Katie Mummah, PhD
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nuclearkatie.com
Katie Mummah, PhD
@nuclearkatie.com
11K followers 2K following 1.3K posts
Nuclear engineer. nuclear: reactors, history, waste, nonproliferation, humor. "Tells uranium's life story". Lives in New Mexico. Formerly UW-Madison & UIUC. Outdoors when I'm not working. Views mine alone, likes/rt not endorsements. she/her
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nuclearkatie.com
The Edmund Fitzgerald energy is very strong here. Barely a week away from the 50th anniversary of the wreck
A display table of books at a bookstore. Everything is about the Edmund Fitzgerald and shipwrecks in the area, from the poster in the back to books named "The Edmund Fitzgerald: Song of the Bell", "The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald", "Strange & Unusual Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes" and a kids book called "Ellie's Pursuit of the Mighty Fitz" A local magazine article titled "Echoes of the Edmund Fitzgerald: 50 Years Beneath the Waves" with two large photos of the ship. The article notes that November 9th, 2025 will be the 50th anniversary of the wreck.
November 1, 2025 at 3:01 PM
nuclearkatie.com
I would like to do a freaky friday with my dog where she gets to be a scientist for a week and I can nap on the couch and in the grass
A picture of a Labrador in a staged laboratory setting surrounded by beakers and graduated cylinders. The dog has safety glasses and is pouring something that says DANGER into a mug. There is big white text overlaid that says I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING
October 4, 2025 at 4:43 PM
nuclearkatie.com
Wow, a cornucopia of delightful animals!!!

My pittie mutt doesn't blep much but she is also very cute when she sleeps
A brown dog is sleeping on a white blanket with a white wall behind her. The image is focused on her head, resting sideways on the blanket, snoot pointed at the camera. She looks very peaceful and one of her ears is falling off the side of the bed which is very cute
October 2, 2025 at 2:33 AM
nuclearkatie.com
I need to make it clear that I do also stan the belted kingfisher, which is the people's choice for a new UIUC mascot. But hey, no bad ideas in a brainstorm
A picture of a belted kingfisher sitting on a wooden post. It is a squat bird with a beak that seems huge for its size. The bird is literally blue-gray and orange (rust)! University of Illinois colors! And it has a little mohawk and cute short tail. Very adorable A stylized kingfisher mascot, with the orange and blue accentuated to highlight the UIUC school colors. Adopt this mascot you cowards!
October 1, 2025 at 2:00 AM
nuclearkatie.com
This is a fun little scam because they got it into my inbox bypassing spam filters by using my website form submission box. I wonder if they use LLMs to try to modify the scam "opportunity" to be slightly personalized to me (i.e. nuclear energy)
## Important Details - Minimum investment: **1 BTC** - For your peace of mind, you will receive a formal document to back up your investment. - You can monitor your investment in person at any NASA office each month. This is an incredible opportunity to be part of NASA's groundbreaking initiatives while reaping financial benefits. If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to reach out. Thank you for considering this opportunity! Best regards, Janet Petro NASA Administrator
July 9, 2025 at 12:51 PM
nuclearkatie.com
Wow, the ~NASA administrator~ is offering me such a unique and definitely real opportunity to "support advancements in solar and nuclear energy" while also "creating attractive investment prospects."
Hello I hope this message finds you well. I’m Janet Petro, the NASA Administrator, and I’m excited to announce our new collaboration program that opens up unique investment opportunities for individuals and companies alike. NASA is partnering with various organizations to support advancements in solar and nuclear energy. This initiative not only aims to innovate but also to create attractive investment prospects. ### Investment Plans - **Monthly Returns**: Enjoy a profit payout of **0.10%** each month. - **Quarterly Returns**: Every three months, earn a return of **0.40%**. - **Semi-Annual Returns**: Receive a **0.90%** return every six months.
July 9, 2025 at 12:48 PM
nuclearkatie.com
Apparently some universities let you make a cover page for your PhD thesis with anything you want on it. Consider:
A screenshot of a cover page of a physics PhD thesis titled "Neutron-Induced Scintillation in Organics" from Lund University in Sweden. The title and info is very normally laid out at the top, there is a university crest at the bottom, and the entire rest of the page is a picture of a hairless cat laying sprawled on its back and staring directly at the camera
July 3, 2025 at 4:23 PM
nuclearkatie.com
At that point, make it a global disarmament project! If you're just making stuff up anyway, why say we should make a new unimaginably large weapon instead of saying we should put all the world's weapons in one place and make them go boom all at once. Two birds, one stone!
Push It Somewhere Else Patrick (also known as "Pushing Patrick") is an image macro series based on a scene from the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. The captions typically use the snowclone template “We should take X and put it Y”
June 10, 2025 at 1:50 AM
nuclearkatie.com
This is the entirety of their "analysis" on the yield. No, not joking, this is all there is
Section 2 Yield Calculations To calculate an effective yield for the nuclear explosion, we will have to make a few assumptions: 1. Every year, approximately 36 gigatons of carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere. 2. We want to sequester 30 years worth of carbon dioxide emissions. 3. Through ERW, 1 ton of basalt can sequester 0.28 tons of carbon dioxide[Beerling et al., 2020]. 4. The crushing work index of basalt is 22[Ram Chandar et al., 2016]. 5. In a seafloor buried nuclear explosion, there will be approximately 90% efficiency in pulverizing the basalt. From these assumptions, we can calculate that 1.08 trillion tons of carbon dioxide should be sequestered, 3.86 trillion tons of basalt are needed, the crushing energy needed is 3.05 ∗ 1020j, and a nuclear explosion yield of 81 Gt is required. This is orders of magnitude larger than the largest nuclear explosion ever detonated, so this is not to be taken lightly.
June 10, 2025 at 1:15 AM
nuclearkatie.com
Yeah this quality of writing is just embarrassing. Not that I would agree with a better-argued proposal, but come onnnnnn. This is the kind of writing a high schooler produces in a timed, closed-book prompt exam when there's no way to pull additional relevant source material
Section 4.3 Political Feasibility Nuclear weapons have been a pressing global issue for decades. There are many treaties that have successfully reduced the proliferation and testing of nuclear weapons. Even though the nuclear device proposed in this paper has no strategic military value, it would still violate all of these treaties against the proliferation and testing of nuclear weapons. Attempting to detonate the largest nuclear device ever created would certainly affect the delicate situation around nuclear weapons, but these effects can be mitigated. First, it would be clear to everyone that the purpose of this explosion is to sequester carbon. Second, special exceptions to the treaties can be made for such an important problem. Third, open communication would reduce the tensions around this project.
June 9, 2025 at 11:48 PM
nuclearkatie.com
Somebody in a convertible threw poppers at me on my bike and I just want to know wtf man
An image of poppers, also called bang snaps or pop pops or a thousand other things probably. They're a tiny bit of explosive wrapped in paper that are often thrown as a handful causing a bunch of small, loud, dispersed pops. Very disconcerting on a bike!
May 30, 2025 at 3:15 PM
nuclearkatie.com
DOGE should not be allowed near the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Text of the Executive Order "ORDERING THE REFORM OF THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION": Sec. 4. Reforming the NRC’s Structure. (a) The current structure and staffing of the NRC are misaligned with the Congress’s directive that the NRC shall not unduly restrict the benefits of nuclear power. The NRC shall, in consultation with the NRC’s DOGE Team (as defined in Executive Order 14158 of January 20, 2025 (Establishing and Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency”)), and consistent with its governing statutes, reorganize the NRC to promote the expeditious processing of license applications and the adoption of innovative technology. The NRC shall undertake reductions in force in conjunction with this reorganization, though certain functions may increase in size consistent with the policies in this order, including those devoted to new reactor licensing
May 24, 2025 at 2:32 AM
nuclearkatie.com
Proud of the homeland
NYT headline: Deep-Dish Pizza and Malört in the Vatican? Chicago Pope Spurs Memes Subhead: Chicago, a uniquely meme-able city, (highlighted) was the center of a ton of jokes.
May 9, 2025 at 8:50 PM
nuclearkatie.com
Also calling @whatisnuclear.com a "mindless hater" is truly unhinged behavior
Isaiah Talor on Twitter/X, referencing Nick Touran aka @whatisnuclear: "Honestly, you are the most arrogant person I have ever interacted with on the internet. It's sad because I used to follow and enjoy your content before I started this company, and even reached out to meet with you. It's sad to see you devolve into a mindless hater. Beneath you"
April 30, 2025 at 2:36 AM
nuclearkatie.com
This is so so incredibly funny
When Valar announced it would join the lawsuit, Taylor published a blog post on the company’s website that claimed that the company’s reactor was so safe that someone could hold the spent fuel in their hands for five minutes and get as much radiation exposure as a CAT scan. Touran questioned this claim, leading Taylor to post the numbers behind the company’s analysis on X. Another nuclear engineer ran his own calculation using these inputs, finding that holding fuel under the conditions provided by Valar would give a “lethal dose” of radiation in 85 milliseconds.
April 30, 2025 at 2:36 AM
nuclearkatie.com
Me on Strava today
Screenshot of a Strava activity with the activity title "it wimdy"
April 28, 2025 at 3:09 AM
nuclearkatie.com
Used nuclear fuel pool livestream when???
An angled view down into a huge pool with grid racks to hold nuclear fuel after it's done generating power in a reactor. The pool is lit from all sides and very blue. At the bottom is text saying "spent nuclear fuel pools are quite serene and kind of boring"
April 18, 2025 at 6:10 PM
nuclearkatie.com
In my new job where things are happening around me and I don't understand anything yet
A picture of a very tiny deer called a pudu looking overwhelmed. Text in three places reads "I am small and weird" "I do not know what is happening" and "I am very afraid"
April 15, 2025 at 12:26 AM
nuclearkatie.com
Oh wait I should have included one of many Very Good Rocks
www.nps.gov/places/pinna...
A selfie of Katie in front of Pinnacle Balanced Rock at Chiricahua National Monument. The rock is very tall and balanced on a small nub. Katie is throwing a big smile because she loves a fun big rock
March 18, 2025 at 2:10 AM
nuclearkatie.com
I managed three national parks, two national monuments, a yurt at 10,900 feet (3300 m), and skiing in Whistler in the past three weeks. Do recommend
A selfie of Katie with two Joshua Trees in the background. The sky is bright blue, the ground is scrubby, and two large Joshua Trees dominate the field of view. Katie is wearing bright blue sunglasses and is facing away from the sun A nighttime photo of some mountains and a Saguaro cactus in front of many stars A selfie of Katie in front of a Civilian Conservation Corps fire watch tower on Sugarloaf mountain in Chiricahua national monument. The sun is right behind Katie's head sending rays in front of her face A selfie of Katie in bright blue goggles and black/dark gray ski gear in front of a ski hill with a Gondola overhead. She's in Whistler, Canada dealing with wet "coastal" snowpack instead of the Rockies as she's used to
March 18, 2025 at 1:51 AM
nuclearkatie.com
I have also had some incredible finds on ebay
A picture of an American Nuclear Society 25th anniversary (1954-1979) mug A picture of a yellow tshirt with a graphic of the decay chain of uranium on it, even including the type and half lives of each decay
February 20, 2025 at 2:54 PM
nuclearkatie.com
Oops we can't quickly reverse the NNSA firings because no one assembled their personal contact details before unceremoniously locking them out of government devices
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) attempted to notify some probationary employees who had been let go that they are due to be reinstated – but they struggled to find them because their contact information was missing.
February 15, 2025 at 11:48 PM
nuclearkatie.com
If you don't know what the National Nuclear Security Administration does, may I gently recommend not throwing it into chaos first and then asking questions second? Glad firings are being rescinded but YIKES

Their website helpfully states what they do in simple terms:
www.energy.gov/nnsa/nationa...
Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration — the agency tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear stockpile — as part of broader Energy Department layoffs, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. Sources told CNN the officials did not seem to know this agency oversees America’s nuclear weapons.
February 15, 2025 at 3:44 AM
nuclearkatie.com
Today: HAZARDOUS next to a squinting red emoji face with a mask on
February 14, 2025 at 5:17 AM
nuclearkatie.com
I sent my dissertation in for formatting checks and within 45 min I got a response back saying "page 221 is formatted incorrectly" I am in awe of her speed
A screenshot of an email, with text reading: Thank you for sending me your dissertation for a precheck. Please make the following changes: One-inch margins are required, including on the title page and p. 221, and I may have missed other instances. Other than that, the formatting looks perfect.
February 4, 2025 at 8:54 PM