Cheap Juice?

So, who needs more electricity? Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2009. However, we must mandate wind in order to save the business, also in Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2009. More later. Click to enlarge.

Supercritical Heat Transfer, the piston effect

I'll insert the figure later.

Figure 3. Thermalisation in microgravity of a supercritical fluid (SF 6 ) after a heat pulse. T1, T2 and T3 are measuring thermistors. The thermalisation by the piston effect is fast and complete, whereas the peak temperature due to heat conduction is reached much later. (Courtesy of D. Beysens, CEA, Saclay, France)

NRC rigs its "ground testing" MORE LATER

Shifting Sands For Boeing's Dreamliner

Boeing has scrubbed its schedule for the production of its all-composite 787 Dreamliner as it works to reinforce the aircraft's wing section while customers have scrubbed orders for about 72 of the jets this year, including 15 dropped by Qantas last week. Still the order book for the untested, unfinished aircraft stands at roughly 850 for a list price total of more than $151 billion. The aircraft's first flight has seen four delays that have so far put the jet two years behind schedule, and the cascade of reactions to that reality include Boeing's bartering with carriers who still hold orders for the aircraft. Among those, All Nippon Airways has actually added five more of the jetliners to its orders, which may give a glimpse into the complicated contracts that manufacturers create with their clients. Media reports say some customers are seeking compensation for the delays as Boeing's delays disrupt their strategic operating plans amid volatile oil costs and a depressed economy. On the upside, Boeing has the opportunity to avoid penalties with remaining customers as they gain some flexibility in delivery schedules among fewer buyers. On the downside, the jet hasn't flown yet and after extensive computer modeling, ground tests have detected structural flaws that require structural changes.

NRC stays fat via obfuscation of ECCS.

So, I've just copied this from NRC's ADAMS. More featherbedding and obfuscation by our well-fed feds.

n a May 13, 2008, memorandum from R. W. Borchardt entitled, “Updated Schedule for Rulemaking—Emergency Core Cooling System Acceptance Criteria” (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML081260311), the staff informed the Commission of the status of the 10 CFR 50.46(b) rulemaking activities and outlined a rulemaking approach that included a decision point about the adequacy of the technical basis (WITS No. 200800238). Based on comments received from public stakeholders and internal discussions, the staff identified further research to enhance the existing technical basis. The staff outlined these additional research activities as well as a revised rulemaking plan and schedule in a December 19, 2008, memorandum entitled, “Status of Rulemaking on Emergency Core Cooling System Acceptance Criteria” (ADAMS Accession No. ML083440156 [?] ).

The technical basis supporting a revision to the 10 CFR 50.46(b) ECCS acceptance criteria is complete, and the rulemaking is progressing in accordance with the schedule outlined in the memorandum dated December 19, 2008. The staff completed the additional research activities outlined in that memorandum on schedule (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML090690711 and ML090700193). These items supplement the technical basis, which can be found in the following two documents: (1) NRC Research Information Letter 0801, “Technical Basis for Revision of Embrittlement Criteria in 10 CFR 50.46,” dated May 30, 2008 (ADAMS Accession No. ML081350225); and (2) M. Billone, Y. Yan, T. Burtseva, and R. Daum, “Cladding Embrittlement during Postulated Loss-of-Coolant Accidents,” NUREG/CR-6967 (ANL-07/04), July 2008 (ADAMS Accession No. ML082130389). Staff members from the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation and the Office of New Reactors are working with the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) to develop an acceptable regulatory framework for the comprehensive laboratory testing requirements developed by RES. Once completed, the staff will issue these testing procedures for public comment as part of an advance notice of proposed rulemaking scheduled for publication in August 2009. This memorandum satisfies the requirements of WITS No. 200800238.
cc: SECY

CRUD 1982 and 2006

Of course, crud has been around prior to 1982 and it will be around a long time after 2006. This snapshot is revealing. Click to enlarge. I may elaborate later.

The Westinghouse presentation to the ACRS refers to, "boron induced power shift." When this phenomenon was first experienced it was referred to as "Axial Offset Anomaly" (AOA).

NRC should learn, June 25, 2009

Boeing's Latest Dreamliner Setback

Boeing said on Tuesday that first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will be postponed again, due to a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft, and it will be several weeks before a new first flight or delivery date will be announced. Boeing officials had said as recently as last week at the Paris Air Show that the Dreamliner's first flight would take place by the end of this month, and deliveries would start by next March. The need to modify the aircraft raised questions about whether the computer models that are used to design aircraft and predict performance are adequate, especially when using advanced composite materials, but officials at Boeing said the process is working as it should: Computer models predict how the design will behave, but extensive real-world testing is always required to validate those predictions and, if necessary, modify the models.

NRC claims that its code, TRACE, is ready for licensing. That is false.

Obama crook Wall Street Journal

This recent letter to the Wall Street Journal briefly covers a lot of ground.