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I decided to take a day off from Atomic Insights and provide a guest post on The Oil Drum titled Possibilities for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors . It is occasionally useful to reach out to other audiences. As some of you who are familiar with that venue and its members will recognize, there is often...

The second day of the Platts Small Modular Reactor meeting was held on June 29, 2010. The meeting started with Don Hoffman's summary of the previous day's discussions. He spoke about having taken more than 20 pages of notes with questions, answers and action items. Don is the President and CEO...

The Platts Small Modular Reactor meeting attracted about 250 registered attendees. That might seem like a rather small number to people who are used to industry gatherings where the attendee list can be measured in the thousands, but this meeting was taking place at one of the newer and more expensive...

I am eagerly looking forward to spending some time during the next couple of days talking with others who are interested and perhaps as excited about the prospects for opening new markets to the possibility of using nuclear energy instead of diesel engines, combustion gas turbines or small coal fired...

On Monday, May 17, 2010, Bloomberg Businessweek published an article by Jeremy van Loon and Alex Morales titled Fridge-Sized Nuclear Reactors to Tap $135 Billion Power Market . The article focuses on John Deal, CEO of Hyperion and his effort to build sealed units that can operate in remote locations...

I received a reminder via email this morning to register for a Platts sponsored meeting titled Small Modular Reactor: Time Frame for Development and Outlook for Commercial Viability that will be held in Washington, DC on June 28 and 29. I plan to be there to find out more about what I think is one of...

In the March 23, 2010 issue of the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Steven Chu published an op-ed piece titled America'sNew Nuclear Option that describes the Administration's growing interest in smaller nuclear energy systems that can be produced in factories and delivered nearly complete to sites around...

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...

One of the reasons that I am a strong advocate of smaller nuclear energy plants is that I resist the notion of the inevitability of greater interconnectedness and dependence. I like systems that have firewalls, circuit breakers, and air gaps to ensure that a failure in one location can be isolated. I...

Jack Spencer of the Heritage Foundation has published an issue paper titled Senate Attempts to Promote Small Nuclear Reactors Fall Short that is worth reading. He notes that the sector is showing some significant private activity already. He expresses concerns that I share that some of what the Senate...

Yesterday the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee held a hearing on the potential for small, modular nuclear power plants that I really wanted to attend, but could not due to schedule conflicts. A loyal reader, however, sent me a link to a video summary of the hearing produced by Dan Goldstein...

Over at The Energy Collective , Jesse Jenkins, who directs the energy and climate policy program at the Breakthrough Institute posed a series of questions about public policy aimed at initiating a discussion about overcoming hurdles to nuclear power deployment . His entering position for the sake of...

On the second day of the Nuclear Construction Summit, I listened to a series of speakers including independent project consultants, financial services providers, lawyers, ratings agencies, and bankers. In nearly every presentation, I heard or saw evidence supporting the idea that very large, expensive...