April, 2012

My friends who advocate for increased beneficial use of nuclear energy often engage in discussions about techniques for responding to critics who frequently make up their arguments as the go along. We were taught in school that it is impolite and ineffective to engage in “ad hominem” attacks...

Another Friday, Another Episode of “As the Chairman of the NRC Turns” On Friday, April 27, 2012, Congressman Fred Upton, Chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, released a letter addressed to Chairman Jaczko of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. That...

I just spent a fascinating couple of hours watching an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) documentary titled I Can Change Your Mind About..Climate. Aside: Before that turns you off by making you think that the documentary lasts for hours, please understand that it can take me a long time to watch...

Barry Brook and Cory Bradshaw are the co-directors of the Global Ecology Lab. In less than three minutes, they provide an understandable picture of the lab’s mission and it’s scientific challenges. In the above video, Dr. Brook and Dr. Bradshaw explain the complexity of the systems they model...

On April 22, 2012, the Christian Science Monitor published a lengthy feature article titled With all this natural gas, who needs oil? that helps illustrate the extent of America’s current love affair with methane, a fuel that we have been using commercially for about 150 years. According to some...

Happy Earth Day, everyone. Here is a message from the employees at Energy Northwest that should start your day off right. After watching, please celebrate the day by planting a tree. If planting a tree just does not seem to be enough to make the world the kind of place that you want for your [...] ....

Following a flurry of news reports about the renomination of Ms. Karen Svinicki, one of his colleagues at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko decided to hold a previously unscheduled press conference at the National Press Club. Inquiring minds, like mine, are wondering why...

Meredith Angwin, the energetic and caring pronuclear blogger at Yes Vermont Yankee shared the following message. It deserves wider notice so that the individual events attract the kinds of audiences that can make a difference in direction that the discussions take. Three upcoming events need your attention...

I happened across a link to a fascinating blog that started publishing in March titled things worse than nuclear power. The bloggers behind the site provide a hint about their identity with a cryptic subtitle “the take from a couple of MIT engineers”. The profile linked to the site provides...

The latest episode in the distracting soap opera at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has provided more fodder for the political pundits in their efforts to turn nuclear energy deployment and regulation into a partisan issue. Fortunately, some of the players seem to understand that the subject is...

During my recent low production periods for new posts on Atomic Insights, I received some well intentioned advice from a frequent commenter – he told me that it would be less frustrating for me to maintain Atomic Insights if I focused more on innovations in nuclear energy than on the efforts of...

One of the more contentious political issues in south central Virginia is whether or not to allow mining at the largest known deposit of uranium east of the Mississippi River. That deposit, at Coles Hill in Chatham is located just slightly more than an hour’s drive from my current residence. It...

The Nuclear Literacy Project has officially opened its virtual doors for visitors. This collaborative effort has been several months in the making with a number of talented hands ensuring that the the unveiling would be a real success. The site is designed to appeal to curious people who do not have...

Ben Heard at DecarboniseSA.com posted a thought-provoking question on April 4, 2012 – Why Gas? Good Question… Here is the introduction of Ben’s post. “Why gas?” Good question… It was meant to be a jingle, not a prophecy… In Australia back in 1990, we were subjected to a saccharine ...

Kevan Crawford has published well-written op-ed titled Nuclear power answer to clean energy. He described some nuclear energy’s impressive benefits and compared them to the available alternative power sources, which were exposed as being vastly inferior based on an objective evaluation of their...

It has been quite a while since I welcomed a new blog and podcast to the pro-nuclear virtual world. I recently heard about a worthwhile effort being undertaken in the UK at Manchester University called Hitchhiker’s Guide to Nuclear. Here is a quote from their “About Us” page: As part...

On March 23, 2012, Bill Gates was interviewed as part of the Wall Street Journal ECO:nomics conference. There is little doubt that he understands the technology and the opportunity. My main question is why he is not investing more in order to drive the technology even faster. After all, he is one of...

Both John Rowe, the retired chief executive at Exelon, and Aubrey McClendon, the current chief executive at Chesapeake Energy, would love to create a situation where “everyone” believed that cheap natural gas is going to last for a long time. My assertion is that “cheap” natural...