Atomic Insights

Pandora’s Promise – bullseye against wrong target

2013-06-17T09:34:12Z

I had an experience this weekend that reinforced my growing understanding that pronuclear advocates have been distracted by the wrong target. Instead of focusing our fire against the people — both outside and inside the industry — who have successfully driven up the cost of nuclear energy to a point at which it is unable [...] The post Pandora’s Promise – bullseye against wrong ...read more...(read more)

UCS is guilty of harming humans by reinforcing fear mongering

2013-06-15T08:34:39Z

In his review of Pandora’s Promise (which is opening this weekend in about 20 cities in the United States), Ed Lyman picked a nit by extracting a single line and attempting to show how wrong it was. My hand got tired trying to jot down all the less-than-half truths put forth by the talking heads [...] The post UCS is guilty of harming humans by reinforcing fear mongering appeared first on Atomic ...read more...(read more)

Pandora’s Promise getting rave and no so rave reviews

2013-06-14T09:18:21Z

If Robert Stone’s primary purpose in creating Pandora’s Promise was to generate discussion about nuclear energy, it appears that he has succeeded. If his underlying purpose was to generate heated and uncomfortable reactions from people who have invested their entire career identity into being a go-to person for a negative comment about nuclear energy for [...] The post Pandora’s Promise ...read more...(read more)

Pandora’s Promise Review Roundup

2013-06-13T09:44:33Z

Robert Stone’s Pandora’s Promise has been capturing attention and encouraging people to challenge their personal beliefs and tribal assumptions. Stone’s documentary is a classic “journey of discovery” tale featuring five people who changed their minds about nuclear energy from opposition to support. It takes viewers along the path of knowledge discovery followed by Gwyneth ...read more...(read more)

Clip from Pandora’s Promise explains Megatons to Megawatts

2013-06-11T09:18:26Z

One of the least understood features of nuclear power plants is that they consume materials that might otherwise end up in nuclear weapons. Of course, activists that battle the use of nuclear energy generally try to turn that feature into a fault. They have convinced more than a few people that without nuclear power plants, [...] The post Clip from Pandora’s Promise explains Megatons to Megawatts ...read more...(read more)

Nuclear Clean Air Energy – Promotion via Indy Car racing

2013-06-03T09:15:17Z

Since I often point out how infrequently the nuclear industry advertises its clean and exceedingly useful product, I suppose it is only fair for me to point out those occasions when nuclear companies make an effort to communication a clear, concise, memorable, marketing message. Here’s hoping that the encouragement spawns additional efforts! The post Nuclear Clean Air Energy – Promotion ...read more...(read more)

Local news coverage about Indian Point nuclear power plant

2013-06-01T06:07:45Z

Here is a quote from a politician behind a podium near the end of the clip. He is not identified, but he is standing in front of a banner that says Westchester County Board of Legislators. While the risk of something happening might be small, the consequences would be horrific. I wonder when reporters are [...] The post Local news coverage about Indian Point nuclear power plant appeared first on Atomic ...read more...(read more)

Atomic Show #205 – Peter Sandman teaches nuclear communicators

2013-05-31T10:24:55Z

Dr. Peter Sandman is one of the world’s leading experts on risk communications. He is the author of one of the most referenced texts for practitioners in the field titled Responding to Community Outrage: Strategies for Effective Risk Communications. After building a profitable consulting business that has provided the resources to send both his children [...] The post Atomic Show #205 – ...read more...(read more)

FoE Australia’s Jim Green issues conditional apology

2013-05-28T09:54:33Z

On May 22, I republished a post written by Ben Heard and Geoff Russell for DecarboniseSA titled Green Nuclear Junk. In my introduction to the post, I made the following statement: My goal is to add just a little more pressure on Jim Green — the national antinuclear campaigner for Friends of the Earth, Australia [...] The post FoE Australia’s Jim Green issues conditional apology appeared first ...read more...(read more)

Areva Inc.’s Mike Rencheck discusses his company’s business outlook

2013-05-28T07:59:25Z

Platts Energy Week recently interviewed Mike Rencheck, the CEO of Areva Inc., about the company’s outlook on the US nuclear energy market. During the interview, Rencheck talked about Areva’s business serving the operational needs of the existing fleet of nuclear power plants, its involvement with plant uprates, the Mixed Oxide (MOX) project at the Savannah [...] The post Areva Inc.’s ...read more...(read more)

B&W’s Jim Ferland describes company’s global business outlook

2013-05-28T07:39:35Z

Jim Ferland, the CEO of The Babcock & Wilcox Company, was recently interviewed by Bill Loveless of Platts Energy Week about the company’s global business outlook. During the interview, Ferland discussed the B&W mPowerTM reactor, one of the leading small modular reactor development projects; FutureGen 2.0, a carbon capture and storage demonstration project; the impact [...] The post ...read more...(read more)

Replace price of carbon with price on carbon

2013-05-22T10:46:02Z

While browsing The post Replace price of carbon with price on carbon appeared first on Atomic Insights . ...read more...(read more)

Green Nuclear Junk – reposted from DecarboniseSA

2013-05-22T09:06:08Z

Ben Heard and Geoff Russell collaborated on a post for DecarboniseSA titled Green Nuclear Junk that takes careful aim at an antinuclear meme that is mostly based on a series of false assumptions that include a table of mortality figures made incorrect by dividing by 8.76 instead of multiplying by that same number. With Ben’s [...] The post Green Nuclear Junk – reposted from DecarboniseSA ...read more...(read more)

Risks to American nuclear workers from “nonproliferation” excesses

2013-05-18T12:09:09Z

Elaine Grossman has published a piece on Nextgov.com titled Former Defense Brass Object to ‘More Restrictive’ Nuclear Trade Policies that is critical of an effort led by John Hamre to question recent deliberations by the Obama Administration. The end result of the talks has the potential to complicate rules for US based organizations that want [...] The post Risks to American nuclear workers ...read more...(read more)

Pitching nuclear energy and explaining value of new plant construction

2013-05-16T10:57:13Z

I returned last night from a short vacation to Washington, DC. I am such an atomic geek that my idea of a vacation is to spend a couple of days at the Nuclear Energy Assembly (NEA) in a dim hotel conference room surrounded by a crowd of business leaders, many in dark suits who qualify [...] The post Pitching nuclear energy and explaining value of new plant construction appeared first on Atomic Insights ...read more...(read more)