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• Roger Sowell, Professional Advocate for Natural Gas Companies - Wrote a Post Labeling Me a "Nuclear Nut"

  I have had a little extra time on my hands for the last few days. One of the things that I did was a vanity search to see where there was mention of my name on recent blogs. (Sometimes this kind of search can lead to surprising results.) One of the items that I found was a rather curious comment on an article that I originally wrote for Atomic Insights about the learning curves at Olkiluoto. That commentary... Posted Jul 11 2009, 07:41 PM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: Roger Sowell, opinion, editorial

• Kirk Sorensen's Plan to Avert Climate Change - LFTR Presentation at Manchester Report

  Kirk Sorensen is one of the most enthusiastic "nukes" I know, with a real passion for sharing his hard won knowledge about using molten salt reactors to convert thorium into a fissile material and ultimately into a heat source for a work producing heat engine. With the help of Charles Barton, Kirk runs the excellent and informative Energy From Thorium blog where he has posted hundreds of... Posted Jul 11 2009, 11:56 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: editorial, kirk sorensen, climate change

• Reactions to Bob Metcalfe's Editorial Suggesting A New Look At Licensing And Manufacturing Small Nuclear Reactors

  The Wall Street Journal has published several letter responses to Bob Metcalfe's June 24, 2009 opinion piece titled The New Nuclear Revolution: Safe fission power is our future -- if regulators allow it . You can find them under the title of It's Time to Take Another Look at Nuclear Energy . I liked the first two letters, which were generally supportive of the idea that it is time to take a... Posted Jun 30 2009, 03:07 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: small nuclear power plants, editorial, reactor

• Another Group of Bloggers for Nuclear Energy - Clean Energy Insight

  In May, I attended a gathering of the North American Young Generations in Nuclear (NA-YGN) and had the opportunity to spend a good deal of time talking with a group of engineers from Charlotte, NC, which is quickly becoming a bustling hub of activity in fields associated with atomic energy development. This group, once they found out who I was, wanted as much information as possible about blogging... Posted Jun 22 2009, 12:37 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: opinion, editorial, perspective

• Two Young Girls Recite the Periodic Table for American Nuclear Society Meeting Attendees

  Kirk Sorensen, a good friend of mine, brought his three daughters and lovely wife to the American Nuclear Society annual meeting. During a session focused on education and public communications, there was a scheduled talk about a program in Texas aimed at encouraging high school aged girls with excellent math and science skills to remain interested in the subjects so that they could enter into technical... Posted Jun 20 2009, 06:43 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: opinion, editorial, perspective

• Atomic Show 134 - Five Atomic Geek Lunch at ANS Meeting

  Atomic Show 134 - Five Atomic Geek Lunch has been posted. In related news, a good friend also sent me the below screen shot of iTunes on June 16, 2009. Pretty cool, don't you think? Read More... Posted Jun 16 2009, 03:19 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: opinion, editorial, perspective

• Stock Market Reaction to B&W mPower™ Modular Reactor

  One of the mantras often repeated by the anti-nuclear community during the nadir of the nuclear industry was that any company announcing a nuclear project would see its stock price hammered on Wall Street. That argument has actually been quite effective at slowing down corporate interest in investing - no leaders like to make big new product announcements and watch their company stock price tank. That... Posted Jun 15 2009, 06:33 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: opinion, editorial, perspective

• Prime Example on Why The US Department of Energy Rarely Produces Any Energy

  Discover Magazine recently published an article with interesting information about next generation nuclear power plants that contains all of the information that you need to know about why the US Department of Energy is one of the largest employers of scientists in the country yet rarely succeeds in its title mission of providing tools that produce useful energy. The article starts off with a brief... Posted Jun 09 2009, 02:13 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: DOE, opinion, editorial

• See No Evil, Hear No Evil Approach to Regulating Hydraulic Fracturing Shale Gas Extraction

  On June 4, 2009 the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Minerals held a hearing on the topic of shale gas development through the technique of hydraulic fracturing. While spending a couple of hours this morning listening to a somewhat testy exchange of opinions and positions, I learned that the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was the vehicle by which the natural gas industry obtained... Posted Jun 08 2009, 04:08 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: opinion, editorial, politics

• Showing Why We Like Nuclear Power

  A rather unknown, but real effect of America's response to 9-11 was a sharp reduction in the ability of the nuclear power industry to share its own story through the use of plant tours and well designed, site located visitor centers. The security restrictions imposed as a result of the fear caused by flying airplanes into tall building even affected well supervised visits by school groups at far... Posted Jun 05 2009, 07:55 PM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: opinion, editorial, politics

• Looking Back 30 Years To a Wet, Expensive Rally

  On a rainy June 3, 1979, there was a large gathering of people on the Long Island shore near the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant. According to some observers, there were 15,000 people in the crowd, but others dispute that number and say it was considerably fewer. The purpose of the rally was to organize and inspire opposition to the nuclear power plant. Some in the crowd claimed that their fear was inspired... Posted Jun 05 2009, 03:57 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: opinion, editorial, politics

• Kevlar Vest - Opposite of a Smoking Gun (#1 in a series)

  As regular readers know, I harbor cynical thoughts about the motivations of some anti-nuclear commentators. I honestly believe that many of them are supportive of continued market domination by coal, oil and/or gas. I even have a series of blogs with the keyword of "smoking gun" (go ahead, do a search in that little block at the top left of your Atomic Insights window) that points to places... Posted Jun 04 2009, 04:37 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: opinion, editorial, nuclear trends

• Comments on NRC Proposed Rule for Variable Fee Structure for Power Reactors

  A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that the NRC had published a notice of proposed rulemaking titled "Variable Annual Fee Structure for Power Reactors" [NRC-2008-0664] . I also promised that I would post a link to my submitted comments. I finally got around to completing that task. You can find my comments at AAE Comments on NRC-2008-0664 . If you have the time, I would encourage you to also... Posted May 31 2009, 05:19 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: opinion, editorial, politics

• First of a Kind (FOAK) Projects are Learning Opportunities - Olkiluoto Experience is Just a Reinforcement of a Old Principle

  Judging from the number of blog posts that have been generated in the past 24 hours in response to the New York Times article titled In Finland, Nuclear Renaissance Runs Into Trouble , some people have never heard of the concept of learning curves or been involved in a project where everyone is inexperienced at the specific task they are assigned. People who have been involved in the development of... Posted May 30 2009, 10:50 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: opinion, editorial, politics

• Fracking - A Modern Way to Produce "Clean", "Natural" Gas

  When I am not listening to podcasts on my daily commute, I often turn to NPR (National Public Radio) for some thoughtful stories. Though I missed yesterday's edition, a friend sent me a link to an interesting story titled Face-Off Over 'Fracking': Water Battle Brews On Hill that describes the growing concern in some areas of the country over the effects of hydraulic fracturing (aka "fracking"... Posted May 28 2009, 03:17 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: opinion, editorial, politics