The China Syndrome

Hello Everyone,
Last Thursday TEF convened in Sophia Gordon to watch The China Syndrome, a fictional movie portraying the event of a nuclear meltdown. This film stars Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, and Jack Lemmon and was nominated in the Academy Awards for Best Leading Actor and Actress, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Writing, and Best Screenplay. The title of the movie describes a nuclear meltdown - where the reactor components of a nuclear plant become so hot that they melt through their containment structures "all the way to China."
Jane Fonda leads us through this action packed film as a television news reporter uncovering the safety threats of a nuclear power plant. While Fonda and her cameramen are filming a story on Energy at the nuclear power plant, the plant’s system detects a serious problem. Witnessing an intense moment of panic in the control room, Fonda is told that the nuclear reactor has returned to normal and everything is safe. However, throughout the rest of the movie, Fonda and the audience discover that the plant is anything but safe.
This film was released in theaters on March, 16th, 1979, only twelve days before the nuclear accident on Three Mile Island in Dauphin, Pennsylvania. Three Mile Island was the first of only three nuclear accidents to occur in history. The Chernobyl Disaster on 26 April 1986 had far more devastating repercussions than then Three Mile Island and the current Japan nuclear crisis cannot yet be analyzed for its total damage. However, because Three Mile Island was the first nuclear accident and it followed so soon after the release of The China Syndrome, the American public was left in a heated debate about the future of nuclear energy.
Hope everyone had a fun Halloween Weekend, and is looking forward to our next meet on Thursday November 10th, when we will host a debate with guest speakers!

Energy Abroad Panel a big hit!

We were very excited by the interest in our Energy Abroad event (check out the article in the Daily about us!), and we think everyone learned a lot about how other countries handle their energy issues. A special thanks to our panelists who included:

• Adrian Dahlin on about peace and renewable energy in the Middle East
• Seth Rau on energy issues in Germany
• Andrea Stewart on nuclear energy in France
• Sara Harari on Copenhagun and a path to a better future
• Paige Colton on hydropower in Chile

If you want to see the presentations, or would like to learn more about the topics discussed, please contact us at tuftsenergyforum@gmail.com.

GIM Success!

Thanks to all of you who attending our GIM! For those of you who missed it, we had a riveting discussion on Keystone XL and its implications for both the environment and the economy. If you want to learn more about the issue, here are a couple sites you can visit:

Keystone XL and its relation to Asian markets: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/09/13/13greenwire-keystone-xl-tests-us-canada-energy-ties-as-asia-7643.html

New York Times "Topic" page on oil sands: http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/o/oil_petroleum_and_gasoline/oil_sands/index.html

Anti-Keystone XL activist page: http://www.tarsandsaction.org/

Tufts Energy Forum GIM

Hello Jumbos and welcome back to the Hill! TEF is gearing up for our new semester, and can't wait to see each and every one of you at our General Interest Meeting on Thursday, September 22nd at 9:00pm in Eaton 206.

If you have any questions, contact our co-presidents Paige Colton (paige.colton@tufts.edu) or Carolyn Boudreau (carolyn.boudreau@tufts.edu).

Nuclear power in the wake of Fukushima and Women's Microfinance Initiative

Hello everyone,

Welcome back from Spring Break! I apologize for the lack of updates on the blog lately, but exams get to the best of us. So, tonight, two updates for the price of one!

Tonight (March 28^th), we met to discuss the recent events in Japan and how they might affect perception of nuclear power worldwide. We began our discussion with a brief explanation from Rose on how nuclear reactors work. Inside a nuclear reactor, radioactive material breaks down into isotopes and releases heat energy. This heat energy is then converted to steam and the steam runs a turbine like in a coal power plant. The decay is controlled by enrichment, maintaining a critical mass, and control rods that absorb radiation to prevent the chain reaction of radioactive decay from getting out of hand. A meltdown occurs when the breakdown becomes uncontrolled.

The Fukushima reactors in Japan were a GE design from the 1960s. They were touted as being more cost effective, but concerns were raised at the time about their safety. In this incident, the reactors failed because the seawalls were too short to prevent seawater from reaching the backup generators. These plants are the same design as about 20 US reactors. While this explosion was caused by a lack of foresight in planning for possible disasters, other meltdowns like Three Mile Island (in PA) and Chernobyl were cause by human or mechanical failure. Overall, however, this doesn’t seem to be affecting the public reaction.

TEF members questioned where the line is between safety and cost effectiveness. We decided that it is essential to take into account the location of the plant, and that the main challenge would be to create some sort of global regulation. Nuclear power seems to be a necessary alternative to fossil fuels, as it supplies about 20% of the U.S.’s electricity. We also wondered what some of the effects of this meltdown would be, such as when people would be able to return to the area and how long the radiation would take to disperse.

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Two weeks before spring break, on March 7^th, we heard a presentation from Victoria Stevenson, a Tufts sophomore majoring in history and philosophy. She’s interested in energy initiatives and going green. Her mother started the Women’s Microfinance Initiative, which has now expanded to include Sustainable Energy Initiatives. This NGO provides microloans to women in Uganda and Kenya. Some of their energy initiatives include fuel efficient stoves to reduce the health and environmental cost of cooking, which is traditionally done on wood or charcoal stoves or open fires, and hand held and home solar products to reduce the use of kerosene lamps.

She stressed that, when going into another country, it is important to find out what the people want and to help them achieve their goals. In the case of energy projects, the first question to ask is “What do the people want or need?” Some common uses of energy are transportation, lighting, cooking, and heating. Then determine what energy sources are viable within the community structure. Finally, look for sources of funding.

If you would like more information, visit http://www.wmionline.org or email Victoria at victoria.m.stevenson@gmail.com. I strongly suggest you check it out and get more information! Also, I’d be happy to share my complete notes from the meeting. Just email me at carolyn.boudreau@tufts.edu.

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That’s all for now, but keep your calendar open next Monday during open block, when TEF will host a speaker from the EPA!

Another Upcoming Event!

Hello everyone,

We're going to try something new this week and attend a mechanical engineering lecture on “Heat Transfer Aspects of Thermal Energy Storage and Biomass Growth for Sustainable Energy Applications” by Thomas Bergman. This lecture is on Thursday, February 17th from 3:00 to 4:15pm in Anderson 112. After, at around 6:30, we'll gather and have a pizza dinner and discussion about the lecture and how the information presented in the lecture is related to the energy world. Even if you can't make the lecture, or if engineering is not your thing, stop by 155 College Ave, Somerville (across from Ellis Oval) to have some food and hang out!
We hope to see you on Thursday!

Here's some more information about the lecture:

Heat Transfer Aspects of Thermal Energy Storage and Biomass Growth for Sustainable Energy Applications

Theodore L. Bergman

Department of Mechanical Engineering

University of Connecticut

Thursday, February 17, 2011

3:00PM – 4:15PM

Anderson Hall – 112

Abstract: The challenge of providing sufficient amounts of energy for humankind is well known. Adequate supplies of energy are needed not only to fuel industrial productivity, but to supply safe drinking water and food for much of the world’s population, and to provide the sanitation necessary to control life-threatening diseases. This presentation will focus on two research topics pertinent to enabling broader use of sustainable energy sources. Specifically, current research dealing with (a) thermal energy storage for concentrating solar power electricity generation and (b) heat and mass transfer pertinent to the growth of biomass in high carbon dioxide environments, will be presented and discussed. The thermal energy storage focus is on the potential utilization of heat pipe or thermosyphon technology to promote efficient heat transfer in large-scale latent heat thermal energy storage systems. Experimental and analytical results will be presented. Experimental results that reveal the role of elevated carbon dioxide levels in promoting plant growth and affecting plant heat transfer will also be touched upon.

Bio: Theodore L. (Ted) Bergman received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas and Purdue University, respectively. After working in the power industry early in his career, Dr. Bergman has been a faculty member at The University of Texas at Austin (1985 - 1996) and the University of Connecticut (1996 - present). From 2008 to 2010 he served as Director of the Thermal Transport Processes Program at the National Science Foundation. Dr. Bergman has also served on the editorial boards of three journals, is a member of the International Center for Heat and Mass Transfer, and is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Beyond these and other research activities, Dr. Bergman is a co-author of a leading undergraduate text in heat and mass transfer that is used worldwide, has served as Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Connecticut, and as the Associate Dean for Research and Outreach, also in the School of Engineering at UConn. He has also held a number of administrative positions on an interim basis, both at the University of Connecticut and at NSF.

Upcoming Event: Gasland Movie Screening

Join Students for a Just and Stable Future and Tufts Energy Forum for a screening of the movie Gasland!

Wednesday February 23, 2011
8:00-10:00pm
Barnum 104

"The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of "fracking" or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a "Saudia Arabia of natural gas" just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, ...he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently-drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND. Part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown."

After the movie we will have a short discussion period as well as a chance for you to take action on this issue.

For more info on the movie, check out http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/