April, 2008

Just in case you do not read the Alaska Journal on a regular basis, I thought it might be worth providing a link to an interesting story titled Toshiba continues efforts for Galena nuclear power plant . This story did not get much play outside of Alaska, but I think it is a very interesting development...

The Pro-Nuke, Anti-Nuke discussion hosted by Mother Jones's Blue Marble blog is going pretty strongly now. As of early this morning there were 49 published comments with an undetermined number waiting for approval. When the debate first started, the comments appeared almost immediately, but, not...

On Atomic Show #091 I took advantage of the technology provided by Skype to record a cross ocean chat with Alexandra Prokopenko, the blogger behind Atom Watch . Alexandra was in Kiev celebrating the Orthodox Easter and agreed to talk to me about her atomic fact seeking. Alexandra was born in Belarus...

The Energy Information Agency has recently released a report in response to a Congressional request to put numbers on the subsidies provided to various energy sources. The Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital Blog is discussing that report with a post titled At the Trough: A Peak at US Energy...

The Blue Marble blog has an interesting concept going that will be worth watching. You might even want to participate. Here is their description of the idea as described on a post dated April 27, 2008 titled Pro-Nuke? Anti-Nuke? : Pro-Nuke? Anti-Nuke? Talk About It With The Experts We asked a futurist...

In a recent article titled TVA joins Energy Department in nuclear recycling I found the following section worth noting: "If we're going to have a renewal of nuclear power, which I believe is critically important, TVA can and should play a big role in that future," said Alabama Sen. Jeff...

One of my dad's hobbies when I was growing up was collecting glasses given away by service stations in the days before they became just gas stations that provided little service at all. One of his favorite examples of this art form was a glass with a picture of the Exxon tiger with the slogan "Put...

A regular reader sent me a link to the cover article of the May 12, 2008 edition of The Nation titled What Nuclear Renaissance? That article, written by Christian Parenti, begs response, but I do not feel like spending much time writing a letter to the editor that will have a minor probability of being...

I received an interesting notification from NBC Universal that provided the embed code for a recent appearance by Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Jay Leno on Earth Day. I am usually pretty careful about clicking on links sent in emails, so I verified that the message really was from an NBC publicist before I...

Bermuda is one of my favorite places of all time to visit. It is the home of pink sand beaches, the world's shortest drawbridge, a great Maritime Museum, fantastic restaurants, and interesting window shopping. I have been blessed with four visits to the island, three times via sailboats and once...

There is a lot of excitement these days for solar energy plants, with some particular amount of breathless enthusiasm for solar thermal power plants that use concentrating mirrors to add heat to a transfer fluid that is then used to create steam. Some of the technology's supporters even claim that...

Of course, the title to this article is rhetorical. I know exactly why Europe is turning to coal - Europeans needs power, they cannot depend solely on importing gas from Russia, Iran and Algeria, there are some Europeans that comprise a very strong and financially well supported anti-nuclear movement...

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Robert Hargraves's Rethinking Nuclear Power course and pointed out how to find it. In the intervening weeks, I have taken on a new job within the Navy and have also taken a short Florida vacation. Quite frankly, I had forgotten about the course until I noticed a...

In a comment on an earlier post, a reader included a link to an April 17, 2008 article from Pantagraph.com out of Bloomington, Il titled Are wind farm turbines making people sick? Some say yes . I thought that it would be worth elevating that link to the main blog, just in case there are rare readers...

One aspect of the energy industry that fascinates me is the interdependent nature of the business and the way that one can trace how certain major events have consequences half a world away. Last July, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear complex in Japan was shaken by a large earthquake. So far, all visual...

When Glen Rose, Texas has an opening for a teacher, it gets a stack of applications. Considering the fact that it is a relatively rural, out of the way place, that is an unusual effect. Part of the reason for the interest in teaching there is that the schools are well supported and have excellent, modern...

The term "nuclear non-proliferation" is a mouthful that has seen frequent use in public policy discussions for at least four decades. It is a concept that has its own treaty and its own "community" of people who make a career out of studying it, teaching it, creating enforcing policies...

Please believe me when I say that I am not "rooting" for wind turbines to fail. I certainly hope that most of the machines that are built and installed provide reliable service for their owners. However, as guy who used to make a living as operating engineer, I have to say that I was not surprised...

Timothy Hurst at Red, Green and Blue took notice of the Nuclear Energy Live debate on Green Options and was somewhat surprised by the final poll results that showed that 75% of the self selected audience of readers accepted nuclear power as a tool in the battle against global climate change. In his post...

I have a long day ahead and am running late, but I wanted to make sure that you were all aware of an important new contribution to the nuclear power debate - The Nuclear Option by Judith Lewis. Judith has written about nuclear power before, you can probably find her work referenced here on Atomic Insights...

I am a biased observer in the energy field. I firmly believe that atomic fission based power systems have the potential to replace fossil fuels in many applications, that fission power sources can capture market share in competitive contests, and that fission is far cleaner than the fossil fuel competition...

One of the regular features of NEI Nuclear Notes that has been extremely useful over the past couple of years is the "another blogger for nuclear energy" posts that introduce a new blogger to NEI's readers. This feature was introduced by Eric McErlain, the guy who really got NEI involved...

New Zealand, a small nation that has an established policy of "No Nukes", is also the home of a number of rational, articulate people who are having a discussion about whether or not they should reconsider their country's longstanding position. You can find one place where that discussion...

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association is struggling to obtain approval for its proposed project to build 1400 MWe of new coal fired power in Kansas. Its board of directors has recently voted to direct the company's staff study the costs and benefits associated with building a new nuclear...

It has been a great weekend. I learned something about rugby by watching the Army-Navy rugby match (Navy 19 - Army 17), had a great springtime bike ride and finished up my contributions to the Nuclear Energy "Live" Debate on Green Options . Judging from the quick poll associated with the debate...