December, 2009

This is certainly an interesting application of using radiation, via Nuclear Street : The Olive Fruit Fly only lays its eggs in olives. It can infest up to 90% of a farmer´s fruit, damaging the crops and the livelihoods of the olive growers and exporters. (Photo: FAO/IAEA). But despite being revered...

Jesse Jenkins over at The Energy Collective asks : "How can policy help overcome hurdles to nuclear power in the United States?" ... As a policy wonk ... my job is to find policy levers to accelerate the transformation of the U.S. and global energy system to a low-carbon, prosperous energy...

One of the themes – or is that memes – we’ve been following here is the growing support for nuclear energy among Congressional Democrats. We might be expected to consider nuclear energy a post-partisan issue – that is, one where Republicans and Democrats more-or-less agree on its value generally if not...

The latest is up , below are three tidbits you may find useful: From January 2009 to August 2009, US primary energy consumption fell by 5.7 percent compared to the same time period in 2008. For the first eight months of 2009, petroleum provided 31.7% of US energy consumption, natural gas provided 24...

Not exactly a tipping point, but when advertisers are using nuclear energy power plants in their creative to reach ad agencies and designers, you know that something has changed. We found this ad atop a newsletter from Creativity , an Advertising Age publication. Hyperbolic side note for effect: To the...

We admit that we’ve read a lot of interesting approaches to supporting (and not supporting) nuclear energy, but this piece by Neil Russo in the Weymouth (Mass.) News is certainly unique. Here’s how he starts out: Here's the vanilla loaf cake from Eb, Mom, he put walnuts in it because he knows how...

The Los Angeles Times ran an editorial on nuclear energy this past weekend. It’s pretty weak tea. Senate Republicans and many moderate Democrats are seeking to lard up prospective climate and energy bills with billions of dollars in loan guarantees and other subsidies for nuclear power, even though it...

After receiving flowers and surviving a hail of flash bulbs, new IAEA chief Yukiya Amano officially began his four year term and made a short statement (there’s a video there, too, and Amano speaks in English): "The situation surrounding the Agency is stormy now. We have a lot of difficult challenges...

If you’re not too busy during this second week of my favorite holiday month, there are a number of readings on nuclear energy I recommend (in no particular order). First is from Brian Wang who’s the main writer at Next Big Future . Brian, in a rebuttal to Michael Dittmar’s series at The Oil Drum claiming...

Have you heard ? A much-anticipated global meeting of nearly 200 nations — all seeking what has so far been elusive common ground on the issue of climate change — began [in Copenhagen] on Monday with an impassioned airing of what leaders here called the political and moral imperatives at hand. This is...

Now, Copenhagen is hosting the COP15 conference but Denmark is not the guiding force behind it – the U.N. just likes to put its big meetings in different member countries (COP14 was in Poland, for example.) Still, we were curious to know where the Danes are with nuclear energy and happily, well, unhappily...

Obama administration officials claim that the EPA announcement and the opening of the Copenhagen Climate Conference are "coincidental." Except that the administration knew when the conference was starting so could have chosen to hold the announcement. Not choosing to wait is a pretty good definition...

Our impression reading the daily news wrap-ups about COP15 is that everyone is holding their breaths over the arrival of the world leaders next week and that this first week has more the trappings of a, um, conventional convention – that is, trade show displays, break-out meetings on different topics...

The latest is up , below are some tidbits from EIA’s latest short term forecast for your consumption: According to EIA’s latest Short Term Energy Outlook, “retail sales of electricity to the industrial sector from January through September 2009 were down by about 12 percent compared with the same period...

Well, almost a decade. The Kyoto Protocol did not have much use for nuclear energy and excluded it from favored energy sources. However, the leaked Danish accord – which seems unlikely to become the final document – see our post below for more on that – does not try to pick winners and losers: The international...

A bipartisan trio of Senators presented a framework on climate change. The framework is focused on energy security and job creation and is admirably broad based in its energy approach. Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) aim to create legislation that can find...

On the fourth day of the COP15 conference, it entered what we might call its melodramatic phase, with various parties wanting to make points as strongly as possible. If you follow anything day-to-day – like, say, the health care bill – you know that up can become down very quickly and then back to up...

NPR's Richard Harris talks to former NRC Chairman *** Meserve, EPRI's Tom TerBush and Union of Concerned Scientists' Ellen Vanko in his balanced piece on nuclear energy on this morning's Morning Edition program. And here is an excellent interview with Exelon CEO and Chairman John Rowe...

Heading into tonight's tilt against the [ Progress Energy-sponsored ] Carolina Hurricanes, the Washington Capitals sit atop the Eastern Conference and are tied with the San Jose Sharks in the race for the Presidents' Trophy . The Caps have posted a franchise-best record through 30 games (19-6...

Expert attorneys in the finance field at the law firm Latham and Watkins in California have been chewing on ways that advance the thinking and research of how to finance the construction of new nuclear plants in restructured markets (pdf). For the finance nerds out there (me being one of them), the document...

Well, we can’t say the Climate Change Conference has been dull. On Friday we noted that Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, the negotiator for the G77, a group of 134 mostly developing countries, walked out of the conference. Since then, a good many of his members followed suit : African countries have refused...

Paul Genoa, NEI’s Director of Policy Development, has posted to The National Journal’s Copenhagen Insider blog. This is the entire post, but do pay a visit over to The National Journal for all the latest at COP15. Here is Mr. Genoa’s post: Reducing poverty and human suffering in the least developed countries...

Alberta doesn’t care about nuclear energy; it doesn’t care at all. But if someone has a plant they might like to put up… "We're not in the debate on one side or the other that the nuclear energy industry needs to be supported or needs to face a moratorium," said Mel Knight, minister of...

We wondered if the Dubai World debt problem was going to affect the nuclear ambitions of its fellow UAE member, Abu Dhabi. That would require more knowledge than we have of the financial interconnectedness of the seven emirates that make up the UAE. Reuters reports that the IMF answers that question...

Actually, there are only just three recent studies/reports I'd like to bring to your attention. The first comes from Ted Rockwell (pdf) at Learning About Energy . Colleagues: Attached is a list of purported facts about the use of nuclear energy for generating electricity, and purported facts about...