February, 2010

While there has been a tremendous level of attention paid to the small leaks of tritiated water discovered at some US nuclear power plants, a much larger magnitude source of radioactive material has been largely ignored in public discourse. Rock formations that contain fossil fuel resources also...

The Boston Globe has published an op-ed piece from John E. Rosenthal, president of Meredith Management, that is titled A recurring nuclear nightmare . The opinion piece included several pieces of misinformation including the following statement: Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in 1982, obligating...

In an long delayed effort to prove to Vermont legislators that they are taking action to correct leakage of mildly radioactive water into the ground under the buildings that house Vermont Yankee, Energy as announced that they have disciplined 11 senior employees , five of whom have been removed from...

Today, February 25, 2010, professional anti-nuclear organizations are encouraging people to call their congressmen and senators to express themselves about the President's decision to increase the ceiling for nuclear project loan guarantees from $18.5 to $56 billion as part of his FY2011 budget submission...

I came across an interesting statement in an article titled "Coal Industry Review" written by Alfred T. Wells, Jr. and published in the September-October 1964 issue of the Financial Analysts Journal. (I know, I need to find some more interesting hobbies besides digging through ancient magazine...

During the last couple of days, I have listened to two lengthy reports on the impacts of fracking, a method of breaking up very deep shale formations to free up trapped fossil gas so that it can be profitably extracted if market conditions are favorable. The first story about fracking comes from...

Some advertisers have been known to issue cease and desist letters to bloggers who republish their ads for free. Something tells me that NEI will not mind too much if I share one of the print ads that they are going to be running during the next few months. I'll remember to seek forgiveness later...

Perhaps it was the President's expression of strong support when he announced that Southern Company would be the first company offered the opportunity to pay the federal government hundreds of millions of dollars in loan guarantee fees to support its well-vetted investment in 2 major electrical power...

On Sunday, February 21, I gathered a group of well experienced nuclear professionals to talk about the impact of President Obama's February 16, 2010 speech announcing loan guarantees for Southern Company to build two additional units at its Vogtle Nuclear Station. Margaret Harding, Kelly Taylor...

USA Today has an article titled Actor Alec Baldwin blasts Obama's call for nuclear power, citing safety risks that quotes Balwin and ends with a question to readers about his comments. Readers: Is Baldwin right? Here is my response: Of course not. The real question is why do people pay attention...

Steve Packard at Depleted Cranium has published an excellent, well-researched post titled Why You Can't Build a Bomb From Spent Fuel . It is getting high praise among people who understand the technical and political aspects of the topic being covered. Here are some sample reactions: "In...

Scott Simon interviewed Stewart Brand, an icon of the US environmental movement on Weekend Edition for Saturday, February 20, 2010. He asked some probing questions and Brand gave some clear responses that are worth listening to and understanding. Brand is an excellent communicator and has a savvy media...

The Energy Tribune has an excellent cautionary tale titled New Research Questions Haynesville Shale Economics for those people who insist that abundant shale gas is the saving grace for the US energy needs and that its abundance is sufficiently large to serve as THE bridge to a solar/wind utopia. ...

I was fortunate enough to attend a sampling of sessions at the Platts Nuclear Energy 2010 meeting held in Bethesda, Maryland from February 17-19. Due to other commitments, I missed the first day, but I did make it to a series of insightful talks by key participants in the resurgent nuclear energy plant...

Bill Gates chose to talk about energy and climate at this year's TED talks. Here is the video of his talk. ...read more

This morning I took the Orange line train of the DC Metro system to work. It was not as busy as usual, perhaps because Fridays tend to be days when some of the city workers have already completed their assigned hours by working a compressed work schedule. Aside: One thing I tend to notice while...

Some of you who listen to The Atomic Show might remember episode #132 titled The Atomic Show #132 – Ray Squirrel Interviews (Atomic) Rod Adams . That show was a lengthy interview conducted via Skype during which a journalist asked me a whole bunch of questions. A few of you know that the interview was...

There is a terrific, must read article by Rebecca Smith in the February 18, 2010 issue of the Wall Street Journal titled Small Reactors Generate Big Hopes . It may not be there when you check it, but right now, that article is occupying a prominent place on the landing site for one of the most widely...

Carol Browner, President Obama's top energy and climate adviser and former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clinton Administration spoke on CNBC's Squawk Box about the announcement that Southern Company would receive an $8.3 Billion loan guarantee for units 3 and...

Yesterday, President Obama visited a technical training center in Lanham, MD to announce the Department of Energy's decision to guarantee a loan of $8.3 Billion to Southern Company to build two new Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor power plants at its Vogtle site in Georgia. If one visited that...

The coal industry is not the only one that has decided that it is worthwhile to spend serious money on focused advertising that plays on the patriotic feelings that Americans have while watching its athletes compete against those from other countries. I have also noticed a series of well produced ads...

I enjoy watching the Olympics and marveling at just how fast, strong, and graceful humans can train their bodies to be. I enjoy watching sports that are almost completely foreign to me and thinking about the time, effort and passion that people invest to be great at those sports. It is impressive to...

The US Department of Energy has a stockpile of approximately one ton of Uranium 233 that was produced as part of several experimental programs including the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment and the Light Water Breeder Reactor . According to a March 3, 1997 decision by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety...

Like all but immediately essential federal government workers in Washington, DC, I have spent the past 4.5 working days at home since the city has been effectively shut down. We have experienced two heavy snowfalls within 48 hours of each other. While shoveling what must have been several tons of heavy...

Arnie Gundersen, a self-described expert witness, testified in front of the Vermont Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee earlier this week. The topic of the testimony was the discovery of tritiated water in groundwater monitoring wells located within 100 feet of the power plant and its associated...