allthingsnuclear:

 

          Long-Range Bombers at the Ukrainka Air Base in Russia’s Far East
                                                51 10N 128 27E

The Obama administration is updating the guidance that will lead to the creation of a new U.S. nuclear war plan and determine the size and structure of U.S. nuclear forces. Here is the state of play. Coming up, look for what the new guidance should say.

Background and Status

In April 2010, the Obama administration completed its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). Now, after numerous delays, it has begun the process that will implement the NPR’s decisions. This is being done via a two-part approach that is unlike the ones used by previous administrations. The first step has been described as developing the President’s “vision,” elaborating on the NPR. The second step is revising the employment policy for nuclear weapons (the war plans) and the force structure.

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allthingsnuclear:

                                     

The owners of boiling water reactors (BWRs) are required to test the ability of individual control rods to rapidly insert (scram) into the reactor core. Each control rod must fully insert within 5 seconds. The digital indication of control rod position on the control boards updates so quickly that only an occasion number can be discerned until the rod stops moving.

It didn’t quite work that way at Alabama’s Browns Ferry Unit 3 in 1983. Flipping the switch to scram a control rod caused it to start moving in. Instead of displaying something like ‘48 .. 38 .. 22 .. 12 .. 00” as the control rod zipped from fully out (position 48) to fully in (position 00), the digital indication was “48, 46, 44, 42, 40, 38, 36, 34, 32, 30, 28, 26, 24, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 08, 06, 04, 02, 00.” None of the control rod scram times was less than five seconds. In fact, several of the times exceeded 60 seconds. A control rod’s normal stroke time from fully withdrawn to fully inserted is usually around 48 seconds. They measured scram times longer than normal rod movement.

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univisionnews:

By JUAN GASTELUM
Channel: Immigration

During his last check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Matias Ramos—a founder of the Dreamers movement—was surprised to find out he had two weeks to voluntarily leave the U.S. or he would be deported.

To make sure Ramos complied, ICE placed an electronic tracking device around his ankle.

The shackled Dreamer mobilized his support network and lawyers to find out why ICE had suddenly called for his deportation.

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You may have seen a rising number of iPod accessory systems becoming available. The latest ipod speaker models come in all shapes and sizes. Finding the ideal type for your application can often be tricky. But how do these numbers relate to how the loudspeaker sounds and how are these to be interpreted? If you have a small space then you don’t need much more than several watts. If you wish to set up speakers outside or in a live show then you are going to need several hundred watts of power. For best music quality, you might wish to get a speaker that offers higher power than you need as a lot of speakers are going to show increasing distortion as the audio power goes up. The peak power rating in the past often led to makers displaying large wattage ratings for small loudspeakers. Still, while the rms specification is going to tell you more regarding the speaker’s real performance, be certain though that the loudspeaker has a peak power rating which is quite a bit bigger than the rms spec. Music and voice signals naturally always vary regarding their power, i.e. the power envelope of the signal will vary over time. Speaker impedance is measured in Ohms. Due to the limited supply voltage of your amplifier, the highest output power is going to be half if you connect an 8-Ohm loudspeaker than the peak power that the amp can provide to a 4-Ohm speaker. Usually maximum power is specified for a 4-Ohm speaker impedance.