Sign in

Katie Mummah

@nuclearkatie.com
17K followers 2.2K following 1.8K posts

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

PostsRepliesMedia
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 26/09/2026
"Search and rescue teams going on fewer missions in New Mexico despite rising call volumes" Why? Sheriffs & fire depts are trying to tackle missions alone. Even when SAR volunteers, who are unpaid, have different and unique skills, could help. The public loses out. www.ems1.com/search-and-r...
ems1.com
N.M. search and rescue teams face fewer missions despite increase in calls
Volunteer search and rescue leaders say local agencies are waiting too long to request specialized teams
3232
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 25/09/2026
If I can't bring my coffee or water bottle to a conference room I do not want to be there, or work with people who have such stupid and unwritten rules. Exceptions of course for labs or nuclear facilities but none of these no-beverage hardliners seem to be talking about those situations
5432
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 24/09/2026
Why was I low energy all day? Oh yeah I only drank half my coffee, it's a real mystery
1170
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
He’s right. It really is a shame that we haven’t bothered to utilize electromagnetism in western medicine
6863459
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 23/09/2026
Sometimes Teams just decides to take four+ minutes to load my meeting. Don't rush buddy, this 30 minute meeting has plenty of time
1171
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Paul Ford @ftrain.com · 16/09/2026
hey I heard you like sankey diagrams that show huge populations making terrible decisions
A very complicated Sankey diagram showing the usage of electricity in the United States. Or the left are sources of energy and on the right are consumers, so, for example, nuclear is on the left and residential is on the right. Petroleum dominates.
18417100
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
In light of that long thread, it's nice to see old creations of mine come up again.
OSHA 1993 Caution style sign.

FERAL ENGINEER AREA
Unexamined assumptions present
410113
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Katie O'Reilly @drkatfish.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A screenshot of a Tumblr post about scientists wanting to tell people about their science
142226773
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 15/09/2026
This is the proper way to check that you're not bringing devices into secure areas
4151
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 15/09/2026
App: can we send you notifications? Me: ✨ never✨
1353
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 11/09/2026
I needed to grab a coworkers paper quickly so I searched for it by keywords and Gemini not only hallucinated a first name from "A.", it decided on a common mens name and referred to the researcher as he. Her name is Alex! which is even in one of the documents cited!
Google search for "Levinsky shielding NASA"

"AI Overview 

Andrew Levinsky is a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) who collaborated with NASA on radiation shielding design for Fission Surface Power (FSP) systems. [1] (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20260002520/downloads/Levinsky_CP_MultifacetFSP_RadShield_20260002520.pdf), [2] (https://epubs.ans.org/?p=proc:3466&pg=2)

Core Project Focus

Levinsky and his co-researchers authored a paper titled "Multifaceted Considerations for Fission Surface Power Radiation Shielding Design". This work addresses how to build shields for nuclear reactors deployed on the lunar surface to protect human habitats and sensitive hardware. [1] (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20260002520/downloads/Levinsky_CP_MultifacetFSP_RadShield_20260002520.pdf)"
4204
Reposted by Katie Mummah
public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
📈📈📈
Gas Station Price Sign Using Scientific Notation

the ONION
173291609
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 10/09/2026
I had a Twitter account while the United States was still enriching uranium by gaseous diffusion
0230
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It can discern the 235 from 238 just by looking at it, though it is a bit prone to hallucinating 3̷̧̠͇͔̻̖̈̈̂́2̸͖̯̪̿̈́̎͐̆͛̾̍̕8̸̨̢̪̻̻̣̼̗͙̣̯̩̎̅̃̽͂̑͊̃̚ from time to time.
3141
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Isotopic gleaning. They have very scientific tweezers and pluck the 235 when it’s perfectly ripe and ready for market.
1291
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 09/09/2026
I think you shouldn't be able to qualify for a $900 million contract from DOE without publicly announcing the type of technology you're using. Until they do I'm going to spread the rumor that General Matter is going all the way back to outdated gaseous diffusion
3413
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 09/09/2026
One thing that was clear from Global, the nuclear fuel cycle conference, is that venture capital has made its way beyond reactors alone and into the fuel cycle. Laser enrichment is back, baby!
4421
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 09/09/2026
I don't know what an adaptogen is and at this point I refuse to learn
5241
Reposted by Katie Mummah
In Preparation @inprep.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
inpreparation.substack.com
40% Of PhD Now Spent Selecting ‘All Squares Containing Bicycles’
BALTIMORE, MD—A study published Tuesday in PLOS ONE found that approximately 40% of doctoral training is now spent confirming the researcher is not a robot, primarily through the selection of squares…
07020
Reposted by Katie Mummah
𝔻𝕖𝕖𝕡 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕥 @thatsgoodweb.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
locking in for the final day of the weekend
a guy in a crazy reclining contraption using a 90’s pc
13738111
Reposted by Katie Mummah
🇵🇸Martin “Doomsday” Pfeiffer🖖🏳️‍🌈 @nuclearanthro.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I’m just glad everyone seems to recognize NM is actually part of the USA.
1182
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 07/09/2026
Do not bring New Mexico into this ffs
3382
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Shobita Parthasarathy @shobitap.org · 04/09/2026
Dietram Scheufele is a major science communication scholar. What strikes me (as it has in past cases, including those at Michigan) is how academia--faculty and administrators--simply *do not want to know* about bad actors, especially when they are famous. Explains why ASU has turned a blind eye too.
611941
Reposted by Katie Mummah
The Onion @theonion.com · 04/09/2026
“Whether you’ve been sideswiped by a tractor-trailer on a two-lane road or dragged through an intersection by a furniture delivery truck, you can now easily plot a course that fully accommodates your mangled body.” — Jasmine Harper, lead product developer
theonion.com
Google Maps Introduces Crawling Directions For Cyclists Hit By Truck
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—Touting the new feature as yet another innovation to help every traveler get where they’re going, Google Maps on Thursday began offering crawling directions for cyclists who have bee...
201166162
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 02/09/2026
I've enjoyed using Bitwarden FWIW
070
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 02/09/2026
If you actually read the article it looks like AI played a rather small role in this event. Mostly they made bad decisions on the mountain! AllTrails is a popular GPS app, lots of people rely on it + GPS watch (paper maps should be a backup, but this is not abnormal) krcrtv.com/news/local/t...
krcrtv.com
Three Mount Shasta climbers rescued after relying on AI to plan climb
Three novice climbers were rescued from Mount Shasta on Sunday after becoming lost, running low on supplies and spending an unplanned night in Mud Creek Canyon,
1252
Reposted by Katie Mummah
D. Paul Angel @dpaulangel.com · 02/09/2026
It was the legit forbidden pitcher. Basically something like this, but made out of corrugated metal, and with a uranium liner on the inside. I don't remember if they had removed the uranium liner or not, but the thing itself was original.
Plastic, five gallon water jug with a top you can open a spout for pouring single servings of water.
291
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 19/08/2025
In times like these, sometimes I *do* seek the healing power of a large number of alpha particles ripping up my internal organs
9708
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 01/09/2026
Wake me up when September ends (fiscal year edition)
0151
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
tragically, "packing heat" should refer to the intensity of the Lemitar chiles on hand, not the presence of a firearm with which to kill a cousin for giving you the spicier enchiladas
3806
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Tony Thielen @tonythielen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
She’s Got Range 16”x12” Acrylic and canvas . #traditionalart #acrylic #painting #art #contemporarywesternart #contemporaryary
5388
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Rob is reading Macedonian Logistics🧭 @robisreading.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Ladies & gentlemen, we have a wiener.
1382
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Geoff Brumfiel @gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
NEW: My story on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's proposal to end the use of "As Low As Reasonably Achievable" (ALARA) as a guiding principle for radiation protection. As usual I'll do a little 🧵 for the super ☢️🤓 crowd.... www.npr.org/2026/08/27/n...
npr.org
Nuclear regulator prepares to abandon a decades-old radiation safety rule
A push by President Trump could mean the elimination of a safety standard designed to keep radiation exposure as low as possible.
310342
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Geoff Brumfiel @gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
On number 2, the PDLE would allow some workers to receive 10 rem in a single year, so long as their five year moving average didn't exceed 25 rem. In their public meeting NRC said this was for specialized workers (think welders), who might be doing plant upgrades.
3201
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Geoff Brumfiel @gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Instead, the NRC will use the existing threshold of 5 rem/year as an occupational limit. Two other little nuggets in the proposed rule: 1. There's a large increase in dose allowed for caregivers of patients receiving radiotherapy. 2. There's a proposed "planned occupational dose limit extension."
3231
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Hello nuke friends, does one of you have a good recommendation to use as the replacement for Knoll's "Radiation Detection and Measurement"? The book is getting harder and harder to find for my students and it has become very expensive. #nukesky
4125
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 25/08/2026
Noooooooooooooo
2170
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Norm Charlatan @normcharlatan.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
You know who else wasn’t fully healthy while carrying a heavy load to Cleveland?
The Edmund Fitzgerald
391264167
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 22/08/2026
Thanks to helpful advice from many, I was able to have a successful conference and cover at least 2+ miles per day! In some ways home will be harder than traveling, but I made it through the first week
A picture of Katie at the edge of a conference booth with a cutout of Oppenheimer. She is on a green knee scooter with one foot in a boot. She is wearing business clothes and a conference name tag and smiling. Emotional support coffee is on the table next to her
5521
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 21/08/2026
What we have here is a tragic case of multiple skill issues
3282
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Emma the Sewer Socialist @mayorseidel.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Incredible World War II takes are happening on blue skies dot app
2036527
Reposted by Katie Mummah
manish vij @mvij.org · 19/08/2026
C-3PO stands for C3rtified Pre-Owned
0142
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 19/08/2026
I have an incredibly strong distaste for startup executives coming to a technical conference and giving their investor presentations while saying absolutely nothing of substance & refusing to answer Qs from experts. "Did you know nuclear reactors need nuclear fuel?" get the hell out of this room
1433
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 18/08/2026
A few years ago I told someone I had just finished reading Cadillac Desert. That old book, they said? Why would you read that? Dude, it's more relevant than ever! I should pick it up again!
4378
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
For only the second time in roughly 30 years, I have had to return an item on eBay. If you say something is uranium glass, rest assured that your customer is going to check. Yellow/orange under UV with no counts suggests this actually cadmium doped glass.
A green colored glass Madonna figurine Same figurine fluorescing yellow-orange under blacklight. Green glass figurine being measured by a Thermo Radeye B20. It’s showing  35.5 counts per minute, which is background around here.
718614
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 15/08/2026
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.
4310
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 15/08/2026
Anyone have tips on getting around in a boot and crutches? Took a nasty fall while running and turns out the nasty sprain I thought I had is actually some fractures
14420
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I tend to view maths as I do venomous snakes - cautiously and with a measure of relief when it slithers back off into the bushes without disturbing my day further.
71094
Reposted by Katie Mummah
Sam Rose @samwho.dev · 13/08/2026
This might be the most beautiful thing I've read in my life. What a privilege to be alive in 2026. ordinaryabundance.com
ordinaryabundance.com
Ordinary Abundance
A walk through a modern apartment, through the eyes of the people for whom everything in it was new.
13590220
Katie Mummah @nuclearkatie.com · 13/08/2026
Everyone keeps asking me how I trail run without rolling my ankles but I swear my worst ankle incidents have been from running on pavement
4130