Hopp til innhold

This day started with fusion: at 07:55 I was at NRK, to be a guest at P13, Tidenes Morgen, to talk about fusion. Right after this I spent an hour on the phone, talking to a journalist in Vårt Land, about fusion (and what is sacred to me, and what I ask for forgiveness for, and such). The reason for this was, not surprisingly, the new fusion reactor in Germany - the Stellarator called Wendelstein 7-X, where they want to recreate what happens at the sun; you know, let tiny nuclei melt together to form heavier nuclei and energy at the same time (sort of the  holy grail of nuclear physics/energy).
Of course: before any of this, the sun rose, it was a beautiful morning, and I could see and feel the energy from fusion from our nearest star <3 To me, every day is fusion day 🙂
The rest of the day has been spent on my article... I started the seminar with a great talk/discussion with Sunniva Supervisor, and then the rest of the day has actually been quite good. There's still a lot of work to do, but I'm positive 🙂 Now I just have to make my self a deadline for the different parts remaining to be done in this article, and then I just have to keep those deadlines, and then I'm done - and can continue with article number three and four, and then the actual thesis, and then I'm done. Easy 😛
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I must say: I love <3 getting your snaps - cool assignments, workout and chemistry, preparing for talks about colliding dark matter - love love love it! I really want to answer all of you, so let me say I'm so sorry if I don't manage!
Now it's nighty night here at Soria Moria; tomorrow I'm going to work A LOT (at least 7 hours, according to my plan form Monday) on the article. Sleep tight everyone!

Finally, the video from the TEDxBergen conference is now on-line!

The subject of my talk was Could nuclear weapons save the planet? , and you can watch the entire thing here:
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Since I talked about how to dress as a female scientist in my last blogpost, I just have to show you a close-up of the shoes I wore. These shoes from Nelly ended up as my "statement" for this talk - which I felt that I needed, since the rest of the outfit was quite simple; just tight jeans, a loose shirt, and my hair in a bun (not the tightest, but not very messy either):
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One of the really great thing about this trip to Bergen (almost a month ago already!) - besides being allowed to give my third TEDx talk - was that Anders came and spent the weekend with me <3 There's nothing like sharing experiences like this with the one you love, and having Anders in the audience made me feel so much better and more secure than if I had been there all by myself... He was a great supprt!
perfect evening: I was dead tired after  a long day -  I do get really stressed before I'm giving a talk like this. We were thinking about either go to the after party with the rest of the people from the conference, or maybe go out in Bergen... But instead we stayed in the hotel; we took a looong bath (where we drank two bottles of Prosecco), before we ordered pizza to the room, ate it in bed and watched several episodes of the Big Bang Theory. It was just perfect <3
 

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Today I was part of the "panel of scientists" on Abels Tårn - the radio show that airs on Friday mornings at NRK P2 (this particular show will not air until December; probably December 4th). This time was sort of a "special edition", where the audience were all high school students (and their teachers), and all the questions were from these students.
So far, so good: GREAT FUN! (For the first time, I was on the show together with Anders - that didn't make it any less fun <3 )
After the show, one teacher came up to me (at least I think tha's what she was), and told me she had two questions. 
Great, I thought...
But  they weren't questions, they were more like "questions":
The first one was if a Molten Salt Reactor will release less radioactivity during normal operation than today's reactors, and the second one I'm not sure if she ever asked; except she was asking me about all these Germans that had written stuff in German, and I said (several times - at first I was polite) that I don't speak German, so, no, I have not read these things (but I should, according to her). She was laughing in my face when I said that there are no radioactive releases during normal operation of reactors even today (and of course not in the future), and just told me I was wrong (and said that if I just read these German things I would know that I was wrong...). Still I didn't just leave (that would be rude), I tried to talk about radiation doses and limits - it wasn't very successful.

This teacher pretended to have questions, but was not interested in listening to what I said, and just went on and on and on about new German titles that I should (have) read. It was annoying and rude, and I'm still kind of upset, actually :/

all photos: Yngve Vogt

Maybe the worst part is that this teacher (if that's what she was) was stealing time from the students that had several questions for me, and that I would really have wanted to talk to - not to tell them so much about nuclear physics, but about science, and research, and all the amazing possibilities...
BTW: Thank you so much to the student who just wanted to tell me that she really enjoyed my TEDxOslo talk <3 The talk from LeRosey, last year, is HERE, and the one from Bergen, a couple of weeks ago will come very soon (stay tuned).
PS: It's TOTALLY OK to disagree with my view on nuclear power, but please don't pretend to ask me questions when you have no intensions of listening to what I say, and not respect me as a scientist. I try very hard not to pretend to be an "expert" on stuff taht I'm not working on, so don't pretend that I know nothing about my own f*****g field of science. Thank you <3 
PPS: Besides the behavior of this teacher, it was a great day, and I had a lot of fun being part of Abels Tårn today!

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One thing that is kind of funny is that in Norwegian the word for "nuclear force" and "nuclear power" is the same - "kjernekraft".
It's the same word that describes the force that holds the atomic nucleus together and the way of producing power by splitting atoms. So in Norwegian you just can't be against kjernekraft, because it makes no sense: If you're against kjernekraft you're against atomic nuclei, and basically more or less everything, since there is nothing bigger than elementary particles - there wouldn't even be bigger particles like protons or neutrons, since they are made up from quarks that need kjernekraft to exist...
(PS: Of course I'm not really that pedantic - I do understand what people mean when they say they're against kjernekraft. But as I've said earlier, I actually don't understand how it is possible to worry about climate change, and not be pro nuclear, so I guess in a way I'll still say it makes little sense to be against kjernekraft 😉 )

no flowers, no sun, no sunset without kjernekraft...

#thinkaboutthat
#tenklittpådet

Hi there, Friday!

Last week there were no FACTS on FRIDAY, but this week we're back on track again 😀 Today I think it's time to talk about the force - the nuclear force: 10 facts about the nuclear force, here you go!
  1. the nuclear force is the force that holds, or binds, a nucleus (of an atom) together, even though all the protons in it are being pushed apart by another force - the protons are like extremely strong magnets with the same pole; they repel each other
  2. without the nuclear force, there wouldn't be any nuclei; without nuclei there wouldn't be atoms, and without atoms there wouldn't be molecules; without the nuclear force there would be no life - no nothing, really, and you couldn't exist...!
  3. it is the strongest of the four fundamental forces, and it's really strong (the three others are electromagnetic force, gravity, and weak force); for example it is 137 times stronger than the elctromagnetic force, and compared to gravity, it is a 1000 million million million million million million (1000000000000000000000000000000000000000) times stronger!
  4. the nuclear force has a very short range - meaning that it only works when a particle "touches" a nucleus; or, in other words: if you get 0.000000000000001 meters from the center of a nucleus, you can't feel it anymore. This distance is called femtometer
  5. when you fission a heavy nucleus, you release some of the force that holds this nucleus together, and since it is so strong, you get soooo much energy from fission
  6. "strong force" is another word for the nuclear force (in Norwegian: "sterk kjernekraft")
  7. when you fuse two light nuclei (make a new nucleus by putting two nuclei together), you also release some of the nuclear force - and therefore you can get energy from fusion, like the sun does it 🙂
  8. it was after Chadwick discovered that there were neutrons (with no electric charge) inside the nucleus, in 1932, that the physicists discovered the nuclear force - neutrons don't feel the elctromagnetic force, like protons (or electrons, that have electric charge) do, and therefore it had to be something else that was holding the nucleus together...
  9. the nuclear force doesn't really care if a particle has a charge or not; the force between two protons, two neutrons, or a proton and a neutron are nearly the same <3
  10. we still don't understand everything about the nuclear force, even though has been worked on for eight decades...

Don't forget about "Question of the month" next week; I already have some very nice questions, but please, ask more!

Ok, I think that's it for now - I have to go back to my figures and my tables, and then there is the weekly nuclear physics group meeting... Bon weekend, and may the force be with you <3

It’s been a long time since I did a “10 facts” blog post (last one was about heavy water) - too long, I think, so it’s about time I do it again now 😉
I can’t promise there’ll one every week (I’ve tried those every week kind of blog posts before, and there’s always some reason - like my PhD work - why it’s difficult to see it through ), but it would have been fun if 10 facts could be like a Friday thing. Anyway, we’ll see how it goes, but today is Fission Friday; here are ten facts about fission:
  1. fission is when a (heavy) nucleus splits into two (lighter) nuclei
  2. an example of fission is when uranium-235 is hit by one neutron and becomes barium-144, krypton-90, and 2 free neutrons (same number of particles before and after fission: 1+235 = 144+90+2 = 236 :D)
  3. the light nuclei (like barium and krypton) are called fission products
  4. fission can be induced, which means that it happens because a neutron hits the nucleus (like in the picture) - a little bit like the neutron is a knife that cuts the nucleus into two pieces <3
  5. fission can be spontaneous, which means it just happens - no neutron or other particle hitting the nucleus - the nucleus just suddenly splits
  6. fission is my favourite decay mode (I think) <3<3<3
  7. a nucleus that will fission when it’s hit by a neutron is called (a) fissile (nucleus)
  8. the energy that is released in fission (when one nucleus splits) is 200 mega electron volts - which is the same as if 50 million carbon atoms burns and produces CO2 (yes, 1 versus 50 million to get the same amount of energy!)
  9. most of the energy released in fission comes from kineticc energy of the fission products - which is energy from motion of the fission products (they are moving fast away from each other)
  10. I think the energy release in fission is really really fascinating
If you think it's a good idea to do more "10 facts" blog posts, please tell me what you what you want to read about <3

Ok, I gotta run now, to catch my flight back to Oslo - since I've been giving a talk about motivation for science in Bodø today. If you follow me on Snapchat (sunnivarose), you can see the super cool LEGO rose i got after the talk (the talk was for First Lego League, so it was 100% right to get a rose made out of LEGO :D).

God mandag alle 🙂

Ny uke betyr nye muligheter, og denne uken betyr det også mulighet for gratis frokost og foredrag i morgen, klokken 0900 på Kristine Bonnevies hus (biologibygningen på Blindern). Der skal jeg holde et uformelt frokostforedrag om kjernekraft og litt thorium, og muligheter og utfordringer og kanskje noen myter - KJEMPEKOS hvis akkurat DU vil komme!

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Ellers sitter jeg i skrivende stund fremedeles i sengen; har drukket dagens første kopp kaffe og jobbet med gammadetektorene mine. Har beveget meg noen museskritt fremover, men føler meg frustrert og litt dum :/ Mål for dagen er at de j@*$% detektorne skal være helt ferdigkalibrert før jeg forlater kontoret i kveld *fingerscrossed*.
Jeg er mer fraværende på bloggen enn det jeg liker om dagen (pga konferansen vi har på Blindern neste uke, der jeg SKAL presentere resultater av analysen) - men jeg snapper en god del, så følg meg gjerne på snap på sunnivarose!
Ok, da tror jeg jeg skal sprette ut av sengen, bevege meg inn på kjøkkenet og lage meg en kopp til med kaffe, og så gå på badet og sminke meg - er vel på tide å komme seg avgårde til Universitetet nå...? 😉

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Ok, so my absolute favourite nuclear reactor is....
...the SUN! Of course.
And I simply LOVE that because of the fantastic nuclear fusion reactor, just about 8 light minutes (149 600 000 km) away, I can wear open toe stilettoes as my lecture shoes - as I did today <3 <3 <3 (Love these shoes too, btw; aren't they pretty?)
Anyway: I think it's so funny that solar power really is nuclear power, since the sun is a gigantic nuclear power plant (or continuously exploding atomic bomb...:P), that gets its energy by fusion of really light nuclei, like hydrogen and helium.
It's soooo cool that you get an energy release when light nuclei fuse to form a heavier one; as always it's because mass and energy are really the same (Einstein again), and the two light nuclei weigh more (when you add them up) than the heavier nucleus you get after they fuse. The "lost" mass has been converted to energy 😀
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Ok, now I have to run, to get to an interview - I just had to say hi and tell you about my favourite reactor.
Do you have a favourite (nuclear) reactor?
-S

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So yesterday I was interviewed by the newspaper Dagbladet about heavy water (since they´ve made this new show about the Norwegian heavy water and how they bombed the factory during world war 2 - love the show, btw 😀 ), and I was thinking It´s really long since I´ve had a "10 facts" blogpost, and I think this is the perfect occasion! I therefore give you 10 facts about heavy water <3 <3 <3

  1. Heavy water is heavy - around 10% heavier than light water (as a nuclear physicist working with reactors I actually call normal water for light water :V)
  2. Heavy water is chemically called D2O, instead of H2O (normal/light water)
  3. The D in D2O is for deuteron
  4. A deuteron is a heavy version of hydrogen (an isotope of hydrogen), and it´s heavier because it has a neutron in its nucleus in addition to the proton (normal hydrogen has only that one proton in its nucleus) - thus a deuteron is twice as heavy as a hydrogen
  5. Heavy water can be used as a moderator (something that slows down the speed neutrons) in a nuclear reactor (this is what the Germans wanted it for during WW2)
  6. If you use heavy water in a reactor you can run it on natural uranium - you don´t have to enrich the uranium (like the Americans were doing in the Manhattan project)
  7. Heavy water doesn´t "eat" neutrons, like light water does - which is why we love <3 it
  8. Germany wanted to make plutonium - and it´s a really good idea to do this in a reactor with heavy water and natural uranium
  9. Norway doesn´t produce heavy water anymore, but we use it in our two research reactors, in Kjeller and Halden 😀
  10. India are researching reactors using heavy water and thorium - which is really cool!
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This is a picture of me, wearing a kimono, writing about heavy water in my living room:

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våknet opp til en helt fantastisk nydelig Oslo-dag på lørdag <3

jeg følte egentlig aldri jeg fikk noe svar på hvorfor kjernekraft visstnok er "ett livsfarlight sätt at värma vatten"
God onsdag, og tusen takk til alle som kom og hørte på/deltok/støttet under debatten om Kraften som splitter under Norsk sakprosafestival på lørdag! 
Jeg har fått mange spørsmål om hvordan det gikk, da. Jeg syns selv det gikk ganske bra (jeg er veldig lite vant til å delta i debatter), selv om jeg fikk ganske mye kortere taletid enn Åsa Moberg – kanskje fordi en del av poenget rett og slett var å promotere hennes bok. Hun kom med en del rene faktafeil, så jeg er veldig spent på å ta fatt på boken hennes – med rød penn 😉

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Vi startet med hvert vårt ti minutters innlegg, og denne gangen laget jeg et (delvis) manus. Dette er det manuset jeg satt med. Jeg snakket litt vekk fra det på slutten, så dette er ikke hele innlegget mitt direkte gjengitt, men jeg tenkte det kanskje er flere som syns det er interessant å lese:

Jeg har nok i løpet av de siste tre årene blitt sett på som en tilhenger av kjernekraft, men jeg har egentlig aldri offentlig sagt hva jeg syns om temaet. Jeg har kommet med tall, fakta, vitenskapsbasert kunnskap om temaet; for jeg er forsker, og det er også det jeg skal være her i dag. Hva jeg syns, eller føler, er irrelevant.

Jeg, i motsetning til Åsa, forstår det jeg skriver om og det vi diskuterer (denne setningen la jeg til fordi Åsa i sin innledning sa at : ”jeg forstår jo ikke det jeg skriver om”…!)

Jeg er ikke aktivist eller lobbyist. Jeg forholder meg til fakta, og tallenes tale gjør at jeg, hvis jeg skal være ærlig, og det etterstreber jeg jo absolutt å være, faktisk ikke kan fatte og begripe at man kan være opptatt av miljø(vern) – redd for global oppvarming, og å ikke  være tilhenger av kjernekraft. Når det er sagt så mener jeg ikke at kjernekraft er uten problemer. There´s no such thing as a free lunch, ikke for vindmøller eller vannkraft – ei heller for denne vannkokingen på gigaskala 😉 Riskoen for at noeskal skje – feks en ulykke – vil aldri kunne bli null. Dette gjelder selvsagt for alt, om det er kjernekraft eller vannkraft (og konsekvensene av feks en demning som brister i Kina, kan bli enorme), eller sannsynligheten for å bli alvorlig skadet eller dø når du beveger deg ute i trafikken. Så vi gjør alle, hele tiden, ”risikoanalyser”. Kjernekraft er den aller sikreste måten å produsere energi på. I “dødsfall per terrawattime produsert energi” er det ingenting som er sikrere enn kjernekraft – hvis du altså ser på alle dødsfall i en livsløpsanalyse, fra gruvedrift på uran til bygging av kraftverk til ulykker…!

Så hva om det går galt? Vi har jo sett at ulykker skjer. Før jeg sier noe om konsekvensene av en (alvorlig) ulykke må jeg bare gjøre en ting veldig klart: Et kjernkraftverk kan ALDRI eksplodere som en atombombe – sånn i tilfellet noen lurte på det. Sannsynligeheten for at akkurat dét skal skjer ér null, fordi det er fysisk umulig; som i “hvis det skulle skjedd så ville du bryte med fysikkens lover”, og det kan vi jo ikke J.

Konsekvenser av en ulykke handler ikke om stråling – selv om det er det det fokuseres på .

 

Så vil jeg si noe om stråling – dette mystiske, skumle…som vi blant annet bruker til å drepe kreftceller med. Det som skremmer her har å gjøre med biofysikk, og de biologiske effekter av ioniserende stråling, eller radioaktivitet.

Tsjernobyl. Historiens mest ironiske ulykke. Hendelsen som startet som en sikkerhetstest! 

Google “chernobyl images”, eller noe sånt, og du får mange skremmende bilder – men er det da nødvendigvis sånn at de stygge bildene du får, av feks syke mennesker med misdannelser, er pga stråling fra Tsjernobylulykken? Svaret er selvsagt nei. Alle negative ting som har skjedd i Ukraina, Hviterussland og Russland etter ulykken I 1986 er ikke pga utslipp fra Tsjernobyl.

Fakta er at under 100 mennesker døde som en direkte konsekvens av ulykken – hovedsakelig brannfolk som ble sendt inn for å slukke brannen på kraftverket. Videre har man beregnet at ulykken kan komme til å gi mellom 4-6000 ekstra kreftdødsfall, men dette er også usikkert, og kan faktisk være et for høyt estimat.

De aller fleste, både i gamle Sovjet, og ellers i Europa (feks Norge, som omtales som å ha blitt “hardt rammet”), har fått veldig lave stråledoser – så lave at det er helt umulig å se om de har noen negativ effekt eller ikke. Men hva betyr det egentlig at vi har fått lave doser? Jo, i Norge har man feks beregnet hva gjennomsnittsnordmannen vil få som dose fra Tsjernobyl totalt over 50 år etter ulykken. Denne dosen er ¼ av den stråledosen du får på en langdistanse flytur. Altså, da jeg var I Japan I vår fikk jeg pga flyturen en stråledose som var 4 ganger større enn det jeg vil få totalt pga Tsjernobyl. Dette er ikke for å skremme folk fra å fly, men for å få et perspektiv på hva disse dosene egentlig betyr – jeg regner med ingen her vurdere å ikke fly fordi man får en liten ekstra stråledeose?

Stråling er veldig naturlig– vi er feks radioaktive selv, og du får faktisk en ekstra stråledose ved å dele seng med noen kontra å sove alene – og vi blir utsatt for radioaktivitet fra bakken, og fra verdensrommet.