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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...

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...

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 ....

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...

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...

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

A reader introduced me to a site that I had not yet visited called Watt's Up With That . He told me that there was an active conversation going discussing the merits of atomic fission (aka nuclear power) versus renewable energy and fossil fuel. When I found the thread titled Renewable energy – our...

There is a thoughtful discussion going on at The Energy Collective about Robin Carey's advice to nuclear advocates titled Message to the Nuclear Industry: Get Over Yourselves . As is often the case, Robin confuses the issue a bit by addressing "the nuclear industry" but then talking more...

Though I have not yet received and read Atomic America: How a Deadly Explosion and a Feared Admiral Changed the Course of Nuclear History , I have done enough skimming to make me suspect that it is at least partially aimed at my efforts to share information about nuclear power so that knowledge will...

The Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital blogged about Phil Radford, the 33 year old activist who has taken over the reins at Greenpeace USA . Not suprisingly, Mr. Radford affirmed his opposition to clean coal, asserted that renewables could do the job of supplying all needed electricity ...

David Walters, who blogs at Daily Kos and Left Atomics joined me for a discussion about the benefits that a revived nuclear power industry could bring to the working class and to aid in economic development in states like North and South Carolina. Part of the inspiration for the show was an interview...

As part of my rambling effort to catch up with events and commentary about nuclear power, I found an article about "new" whistleblower accusations of a massive cover up following TMI. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the Steven Wing studies that claim that the health records of people who...

Yesterday, the Vermont Legislature warmly received a non-nuclear energy salesperson and allowed her to continue her traditional tactic of emotionally telling negative stories about the competition. I know, that is a purposely provocative way to describe the event, but that is certainly one way of looking...

I spoke yesterday to a friend whose daughter has joined the Peace Corps and will be spending the next four years teaching English as a second language to people in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is supportive of her plans, but a bit worried about what her life will be like during that period. Certain insect...

Some of the commenters on my recent fusion related posts have been quite defensive and irritated by my skepticism. They claim that there is a lot of value in the experiments that I have not mentioned. They also have told me that my assertions about the sales efforts by the fusion science backers have...

On the Economist web site, I found an article officially titled Greenstanding: Gordon Brown’s New Deal will do little to advance renewable energy . The reason I used the word "officially" is that title is the one that is displayed on the visible page on the web and in print, but the title tagged...