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 28th), 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 7th, 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.
That’s all for now, but keep your calendar open next Monday during open block, when TEF will host a speaker from the EPA!
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