The Atomic Show

Atomic Show #204 – Nuclear vendor CEOs discuss global market outlook

Rod Adams — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:33:15 GMT

On May 15, 2013, I had the opportunity to attend a session at the Nuclear Energy Assembly titled Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Supplying the Nuclear Energy Industry in the 21st Century. The panel discussion was moderated by John Hamre, President and CEO of Center for Strategic and International Studies. Participants included E. James Ferland, President [...] The post Atomic Show #204 – Nuclear...(read more)

Atomic Show #203 – Globally distributed atomic conversation

Rod Adams — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:10:24 GMT

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 that including a range of scenarios in Australia and [...] The post Atomic Show #203 – Globally...(read more)

Atomic Show #202 – Atomic Earth Day 2013

Rod Adams — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:29:37 GMT

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 of reliable power, especially when the [...] The post Atomic Show #202 – Atomic Earth Day...(read more)

Atomic Show #201 – Better Way to Clean Up Hanford Tanks

Rod Adams — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 08:59:57 GMT

Darryl Siemer is a professional chemist who spent his career in nuclear waste remediation at the Idaho National Laboratory. While there, he developed a reputation as someone who will not go along to get along and apparently made quite a few waves by suggesting improvements in processes or technical decisions that might have resulted in [...] The post Atomic Show #201 – Better Way to Clean Up...(read more)

Atomic Show #200 – Celebrating atomic communicators

Rod Adams — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:06:06 GMT

On March 9, 2006, Shane Brown and I recorded the first episode of The Atomic Show. We formatted the show as a couple of geeks chatting about atomic energy and published it on Cameron Reilly’s The Podcast Network. On March 17, 2013, I hosted and recorded Atomic Show #200 as a roundtable discussion that included [...] The post Atomic Show #200 – Celebrating atomic communicators appeared first...(read more)

Atomic Show #199 – Fukushima happened 2 years ago

Rod Adams — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:53:50 GMT

Before March 11, 2011, “Fukushima” was the name of a relatively unknown prefecture in Japan. Now it is a shorthand reference to an event in which three large nuclear power plants melted and released a small quantity of long lived radioactive material that has not harmed any human being. Here is a brief synopsis of [...] The post Atomic Show #199 – Fukushima happened 2 years ago appeared...(read more)

Atomic Show #198 – Women are empowered by reliable energy

Rod Adams — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 09:16:17 GMT

A few days ago, Steve Aplin wrote an inspiring post on Canadian Energy Issues titled The electric grid: the greatest invention of all time expanded after women won the vote. That post described how important electricity was to the effort to free women from household chores so that they could choose to pursue more interesting [...] The post Atomic Show #198 – Women are empowered by reliable energy...(read more)

Atomic Show #197 – Radium, educational museums and Voices for Vermont Yankee

Rod Adams — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 07:44:19 GMT

On Sunday, February 24, I gathered a group of fission fans to talk about a number of nuclear energy related topics. We discussed Romance of Radium and how perceptions about radiation have been molded over the 76 years since it was produced. Then, people had learned enough about the benefits of using power emitted from [...] The post Atomic Show #197 – Radium, educational museums and Voices for...(read more)

Atomic Show #196 – Atomic Optimists

Rod Adams — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 09:43:04 GMT

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 (@NuclearBuzz), Fuel Cycle Week and I Dig Uranium Cal Abel (@cal_abel), PhD candidate [...] The post Atomic...(read more)

Atomic Show #195 – Health effects of low level radiation

Rod Adams — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:55:58 GMT

On Sunday, January 13, 2013, I had a conversation with Dr. Jerry Cuttler and Dr. A. David Rossin. Each of these distinguished gentlemen has a long history of working with ionizing radiation and studying its biological effects on human beings. Dr. Jerry Cuttler earned his PhD in 1964. He has performed radiation research, designed radiation [...] The post Atomic Show #195 – Health effects of low...(read more)

Atomic Show #194 – What do you do with the waste?

Rod Adams — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:45:51 GMT

The first Atomic Show of 2013 is a geeky, chemistry laden discussion aimed at helping to answer the question that many people who fight nuclear energy try to use as their trump card “What do you do with the waste.” It often makes their head spin or makes them put their fingers into their ears [...] The post Atomic Show #194 – What do you do with the waste? appeared first on Atomic...(read more)

Atomic Show #193 – Nuclear Wrap Up 2012

Rod Adams — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 10:18:01 GMT

On Sunday, December 30, 2012, I gathered a group of atomic advocates to talk about their favorite nuclear energy stories from 2012. Participants in the discussion included: Gwyneth Cravens, author of Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy Will Davis from Atomic Power Review, ANS Nuclear Cafe and Fuel Cycle Week Meredith [...] The post Atomic Show #193 – Nuclear Wrap Up 2012 appeared...(read more)

Atomic Show #192 – Zero Carbon Options for South Australia

Rod Adams — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:22:14 GMT

Ben Heard is one of the growing number of environmental professionals who have seriously evaluated all options for reducing mankind’s annual production rate of carbon dioxide and discovered that the best tool available is nuclear fission energy. As a part of his continuing journey of discovery, he worked with Brown and Pang to produce a [...] The post Atomic Show #192 – Zero Carbon Options...(read more)

Atomic Show #191 – 70th Anniversary of CP-1, the First Controlled Fission Chain Reaction

Rod Adams — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 01:50:02 GMT

On Sunday, December 2, 2012, I gathered together a group of nuclear professionals to talk about the impact to human history of the construction and operation of Critical Pile 1 (CP-1). That simple assembly of graphite, uranium, and uranium dioxide was built in about 6 weeks. When measurements taken during construction indicated that the system [...] The post Atomic Show #191 – 70th Anniversary...(read more)

Atomic Show #190 – Nuclear plant performance during Hurricane Sandy

Rod Adams — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 11:14:45 GMT

There are 34 nuclear reactors located in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. Of those, 7 were shutdown for planned maintenance. Three units tripped due to disturbances on the grid or issues with one of their redundant cooling systems. The other 24 remained operational and supplied as much power as the grid could accept. On Sunday, [...] The post Atomic Show #190 – Nuclear plant performance during...(read more)