Katie Mummah

@nuclearkatie

Nuclear engineer. nuclear: reactors, history, waste, nonproliferation, space, humor. "Tells uranium's life story". Lives in New Mexico. Outdoors when I'm not working. Views mine alone, like/rt not endorsements. she/her

2,193 Following16,410 Followers1,720 Posts

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Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· 19h

Unbelievably weird behavior to leverage my post about breaking my foot to try to pick a fight about a particular nuclear power plant. Tbf nearly every interaction Patty has had with me has been a weird attempt at picking a fight but truly wtf. Perfect use case for nuclear (ha ha) block

Post from Patty Durand @pattydurand.bsky.social
@nuclearkatie.bsky.social sorry about your injury. Maybe do some reading with the extra time you have recovering - then a link to a post she wrote against the costs of Vogtle nuclear power plant, which were very high.

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· 14d

I just landed in Spokane and it's pretty wild. I didn't get a view of the fire overhead but @alexmames.bsky.social said it was very striking. People are constantly getting emergency alerts to their phone and I overheard multiple conversations about loved ones evacuating

A smoke plume rises up from behind a very yellow grass field and scattered trees

A screenshot of watch duty looking at Spokane, which shows two rapidly growing fires around town, a bunch of fire fighting aircraft, and power outages all around

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· 24d

Large radiators!

A rendering of a nuclear powered electric propulsion system. The reactor is the tiny bit in front followed by a radiation shield and power conversion system then a very wide and long set of radiators then the rest of the systems waaay in the back

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Jun 28

Jenn Lichter wins Western States in 15:28, new women's course record and also Jenn's 100 mile debut race!

A slightly blurry screenshot of the Western States livestream as Jenn Lichter, a woman in a white tank top and orange shorts is about to cross the finish line and win her first ever 100 miler

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Jun 28

Vincent Bouillard first finisher at the Western States 100! Breaks course record by 25 minutes, first finisher under 14 hours

A screenshot of the Western States 100 live stream showing an ultrarunner crossing under the finish line and grabbing the ribbon at 13:46:16

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Jun 26

Somebody floored it to cut off another cyclist and I so they could make their right turn 3 seconds faster... With a bike on the back of their car

Joe Biden yelling with his hands raised, you can almost hear him going "come on man!"

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Jun 22

I was on the saddle between Cerro Grande and Pajarito about 12 hours later!

A meadow of yellow tussocks of grass in the foreground, gently sloping down to the right and left. Behind is a mountain peak mostly obscured by dense snags, or standing dead trees. The peak is Cerro Grande. The trees died in the Cerro Grande and Las Conchas fires

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Jun 19

Vallecitos is the site of two decommissioned reactors, the Vallecitos boiling water reactor (VBWR) and less commonly known, the 12.5 MWt ESADA Vallecitos Experimental Superheat Reactor (EVESR). www.asme.org/about-asme/e... www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Val...

A sepia aerial photo shows two large domed buildings, a stack, and a number of industrial buildings with California hills in the background

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· May 10

For anyone interested in nuclear history, the Museum of the Air Force has Bockscar, the plane that dropped the second, so far final, nuclear weapon used in war on Nagasaki

A picture of the nose of a WWII B29 bomber, with the name Bockscar and a stylized set of train tracks and boxcar with wings lifting above the track. After its mission, Nagasaki was added to one end of the tracks and Salt Lake to the other

One of the propellers of Bockscar next to a mock up of the Fat Man nuclear bomb that it dropped in Nagasaki on August 9, 1945

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· May 10

Everyone who told me to add as many hours as possible to my time at the Museum of the Air Force, you were right! I will have to go back

A B-24D Liberator bomber flown during WWII. The plane is named Strawberry Bitch, which is painted on the side. The other side of the plane also has a redheaded woman lying down painted next to the name

A photo containing many missiles in a very tall building, including Atlas, Titan II, Minuteman (II?). The missiles are viewed from the second story which minimizes the view of the nozzles but highlights the sheer size of these lads. Very imposing

A photo snapped of Katie looking at the Tactic Blue, a stealth bomber with a weird looking duck bill in the front. As I do not have an aviation history special interest, I was reading the panel asking wtf is this thing

A picture of the crew capsule from Apollo 15. It looks pretty brownish, tinged with flame as one would expect from an object that reentered the earths atmosphere

Panel reads:
APOLLO 15
COMMAND MODULE ENDEAVOUR
Apollo 15 was the most scientifically-focused mission of the Apollo program. The crew – Commander David R. Scott, Command Module Pilot Alfred M. Worden, and Lunar Module Pilot James B. Irwin – spent almost 12 days in space (July 26 – August 7, 1971). The Command Module "Endeavour" was the home for the three-man crew on the journey to the Moon and back to Earth.
Apollo 15 was the first mission to use a lunar rover. Scott and Irwin used the rover to explore the moon's surface, spending more time outside the spacecraft than on any previous mission. Endeavour orbited the moon for 6 days while Scott and Irwin explored. Worden, independently and alone, photographed the lunar surface from Endeavour with a wide range of cameras and sensors. This included a new panoramic camera and a laser altimeter.
Project Apollo's main goal was to land Endeavour on the moon and safely return. The Apollo program accomplished its mission and established the United States as the leader in space exploration. Between 1961 and 1972, the program achieved 33 missions, 11 of which were manned. It also helped the United States establish its leadership in scientific and technological innovation.
TECHNICAL CREW: 3
LENGTH: 10 feet
WEIGHT: 9,307 lbs at launch
DIAMETER: 12 ft (bottom)

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Apr 28

Also NASA brought a 1/4 scale model of Dragonfly, the RTG-powered helicopter bound for Titan!

A selfie of Katie in front of a metal model of a space helicopter, which takes up most of a conference table. The front is facing towards the camera but the back is where the MMRTG will be located

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Apr 28

I love that it actually has craters, it's not just a sphere printed to look like craters. Top tier swag for sure

A close up of the moon squishy, with my finger pressing into the crater to show its depth

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Apr 28

Does anyone remember when I used to do nuclear conference swag hauls on Twitter? Well NETS (Nuclear & Emerging Technologies for Space) is already a banger on day one-- moon squishy!!! And "remove before fission" tag from BWXT. Whiskey mug and coaster from Space Nukes are solid too

A picture of swag from a conference on a desk. On the top left is a squishy ball but it's the moon, complete with craters. Below that is a "remove before flight" red tag but instead it says "remove before fission". Both BWXT. Top left is a whiskey glass and below it a stylized planet on a coaster. Both Space Nukes. Bottom left is a Westinghouse AstroVinci sticker that says taking nuclear energy to new frontiers

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Apr 14

The pope is weak on nuclear weapons

A sign that says "the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral" attributed to Pope Francis, August 6, 2020. The sign is visible from NM 502, the primary road into Los Alamos, NM

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Apr 10

I interned at Oyster Creek 🥲

A tweet from Katie on September 17, 2018. "Just heard confirmation that Oyster Creek has been scrammed for the last time. One last thank you to the plant that taught me so much and to the people who make it great. We are now down to 98 commercial plants in the US"
Below is an image of a wee undergrad Katie in the control room similar of Oyster Creek. Mint green panels with analog controls are visible

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Mar 25

A vintage ad of a space age-looking flying car next to the text "ATOM CARS- Next Year or Never!

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Mar 20

It's supposed to be even hotter in the next day or two

A map of the US showing where weather records have been (unofficially) broken. Yellow means the station is within 3°F (1.7°C) of their record temperature, orange is tied with daily record, red is breaking the daily record, and magenta is tying or breaking the monthly record high.

Much of the western US is covered in dots, potentially most of the weather stations in that half of the country. While the great plains mostly have yellow and orange dots, the mountain west and southwest are mostly magneta with some red dots.

2200 UTC is 5 pm Central time, 4 pm mountain time, 3 pm pacific

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Mar 18

Nuclear nonproliferation is good actually

Norman Rockwell's Freedom of Speech painting.

Wikipedia on the painting:
Freedom of Speech depicts a scene of a 1942 Arlington town meeting in which Jim Edgerton, the lone dissenter to the town selectmen's announced plans to build a new school, as the old one had burned down, was accorded the floor as a matter of protocol. Edgerton supported the rebuilding process but was concerned about the tax burden of the proposal, as his family farm had been ravaged by disease...
The blue-collar speaker wears a plaid shirt and suede jacket, with dirty hands and a darker complexion than others in attendance. The other attendees are wearing white shirts, ties and jackets.One of the men in the painting is holding a document that reveals a subject of the meeting as "a discussion of the town's annual report". Edgerton's youth and workmanlike hands are fashioned with a worn and stained jacket, while the other attendees appear to be older and more neatly and formally dressed

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Mar 11

bsky.app/profile/vond...

A yellow pro nuclear pin with a smiling blue atom in the middle. The text says "Atomkraft? Ja Bitte" which means nuclear power yes please in German

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Mar 7

Me every day

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Mar 4

If you guessed the comments on nuclear weapons betting markets would be full of people speculating wildly, including types who believe nuclear weapons are being used any time there's a big explosion, you would be correct

A polymarket commenter arguing nuclear weapons were used in Port Sudan and Bandar Abbas (and thus the market should resolve, presumably paying them money), citing X/Twitter posts I don't even want to click on

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Mar 4

The "related" tab shows that a specific market on nuclear weapons isn't a unique phenomenon either. Markets on "will the US test a nuclear weapon by March 31, 2026", same thing but Russia, and "Will US/Israel strike Fordow by March 31?" #nukesky

A screenshot of polymarket showing a market on "Nuclear weapon detonation by...?" With related markets "will the US test a nuclear weapon by March 31, 2026" (2%), will Russia test a nuclear weapon by March 31, 2026" (2%), and "Will US/Israel strike Fordow by March 31?" (55%)

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Feb 21

Update: I MADE IT

A picture of a hundred people lining up for a trail running race start with a clear sky and desert hill in the background

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Feb 12

Phil do you want to be sad? Apparently these are selling

Post from Pank:
5+ Sold Already! :D

This makes a difference for my Spouse and I.

When you spend your money with small Queer Crafters and Entertainers, we use that money to live.

- Rent, Car Insurance, Medicine, Food, Pet Supplies
and so much more.

Thank you to everyone who has bought one so far!

#BSNM #Vtuber

Katie Mummah@nuclearkatie· Dec 3

Dry Heat by Goodnight, Texas held onto my #1 spot, and #2 is another one of their songs (Tucumcari). I got to see them live this year! 20/10 it was awesome and I hope they come back to NM again bsky.app/profile/nucl...