On January 9, 2012, The Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University held a hydrofracking workshop. The organizers invited a number of speakers from both industry and academia to discuss a contentious, but important energy issue from a variety of perspectives. …Continue »
I just received the below solar PV advertisement in a mass email. I am certainly glad that I am not a UK resident and taxed to support this kind of generous payments – guaranteed to be a drain on the economy for the next 25 years. Can anyone please help me to unde…Continue »
At least twice in the past few days, I have been challenged about the value of nuclear energy with something close to the following comment posted on during a recent Google+ discussion about energy choices. A good way to measure the safety of nuclear power in America, u…Continue »
Suzy Hobbs Baker is the founder and director of PopAtomic Studios. She is a professional, talented artist and the daughter of a nuclear engineer. She recently gave a TEDx talk titled Art & Nuclear Energy.
In the video you will find out more about how Suzy found herself at a key intersection between liberal arts and technology. She has dedicated her career to exploring better ways to use her art to communicate the incredible benefits that nuclear energy can bring once people have learned more and overcome their long engrained fears.
Like many other nuclear energy advocates, Suzy and I agree that the more that people understand about nuclear energy technology, the more they favor its widespread use to improve living conditions for all people on earth.
Separate topic – On Sunday, January 21, I spoke with Bob Apthorpe and Cal Abel about building nuclear power plants as flexible heat sources that could supply both industrial process heat and load following electricity generation systems.
On January 9, 2012, The Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University held a hydrofracking workshop. The organizers invited a number of speakers from both industry and academia to discuss a contentious, but important energy issue from a variety of perspectives. You can read about the workshop on TheGreenGrok on a post titled Minds Meet on Shale Gas, Fracking.
The keynote speaker was Michael Parker, from ExxonMobil’s XTO subsidiary. He provided a summary of ExxonMobil’s recently released Energy Outlook and described how producing unconventional natural gas using hydraulic fracturing fits in with their view of the future. Of course, producing large quantities of natural gas is only half of the challenge – without a large market for that gas, the material would simply become an explosive storage problem.
Mr. Parker explained that ExxonMobil’s target market is the US electricity market. His presentation clearly illustrated why I frequently point to petroleum companies as energy market competitors with the means, motive, and opportunity for discouraging nuclear energy development.
Here is a remix of Parker’s talk with some atomicrod commentary wedged in. Hope you enjoy.
I just received the below solar PV advertisement in a mass email. I am certainly glad that I am not a UK resident and taxed to support this kind of generous payments – guaranteed to be a drain on the economy for the next 25 years. Can anyone please help me to understand what must…
At least twice in the past few days, I have been challenged about the value of nuclear energy with something close to the following comment posted on during a recent Google+ discussion about energy choices. A good way to measure the safety of nuclear power in America, using objective criteria, would be to require nuclear…
Following the afternoon session of the public meeting about the Lee nuclear power station draft environmental impact statement, I had an interesting conversation with a man from the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR). He had spoken during the meeting about the large amount of taxpayer money that had been wasted on building and then not…
On January 19, 2012, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers held a joint public meeting to solicit comments about the draft environmental impact statement for the William States Lee nuclear power station that Duke Energy is proposing to build about 8 miles outside of Gaffney, SC. The meeting included two…
One of the privileges of being a long time pronuclear activist on the Internet – an activity that I have been enjoying since “atomicrod” started posting in USENET discussion groups in the early 1990s – is that I often see communications between talented, highly qualified professionals that include information that is not well distributed in…
A frequent participant in discussions on Atomic Insights submitted the below as a way to stimulate a conversation in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King. He thought of it as an outline, but with just a little editing it was good to go. I have a dream. I have a dream that access to copious…
I received an invitation by email to read and review a post on a blog called “TXCHNOLOGIST”. The invitation was well worded and inviting, most likely composed by a trained expert in public relations. The subject post, titled Your Prius Won’t Save You: Questions for David Owen, Author of The Conundrum intrigued me. It was…
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is planning to hold two identical public meetings to discuss the draft environmental impact statement for the William States Lee nuclear power station units 1 and 2 that are proposed for a site near Gaffney, SC. The public will be allowed to present comments and ask questions. People who are…
Pro-nuclear advocate with extensive small nuclear plant operating experience. Former submarine Engineer Officer. Founder, 
