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Attempting to transition away from fossil fuels to an “all renewable” energy system is fraught with cost and reliability challenges. Germany is running into substantial challenges and is burned 5% more lignite – brown coal – in 2012 than it did in 2011. Recently completed studies...

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...

On Sunday, February 17, 2013, a group of five nuclear energy professionals gathered to share their thoughts about the current state of the atomic energy business. Participants included: Margaret Harding (@M2harding), 4 Factor Consulting Meredith Angwin (@yes_VY), Yes Vermont Yankee Andrea Jennetta (...

Bud Ryan is a documentary filmmaker who is deeply concerned that the world has forgotten about the fight against nuclear weapons. As part of his effort to remind people that there is still a need for activism in support of disarmament, he produced a film titled The Forgotten Bomb. In it, he interviews...

One of the persistent myths left over from the first Atomic Age is that nuclear reactors can only be used to produce electricity in massive, central station power plants. That application is only one of many ways to use the heat from fissioning uranium, plutonium or thorium. In the US, fully 1/3 of the...

On August 13, 2011, I spoke with Ben Heard of Decarbonise SA and Barry Brook of Brave New Climate. These two Australians are both working hard to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in a land where the idea of reducing the consumption of carbon and hydrocarbon fuels trends on the interests of some very...

On June 26, 2011, the New York Times published an article titled Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush. That article described how emails from natural gas industry insiders, financial analysts covering the gas industry, and several independent geologists describe the challenges associated with...

A group of pro-nuclear bloggers discusses industry events from 2010 and predictions for 2011. It has been far too long since the last episode of The Atomic Show. Life got in the way with a career transition and a move to a new home. However, there is always a bit of motivation to use the [...] ...read...

Suzy Hobbs is a talented artist with a passion for atomic energy. She has created an organization of fellow artists whose mission is to create images that help people understand why there are intelligent, talented engineers, technicians, scientists and teachers who love the idea of using fission to replace...

Dr. A. David Rossin is a former President of the American Nuclear Society, an Engineering Fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a career nuclear engineer. He has deep experience in private industry, with the national laboratories and in energy policy as a former Assistant...

Dr. Dale Klein is departing the US NRC after having served for nearly 4 years. Before his departure, his Chief of Staff made contact with bloggers who are working to share information about nuclear energy and offered the opportunity for an interview. We took up the offer. In this episode, you will hear...

On Sunday, February 21, I gathered a group of well experienced nuclear professionals to talk about the impact of President Obama’s February 16, 2010 speech announcing loan guarantees for Southern Company to build two additional units at its Vogtle Nuclear Station. Margaret Harding, Kelly Taylor...

Robert Margolis and Rod Adams engage in a panel of two (August is a slow month for news and a tough month to find guests) discussion about the 150 year anniversary of the first oil well in America, nuclear energy development plans in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, the responsibilities of...

It has been more than a month since the last show. Many apologies. Dan Yurman and Charles Barton agreed to help me get back into the rhythm by chatting for a while about current atomic events. We discussed a recent Moody’s special report on companies considering new nuclear power plants –...

Jaco Kriek has been the CEO of PBMR Pty LTD of South Africa for five years. On July 7, 2009 he spoke with me for nearly an hour about a wide range of topics. The topics we discussed included the following: History of PBMR as a stand alone company Change in technical direction Customer focused [...] ...

Jack Tuohy is the Executive Director of the American Nuclear Society. We talked about his goals for the organization, his experiences as a first responder at Three Mile Island and his desire to help nuclear professionals develop their expertise. Other topics discussed during our conversation include...

Atomic America has a thought provoking subtitle – “How a Deadly Explosion and a Feared Admiral Changed the Course of Nuclear History”. The unifying story through the book is one that most nuclear trained people know a little about – the accident at the Army’s SL-1 that took...

Ray Squirrel is the screen name used by a documentary film maker who is collecting material for a film about nuclear power. You can find some of the work he has done so far at RaySquirrel’s youtube site. I am not sure how the film will come out, but I thought you might be interested [...] ...read...

David Walters from Left Atomics and Daily Kos joins Rod Adams for a discussion about atomic energy from a far left point of view. It is well known that much of the opposition to nuclear power in the US, Europe, and Australia comes from people who are normally considered to be on the political left. ...

Kirk Sorensen, Charles Barton and Rod Adams got together for a long distance conversation inspired by President Obama’s speech about his commitment to reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles. That action will free up valuable material useful for many power plant applications. It is important to understand...

On March 30, 2009, I had the privilege of presenting a talk at my alma mater on the topic of nuclear heated Brayton cycle machines – also known as atomic gas turbines or Adams EnginesTM. This episode of The Atomic Show is my first attempt at an enhanced podcast using chapter markers and trying...

It not shocking news to discover that “recovering” politicians often lobby their former colleagues. This show about Gore’s testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is just an example. This week I spent a several hours listening to the first hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations...

Steven Chu is a well respected scientist, national laboratory manager and biofuels focused researcher. He has been nominated by President-elect Barack Obama to be the Secretary of Energy, a position that puts him in charge of approximately 30,000 people and an annual budget of approximately $25 billion...

Rod Adams commentary interspersed with Amy Goodman’s interview of Andrew Revkin and Bill McKibben about Obama energy team on Dec 16, 2008. As a progressive thinker who cares deeply about human suffering and looks for ways to raise the living standards of the underdog, I frequently feel the need...

Two years ago, Steve Kirsch, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and philanthropist, was sure that the US did not need nuclear power. Now he thinks it can save the planet. Find out what changed his mind. More and more people who are sincerely concerned about the impact that human activity is making on the...