Complex Systems that Matter: an unfortunate Nuclear reactor shutdown and the Space Shuttle ECO malfunction

Soon after September 11th, I recall a short discussion with Alan Waltar who was the head of our department on the amount on some of the hate mail he was getting because of his nuclear engineering leadership. I recall specifically one e-mail where he was touted as a terrorist. I cannot say how extremely annoyed I was when I read it. Alan is a truly nice guy and is very passionate about a subject that is becoming increasingly relevant everyday. In America the Powerless: Facing our Nuclear Energy Dilemma he was mentioning the important issue on our dramatic reliance on Canadian and other foreign reactors to get medical isotopes ( isotopes of molybdenum, technetium ). Then I read this yesterday about a Nuclear plant shutdown brings hospital delays where it explains that because of a unduly conservative regulatory environment, the shutdown of one single Canadian ( Chalk River nuclear facility ) will delay significantly the wait for medical tests in the U.S. and other places. Let us not kid ourselves, it will have some dramatic consequences on some patients.

In line with dealing with very complex systems, here is the internal NASA e-mails from the director of Shuttle Safety at the Johnson Space Center and the Shuttle Program Manager show how they struggle to understand and address the failure of the engine cutoff (ECO) sensor malfunction (Rainer Gerhards has a more detailed view of the system) of the Space Shuttle (In NASA's lingo, the Shuttle is not just the plane, it is the plane and the boosters) that postponed last week's launch. This is not the first time we see these internal passionate discussions about such a detailed system, but as usual, I am always left with the bitter taste that if NASA were to provide some type of funding for what they call Red team reviews with an emphasis of funding people outside of the space business, analyses would be a lot more fundamental. This tiny investment would go a long way toward sustaining and improving the program.

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