TheRadioactivePhysicist

17/ American. Dont taze me bro. I am a shitposter and a meme lord. i live my life on tumblr and reddit. I make edits with Prisma and photoshop. I am a first chair horn player, and I am an artist on my good days. Feel free to give me a follow or hmu if you want to nerd out about Chernobyl HBO, The Terror, Ther Crown, or really anything 😂 I may repost some of the writing from my main blog here.

[tryingtobealwaystrying-deactiva]

This is your daily reminder that the Russian war against Ukraine and the attacking of nuclear power plants in Ukraine, including the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant itself, is perhaps the gravest of insults to all those who sacrificed their lives and their health to clean up the disaster.

[dank-hp--memes-writes]

This right here is straight facts. It is also an insult to every single person who has worked in and does work in the nuclear industry. They are holding workers hostage and essentially holding nuclear reactors hostage. It is disgusting and reckless.

[dank-hp--memes]

Lemme just also say that when Russia attacked Zaporizhzhya in Enerhodar they knew exactly what they were shooting at. They shot explosives at active reactor blocks at the largest NPP in Europe and one of the largest plants on the entire world. Now the staff at Zaporizhzhya and Chernobyl are not allowed to change shifts and the IAEA has lost touch with safeguard systems monitoring the plants. If you want to learn more I'd say check out the IAEAs Twitter. I will say that personally I am so extremely proud of the staff at the facilities for continuing to operate their reactors and spent fuel systems and doing so as safely as possible. These engineers, scientists, and technicians know these machines and I believe in them, I belive they can keep everything running safely even in these awful conditions.

I am not a godly person but these brave scientists and engineers and technicians are in my thoughts every single day. So is the safety of Ukraine and all of the people in Europe.

[celebenedetto]

She's so beautiful ❤❤

🌹 E M I L Y 🌹 (@inloveemilywatson) • Instagram photos and videos

149 Followers, 28 Following, 440 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from 🌹 E M I L Y 🌹 (@inloveemilywatson)

[30-minute-memes]

Tap Tap Tap Nevermore

[the-glowing-physicist]

Why Nuclear Power is an excellent source of electricity.

So, I know many people who complain about carbon emissions and pollution and global warming. These people also believe that solar and wind power are the best ways to produce electricity, and they say that nuclear power is awful for the environment. It is proven that the materials used and process followed to create a solar panel and a wind turbine are awful for the environment. Wind turbines will never create enough energy in their lifetime to make up for the cost of making them, they are also very bad for birds. In reality, nuclear power is the cleanest way to produce electricity.

People take the Chernobyl accident and the Fukushima accident and twist them to make nuclear power seem dangerous. It really isnt, it just has to be done right. Nuclear power does not release pollutants, and it isnt harmful to the environment. It just has to be done right. Nuclear power stations generate significantly more power than other power stations. Reactors just have to be regularly upkept and run by people with a proper education.

Now comes the question of "what about radiation and spent fuel" I am going to be real, radiation leaks from nuclear plants is not an issue, those clouds you see coming from the giant cooling towers are steam clouds. They are NOT radioactive, and nuclear plants are not constantly leaking radiation into the environment and harming the environment. Spent fuel is cooled off in cooling pools and seed tightly before disposed of at proper sights. Spent fuel does not leak radioactive contaminants either, and it is sealed in such a way that someone cannot get to it.

I am a huge advocate for the use of nuclear power, and I encourage everyone to go out and learn about it. I am a big advocate for the use of thorium instead of uranium, and I have been studying thorium a bit more as of recently, and will likely make a post about why it would change the face of the nuclear power industry.

[lettersfrombeachhead]

Not only will wind turbines not produce enough energy to make up for the cost of creating them, they depend on the weather conditions and environmental location to even be effective at all.... and, oh yeah, the average onshore wind turbines produces 2.5 to 3 MW of electricity per hour, with an operating capacity factor of around 25% .... while the average pressurized-water nuclear reactor in the US produces on the order of 900 - 1600 MW per hour with a capacity factor of closer to 90%

[dank-hp--memes]

So, I have taken it upon myself to do something...

This video is the full poem "The Roads of Smolensk" by Konstantin Simonov.

Why is this important you may ask?

Well, the exerpts of poetry we hear in the opening of episode 2 HBO's Chernobyl "Please Remain Calm"

(It is around 1:09 that he begins the verse that opens the episode)

Remember, Alyosha, the roads of Smolenshchina, Remember the rain and the mud and the pain, The women, exhausted, who brought milk in pitcher

And this link is to a translation of the poem, read in English, and that you all can read.

[the-glowing-physicist]

Why Nuclear Power is an excellent source of electricity.

So, I know many people who complain about carbon emissions and pollution and global warming. These people also believe that solar and wind power are the best ways to produce electricity, and they say that nuclear power is awful for the environment. It is proven that the materials used and process followed to create a solar panel and a wind turbine are awful for the environment. Wind turbines will never create enough energy in their lifetime to make up for the cost of making them, they are also very bad for birds. In reality, nuclear power is the cleanest way to produce electricity.

People take the Chernobyl accident and the Fukushima accident and twist them to make nuclear power seem dangerous. It really isnt, it just has to be done right. Nuclear power does not release pollutants, and it isnt harmful to the environment. It just has to be done right. Nuclear power stations generate significantly more power than other power stations. Reactors just have to be regularly upkept and run by people with a proper education.

Now comes the question of "what about radiation and spent fuel" I am going to be real, radiation leaks from nuclear plants is not an issue, those clouds you see coming from the giant cooling towers are steam clouds. They are NOT radioactive, and nuclear plants are not constantly leaking radiation into the environment and harming the environment. Spent fuel is cooled off in cooling pools and seed tightly before disposed of at proper sights. Spent fuel does not leak radioactive contaminants either, and it is sealed in such a way that someone cannot get to it.

I am a huge advocate for the use of nuclear power, and I encourage everyone to go out and learn about it. I am a big advocate for the use of thorium instead of uranium, and I have been studying thorium a bit more as of recently, and will likely make a post about why it would change the face of the nuclear power industry.

[the-glowing-physicist]

Fission or Fusion?

To begin, both fission and fusion generate energy through heat. 

In fission reactors, atoms are split to create heat. These atoms can be considered to have a heavy nucleus. The fission of heavy elements is an exothermic reaction, and huge amounts of heat energy are released in the process. The atom with the heavy nucleus is split into two atoms, of roughly the same size, with lighter nuclei. The heat generated is used to boil water, creating steam. The steam turns a turbine to generate electricity.

In a fusion reactor, two atoms with lighter nuclei fuse together to form an atom with a heavy nucleus. This produces large amounts of energy. The reactor harnesses this energy to create electricity.

So, which is better?

Well Fusion is safer overall. This is because there is reduced radioactivity in operation and little high-level nuclear waste, ample fuel supplies, and increased safety.

But, so far, we have been unable to create sustainable energy using fusion in an economic manner. So, fusion reactors cost more to make and do not produce enough electricity to be a productive and economic source of energy, so we continue to use fission reactors. 

[the-glowing-physicist]

Convince Me Otherwise

Ionized air is just spicy air... fight me...

[the-glowing-physicist]

What is the Cherenkov Effect?

The Cherenkov effect is the characteristic blue glow of an underwater nuclear reactor. It is caused by an electromagnetic radiation, emitted when a beta particle (or charged particle) passes through a dielectric medium (not air) at a speed greater than the velocity of light in that medium. The index of refraction for that medium (n) must be greater than 1 in order for the effect to occur. The Cherenkov effect does not occur in air because the index of refraction of air is too similar to that of a vaccum.

So, in short, the blue glow seen when a nuclear reactor, submerged in water, reaches criticality is from the movement of charged particles (at a speed faster than the speed of light in water) within the water.

[the-glowing-physicist]

How does a nuclear reactor work? (BWR Edition)

BWR's (Boiling water reactors) are composed of the,

reactor fuel: low-enriched uranium. Control rods: Boron Carbide (B4C) and of course feed water...

The feed water acts as a neutron flux moderator, allowing fission to occur, thus reaching a state of criticality. The control rods are used to slow and control amount of fission occurring, thus controlling power output.

Water is also used to control the temperature of the fuel, so that the fuel does not overheat, causing a melt down. Nuclear fuel doesnt go cold because it is not on fire, it is radioactively hot, meaning it is extremely radioactive. Moving on, once criticality is reached, the fuel will begin generating heat (the splitting of the atoms generates heat). This turns the water into steam, which is used to turn a turbine, making electricity.