This makes an interesting read. 'Archdruid' John Michael Greer may sometimes be a bit too fascinated by his own perceived future role as a green wizard who will save his neighbours from famine, but he often has intelligent analyses of the economic and environmental challenges the world faces.
Pepperspraying the future | Energy Bulletin
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Robo atomjacks
Suppose that you are in charge of a nuclear power plant - say one that is built on the shores of an island nation that is subject to frequent earthquakes and the occasional flood.
Some day the planet burps and your plant is shaken up a bit more than usual. OK, emergency procedures kick in, the reactors scram as control rods stop the chain reaction. You have no external power due to the earthquake, so you switch on the emergency diesel generators. Pock pock pock. All is well, there are some minor issues with damaged valves and piping but in general everything is under control.
Enter a huge tsunami that floods the entire plant, including the diesels, so they go belly-up. Being a nuclear plant there are batteries to backup the backup generators, but after 8 hours these are empty, and in any case the coolant water inlets are full of flotsam. Things are literally starting to heat up.
Which phone numbers would you have programmed in your phone? The fire brigade? Police? The Ministry of Energy or whatever? The army?
I suggest to put the following under 3 on your speed dial: +33 (0) 2 47 98 65 00 .
Groupe INTRA. Which stands for 'Groupe d'INTervention Robotique sur Accidents nucleaire'.
These a group of boys and girls with a small army of specialized robots to enter the hellish environment of a leaking nuclear power plant to do things like take measurements, clear out debris, manipulate valves, keeping machinery going, possible also drag a water hose to a fuel storage pool that is about to boil dry. The larger ones are full-sized bulldozers and diggers. They are all hardened against intense radiation and can be controlled remotely from NBC-hardened command vehicles.
The group can be alerted within an hour and be on site within 24 hours with all their equipment and personnel everywhere in France - did I mention they are French? They are also ready to intervene elsewhere if a power company has an intervention agreement with them.
Even if your company does not have such an agreement it never hurts to have their number. You can simply find it on their public website:
http://www.groupe-intra.com/index2.htm (English).
INTRA exists since 1988, set up in the aftermath of Chernobyl by EDF, CEA, Cogema and Areva, to offer a better solution than sending humans into a high-radiation environment on what amounted to suicide missions.
If my information is correct, EDF offered the assistance of the INTRA group to the Japanese at a fairly early stage (they later stated that they could have been en route on 16 March) but they got no answer.
I am rather surprised that Japan, the country of toy robots and a highly robotized automobile industry, does not seem to have robotic (or rather, tele-operated) equipment that can intervene in nuclear power plants and, for that matter, in other NBC-risky situations. Which brings me to the question: who does?
Some day the planet burps and your plant is shaken up a bit more than usual. OK, emergency procedures kick in, the reactors scram as control rods stop the chain reaction. You have no external power due to the earthquake, so you switch on the emergency diesel generators. Pock pock pock. All is well, there are some minor issues with damaged valves and piping but in general everything is under control.
Enter a huge tsunami that floods the entire plant, including the diesels, so they go belly-up. Being a nuclear plant there are batteries to backup the backup generators, but after 8 hours these are empty, and in any case the coolant water inlets are full of flotsam. Things are literally starting to heat up.
Which phone numbers would you have programmed in your phone? The fire brigade? Police? The Ministry of Energy or whatever? The army?
I suggest to put the following under 3 on your speed dial: +33 (0) 2 47 98 65 00 .
Groupe INTRA. Which stands for 'Groupe d'INTervention Robotique sur Accidents nucleaire'.
These a group of boys and girls with a small army of specialized robots to enter the hellish environment of a leaking nuclear power plant to do things like take measurements, clear out debris, manipulate valves, keeping machinery going, possible also drag a water hose to a fuel storage pool that is about to boil dry. The larger ones are full-sized bulldozers and diggers. They are all hardened against intense radiation and can be controlled remotely from NBC-hardened command vehicles.
The group can be alerted within an hour and be on site within 24 hours with all their equipment and personnel everywhere in France - did I mention they are French? They are also ready to intervene elsewhere if a power company has an intervention agreement with them.
Even if your company does not have such an agreement it never hurts to have their number. You can simply find it on their public website:
http://www.groupe-intra.com/index2.htm (English).
INTRA exists since 1988, set up in the aftermath of Chernobyl by EDF, CEA, Cogema and Areva, to offer a better solution than sending humans into a high-radiation environment on what amounted to suicide missions.
If my information is correct, EDF offered the assistance of the INTRA group to the Japanese at a fairly early stage (they later stated that they could have been en route on 16 March) but they got no answer.
I am rather surprised that Japan, the country of toy robots and a highly robotized automobile industry, does not seem to have robotic (or rather, tele-operated) equipment that can intervene in nuclear power plants and, for that matter, in other NBC-risky situations. Which brings me to the question: who does?
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Cutting edge
My day job is supposed to be in communications (not the wireless kind but the kind one writes advertising copy for). Advertising creatives work in the world's megapoles, and tend to be unseparable from their smartphones and other gadgets. As I write this they are lining up to buy the new iPad 2.
I like gadgets; I love technology. And I am very aware of the profound changes in our society wrung by the internet and social networking. Without smartphones and Facebook, 2011 would probably not have become the year of the many revolutions.
Lately, due to pecuniary constraints, I had to make painful choices - mostly to not buy stuff.
But at some point I had to give in. I found this fantastic multifunctional thingy, personally signed by its maker. Hand crafted. Ergonomic. With a 20-year guarantee and an extensive user's manual.
An axe. Man's most elementary tool.
Many thousands of years ago, someone made the first stone axe. Which led to knives, spears, fishing hooks, sewing needles, clothes from cut and stitched hide instead of loosely draped furry skin, shoes; and after many millennia, nuclear power and Karl Lagerfeld.
My new axe is a Gränsfors Bruks, made in Sweden. Its head is hand-forged high-carbon steel, tempered to incredible hardness and stamped with the initials of its forger: AS - Anders Strömstedt. Sharp as a razor. The handle is unvarnished American hickory.
A forged steel head and a wooden handle. That's all.
Gränsfors Bruks axes are to serious wood choppers what Sabatier knives are to 3-star Michelin chefs. After a bit of testing I can understand why. My 50-cm forestry axe managed to shave off hairs from the back of my hand - my standard test for knives - after splitting a couple of small logs and chopping the end of one down to a sharp point. Anders knows how to forge an axe.
Why does a copywriter buy an axe and not an iPad 2?
Because in spite of all the preachings of His Holyness Steve 1, there is no App in the Store that will chop wood. And we don't live in an apartment in a megapole but on a sizeable patch of land in the Auvergne, one of the greenest and most rural regions of France. We have central heating, but we burn wood, which is abundant here, for cosy heat in the living room on dark and chilly days. Our modern, high-efficiency wood burner is also our backup heat source in case of a power blackout.
Which means that I spend quite some time cutting and splitting logs into small pieces that fit in our stove. Once you have been learning that for a few years, you appreciate having the best tool for the job.
Sorry, Steve, but the iPad is not it.
I like gadgets; I love technology. And I am very aware of the profound changes in our society wrung by the internet and social networking. Without smartphones and Facebook, 2011 would probably not have become the year of the many revolutions.
Lately, due to pecuniary constraints, I had to make painful choices - mostly to not buy stuff.
But at some point I had to give in. I found this fantastic multifunctional thingy, personally signed by its maker. Hand crafted. Ergonomic. With a 20-year guarantee and an extensive user's manual.
An axe. Man's most elementary tool.
Many thousands of years ago, someone made the first stone axe. Which led to knives, spears, fishing hooks, sewing needles, clothes from cut and stitched hide instead of loosely draped furry skin, shoes; and after many millennia, nuclear power and Karl Lagerfeld.
My new axe is a Gränsfors Bruks, made in Sweden. Its head is hand-forged high-carbon steel, tempered to incredible hardness and stamped with the initials of its forger: AS - Anders Strömstedt. Sharp as a razor. The handle is unvarnished American hickory.
A forged steel head and a wooden handle. That's all.
 |
| My Gränsfors Bruks 50-cm forestry axe. Photo of the actual thing, by me. |
 |
| Anders the smith |
Why does a copywriter buy an axe and not an iPad 2?
Because in spite of all the preachings of His Holyness Steve 1, there is no App in the Store that will chop wood. And we don't live in an apartment in a megapole but on a sizeable patch of land in the Auvergne, one of the greenest and most rural regions of France. We have central heating, but we burn wood, which is abundant here, for cosy heat in the living room on dark and chilly days. Our modern, high-efficiency wood burner is also our backup heat source in case of a power blackout.
Which means that I spend quite some time cutting and splitting logs into small pieces that fit in our stove. Once you have been learning that for a few years, you appreciate having the best tool for the job.
Sorry, Steve, but the iPad is not it.
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