The Atomic Show #032 - Uranium mineral collector - Ruth Sponsler
Chat with a uranium mineral collector and nuclear power supporter
(MP3 - 17.9MB - 52 min)
Listen to Atomic Show #032 Here!
Ruth Sponsler is an amateur mineral collector, a resident of the beautiful mountains of North Carolina and an active supporter of the use of nuclear energy. She blogs at We Support Lee.
Shane and I invited her onto the show to talk about her unusual hobby and find out how she goes about finding minerals, particularly those that contain uranium and thorium.
In addition to talking about mineral collecting, we spoke about local (to North Carolina) nuclear politics, European role models for energy production, and a bit of nuclear family history - Ruth’s mother knew people like Enrico Fermi and Leo Szliard.
We also discussed high mileage automobiles - Ruth drives a hybrid Prius while I have been driving a VW Jetta TDI (Turbo Diesel Injected) since 2001. Shane mentioned something about VW’s diesel production for the US - here is a link that provides a bit more detail VW and TDI for the future
The show concludes with a special guest appearance by some of Ruth’s minerals.
Following the show, you will hear a short promo for Hobo Radio, part of The Podcast Network line up of independently produced podcasts. I think I recognized the tune being whistled in the background as “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin. Of course, the snippets are too short to violate any copyright laws!
We hope you enjoyed this episode, especially hearing a new voice with a different perspective on nuclear matters. We plan to bring you more of those kinds of interviews - in fact, if you are interested or know someone that we should talk to, please do not hesitate to make a comment or suggestion.
October 13th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
I just found your podcast a few weeks ago and find it quite enjoyable.
Here’s a possible topic for a future program. I took a look at the subjects of your previous shows, but didn’t see any program which was specifically devoted to the issue of proliferation of nuclear weapons as it relates to nuclear power. I find this subject is often misunderstood by most members of the public, who really don’t know the difference between a nuclear power reactor and a weapons production facility. In particular, the issue of reactor-grade plutonium versus weapons-grade plutonium is important. Can a reliable and effective nuclear weapon be created from power reactor plutonium? Carson Mark has written on this subject. Power reactor proliferation has relevance in today’s world as Iran is getting ready to start-up it’s Bushehr power plant. How much of a proliferation risk is Bushehr?
There are also discussions in the US concerning the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Is the “Jimmy Carter Doctrine” regarding reprocessing and proliferation still in place? How serious are the efforts to reverse this policy?
Looking forward to more shows…
October 13th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
T. Peters:
Glad you like the show. Thank you for the great ideas - they are certainly important and timely topics.
October 16th, 2006 at 1:57 am
T. Peters:
Bushehr in fact has negative proliferation risk: if they want to keep it online, they have to keep making fuel at Natanz. If they have to make fuel at Natanz, it can’t be reconfigured for weapons.