An Informal History of Women at the National Laboratories
I gave a talk on that subject at the New Mexico Museum of History this week. Here are the slides.
Department of Energy
The DOE Announces Plans For Pit Production
The Department of Energy has been contemplating the future production of nuclear weapon pits – the fissile part of the weapon, usually plutonium. Rocky Flats, between Golden and Boulder, Colorado, used to do it, but it turned into an environmental disaster. All buildings have been removed from the site.
Los Alamos and Savannah River are the only two DOE sites that can work with plutonium. Both put themselves into the running for the task. Both have had some problems with safely handling the stuff, for example. The decision was announced today. Both were, in effect, selected. Read More
What A Continuing Resolution Means For The People Who Do The Work
President Donald Trump has agreed with Democratic Congressional leaders to extend a continuing budget resolution for three months. I can hear the federally-funded program managers:
whoop.ti.doo
It’s better than a government shutdown, but not much. Read More
That DOE Article in Vanity Fair
Michael Lewis has an extensive article on the Trump administration’s approach to the Department of Energy. It’s worth reading. I’ll add some observations and objections.
The biggest thing I object to is the framing of scary. Nuke stuff is always framed as scary. There’s some basis for that, particularly in the time of Trump, but being scared is not the best way to deal with problems. Read More
Links – July 28, 2017
Photo: Nixon and Khrushchev’s “Kitchen Debate” in 1959.
Long read: The Trump administration’s dangerous ignorance of the Department of Energy.
Now that the attempts at repealing Obamacare have been repealed, Trump is likely to go after the Iran Deal. Here is a refutation of some of the claims that have been made against it.
A Critical Problem
Tunnel Collapse at Hanford
A tunnel collapsed in the 200 Area of Washington State’s Hanford Reservation. The 200 Area is where fuel elements from Hanford’s reactors were processed to recover the plutonium that went into American nuclear weapons. I was not aware of an underground rail system there. The system is probably in the 200 area only because the reactors are much too far away to make an underground system possible. Read More
Fails Dancing With The Stars, Wins Nuke Prize
According to the New York Times, Rick Perry, former governor of Texas, presidential aspirant, and now Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Energy, um, didn’t know what the Department of Energy does when he accepted Trump’s nomination. “Sure I’ll be Ambassador for Oil and Gas,” he said. Twitter is meeting this revelation with humor and “We’re all going to die.” Read More
Nuclear Diner 