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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...

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...

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...

On Saturday, May 11, 2013, the Tampa Bay Times published a lengthy piece by Ivan Penn titled Levy nuclear plant more costly than a natural gas facility that uses a detailed analysis with substantial “error bars” around cost estimates to show that under nearly all scenarios considered, the...

A couple of days ago, Andrew, an Atomic Insights contributor pointed me to Dr. Peter Sandman, a man who built a career out of helping large organizations improve their ability to communicate about risk. I want to thank Andrew for helping me to put a name to a topic that I’ve been wanting to study...

About a week ago, ANS Nuclear Cafe shared the below video from Ontario Power Generation as part of their Friday Matinee series of videos. It’s pretty good and worth sharing here. If you wonder why I am taking the easy road out today and not writing very much, I suggest that you visit ANS Nuclear...

If I lived in New York City, I would be campaigning against the installation of large, high pressure gas pipelines and for the continued operation of the well-built and well-maintained Indian Point Nuclear Power Station. I would also campaign for the construction of additional nuclear plants. In my opinion...

One of the primary reasons I am sharing the above video is that it has an analog in the multi-decade effort to restrict the growth of nuclear technology. Though not the topic of this talk, Mark pointed out the similarity between the anti GMO and antinuclear movements. At minute 15:30 he said: Indeed...

This is the kind of TV spot that we need the public to see at least as often as they see ads for “clean natural gas” or “100 years of energy right under our feet.” I realize that utility leaders have been taught that advertising is a cost with unmeasurable returns. For some odd...

By Paul Lorenzini In the yin and yang of energy policy debates, we know some can get carried away. Normally we ignore the radical fringe, but sometimes their claims take on a life of their own and need to be addressed. One such charge has found its way as an authoritative reference on Wipikedia, alleging...

Jim Hopf recently published a thought provoking post on ANS Nuclear Cafe titled New EPA Guidelines for Response to Radioactivity Releases. In that post he points out the illogical way that the EPA applies and enforces its assumption that any ionizing radiation is hazardous, even down at levels far below...

Though I am pretty skeptical about the value of the Whitehouse.gov petition system, I have been convinced that it might sometimes be a vehicle for starting an important conversation. Recently, someone started a petition asking the Obama Administration to stop using the Linear, No-Threshold Dose response...

Many nuclear professionals have been attracted to the technology because of its inherently light footprint when compared to all other alternative power sources. It uses less land, less metal, less concrete, and a tiny volume of fuel when compared to producing a similar quantity of energy from other sources...

Rick Maltese is a creative artist who spent this afternoon creating an amusing parody of the diffuse, weather dependent, unreliable power sources that some think can beat both fossil fuel and nuclear energy. Share Call Them Unreliable widely! PS – Just in case you would like to have a sing along...

On May 7, 2013, the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Station is scheduled to stop generating emission free electricity for the last time. The plant is one of the better run and maintained facilities in the US, it has an operating license that is effective until December 2013, and it generates electricity for an...

At the Nuclear Energy Insider SMR Conference in Columbia, S.C., Dr. Jose Reyes, a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer of NuScale Power, announced that his team had achieved an impressive design breakthrough. Two years after the Fukushima event, NuScale is introducing a safety system for our nuclear...

Total mass of main isotopes of concern from Fukushima: I-131 – 43 grams Cs-137 – 4 kilograms The Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology Volume 50, Issue 3, 2013 contains a paper titled Source term estimation of atmospheric release due to the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident...

Dr. Jaczko declined the invitation to participate in the Platts Energy Week discussion and more fully explain the position that he stated last week during a side session at the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference. As was pointed out during the introductions in the above video, the side sessions...

After reading Dr. Jerry Cuttler’s paper about the need to restore the basis of radiation regulations to tolerance doses, an Atomic Insights reader provided the link to the above video posted by bionerd23 on YouTube. It is one of several informative videos that she has shared with the world about...

Dr. Jerry Cuttler has been concentrating his research on the health effects of low dose radiation for more than 15 years. The events at Fukushima and the human tragedy of the poor decision making both during and after the release of modest quantities of radioactive material have reinforced the importance...

After deliberating for a period of time approaching a decade, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a new draft Protective Action Manual that includes Protective Action Guides (PAG) for people responsible for responding to radioactive material releases that might come from one of the...

Greg Jaczko has recently admitted publicly what many of us in the nuclear world have known for the better part of a decade; he is now an avowed antinuclear activist instead of one who tries to hide his real nature. He came out at the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference when he made the public...

Gail Marcus at Nuclear Power Talk recently published a post titled Natural Gas: A Flash in the Pan? in which she points to two recent articles (Rise of natural gas may mean fall of alternative energy and Is Natural Gas the Next Bubble ? Has Fracking Promised More Than It Can Deliver?) that describe our...

I stumbled across the above video from DNews. Here is how DNews describes itself: DNews is dedicated to satisfying your curiosity and to bringing you mind-bending stories and perspectives you won’t find anywhere else. New videos, twice daily at youtube.com/dnews Though there are some points that...