-up or boost-glide method extends the range by starting with a normal parabolic arc. That sends the missile above the atmosphere on the initial thrust, which then re-enter the atmosphere in the normal way.

The boost-glide comes in when the missile pulls up by altering its wing angle. That aims it back up above the atmosphere. Above the atmosphere there is less drag, so the missile is catapulted forward faster and further on a second arc.

According to Wikipedia, the method dates from 1941 when German engineers hoped to attack America with long-range missiles.

The thing is that time spent in the atmosphere heats up missiles because of the friction drag. The hope therefore was to allow missiles to cool off above the atmosphere between time spent in the atmosphere.

The German idea didn’t come to anything. That was because missiles of the period heated up too much between skips and wouldn’t survive the trip. The Germans revived the idea later in the war, but it never came to anything. After the war, both Russia and the US pursued the idea. That came to a halt with the development of powerful Intercontinental missiles made the pull-up method redundant.

That was until the military realised there was a second use of the pull-up method. In the latest versions of pull-up, a missile might perform a number of skips. That makes it able to travel faster and less predictably, thereby overcoming air defences.

And now full circle to North Korea, which doest not have enough capability to build an intercontinental ballistic missile. It can, however, can use the skip method to extend the range of smaller missiles.

Lots Of Butterflies

I saw a lot of butterflies, but it will take me a while to set the scene. A few years ago I spent a year travelling through Central and South America. On this particular day I took a ride in a big dugout canoe up a broad river. It was a bright, sunny day as they mostly always were. I was in Ecuador, although I don’t recall the name of the river or the exact area of the country.

We passed an Indian village as I could tell from the dress of the people. Our passing must have been something of an occasion because people were standing on the bank. Being in a dugout we were low near the surface of the water. And I recall the way the boatsman spoke to the people on the river bank. He spoke in a normal conversational tone, no louder than if he had been addressing me in the canoe.

I can’t say how far it was to the bank, but much further than one would expect his voice to reach. And the voices of the villagers carried to us clear as day. I thought it was a wonderful thing how sound travels so far across water.

How Many Butterflies

Now to the point of this. When I landed a little further up the river, I was the only person there. I must have intended that as my destination, I didn’t just land without knowing that I had somewhere to sleep. But I don’t recall why I aimed for that particular place. So there I was. I made a fire and cooked porridge. Then I went out and sat on the hillside eating and looking down at the sweep of the river.

Butterflies started to come up the hill in a broad swathe, over my head. They weren’t just milling around. They were heading somewhere and they kept on coming.

At some point I went back to the pan on the fire to put more porridge on my plate. Then I wandered back and sat on the hill. And the butterflies kept on coming.

There are a lot of butterflies in South America. So perhaps I was a little bit immune to seeing them. For example, the wire grill over a bus window would be covered in butterflies that had impacted it. At every puddle in a muddy road, the surface of the water would be covered in butterflies. Often they would be big yellow ones nearly as wide as the palm of your hand.

But the sheer number of butterflies coming up the hill finally finally impinged into my consciousness. So I made a rough calculation as I sat there. I did a rough count of how many butterflies I could see at one time. And I estimated how long I had been there, including when I went to get more porridge.

Bottom line, I estimate that more than ten thousand butterflies flew over my head.

By chance I was watching a TV programme about butterfly migration in the USA, and it described migration by Monarch butterflies, and that is what I am going to go with. I think that is what they were.