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Beginning in April 1995, Adams Atomic Engines, Inc. (AAE) began publishing Atomic Energy Insights as a series of monthly paper newsletters with the intention of being an alternative source of information for what we hoped would be a newly rejuvenated nuclear power industry. Rod Adams, the founder of AAE, did most of the writing, but there was a small team that did the editing and publishing. It soon became apparent that we were a bit early out of the box.
Despite some encouraging early signs and our own best efforts, there was very little real news in the US related to nuclear energy. The plants built in the 1970s continued operating with incremental improvements, but the prospects for new construction disappeared in an era of rapidly changing electric production business models and cheap fossil fuel.In an attempt to remain relevant, we shifted our focus from news to history, producing articles on topics ranging from nuclear rocket engines, to pacemaker batteries and from to ship propulsion engines to the health effects of radiation. By the end of 1995, with the help of Dr. Sama Bilboa y Leon, then a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, we began mirroring our paper publication on the World Wide Web.
In January of 1997, we essentially ran out of things to talk about. With generous help from friends, AAE was able to provide continuing access to our articles on the web. Interestingly enough, there has been a steady stream of new readers looking for information on an important topic.The traffic on the site has picked up considerably as energy issues again take center stage in the world news. With all due modesty, we would like to take this opportunity to say, "We told you so." Please stop back for up-dates on a regular basis.
We made the statement in the last paragraph in October 2001. Though the energy business has indeed been increasingly interesting, we have not followed really followed through on our promise for regular updates. We are of the opinion that the topic will continue to capture attention; there are very real supply pressures and a growing understanding of the long term environmental effects of our installed fossil fuel based energy system.
In the interests of not breaking any more promises, we invite you back to the site on an irregular basis. Many other tasks capture our time and interests, so this one sometimes falls to the bottom of the list. But we do promise to try to share some information and thoughts with you in these most interesting of times.
October 21, 2006 Update: One of the "other tasks" that have taken our time and attention in the past 18 months is the Atomic Insights Blog. We found out that it is pretty simple to post a new comment when you have the right kind of software platform. Check out all of the recent comments and articles on that site. (Recent is a relative term - we started the blog in June 2005 so some of the archives there are getting kind of dated. There is new material on a frequent, if still irregular basis, however.)
Another task that has captured our attention has been the periodic creation of The Atomic Show, with Rod Adams and Shane Brown, hosted by The Podcast Network. That weekly podcast provides weekly geeky conversations about all aspects of atomic information including history, technology, politics and economics.
July 10, 2010 Update: Wow, time sure flies when you are busy. In the nearly four years since the last update on this site, we have posted nearly 1,200 new Atomic Insights Blog entries and collected thousands of comments. We have also made friends with dozens of like minded pro-nuclear activists that publish their own blogs and share their own thoughts on the technology and the growing industry. Check out the frequently updated blog roll when you visit the Atomic Insights Blog.
The renewed interest in using nuclear energy in the United States and in dozens of other countries, including many who are not currently using nuclear energy, has validated the assertions we have made over the past 15 years. It is still taking way too long and costing far too much to build large, multi-unit nuclear power stations and they cannot fit into many grids around the world. There is still a well funded and vocal opposition to new construction projects, but polls in the US show that more than 60% of the population favors new nuclear power plants to contribute to the energy supply and to replace facilities that produce atmosphere polluting gases like SOx, NOx, and CO2.
The challenges associated with building very large facilities have encouraged the development of a slew of new ideas and system conceptual designs that will produce significantly less power using far less material, smaller sites, and an increased level of factory manufacturing instead of on-site construction. There are not yet any of the new, smaller designs at the US NRC undergoing license review, but that situation should change by the end of 2012. (Sometimes people who love the high tech industry cannot understand why it takes so long to make changes in the nuclear world, but "blue screens of death" would have a completely different meaning for us. Careful approaches work, even though they can be a bit frustrating to watch.)
There is still room for large power plants in many markets; more than 50 large nuclear power plants are currently under construction around the world. Just one of those is officially under construction in the US - Watts Bar Unit 2 - but anyone who visits Southern Company's Vogtle site would have a hard time believing that it is not officially considered to be "under construction". That site has a limited work authorization to enable required site preparation and non-nuclear work to progress while the combined license application review at the NRC is completed. There are three additional finalists for the US Department of Energy's loan guarantee program that is designed to help kickstart new nuclear plant construction in the US - the industry is nearly new again since it has not started any new plants since the 1970s.
The Atomic Show Podcast continues, but we had to bid farewell to Shane Brown several years ago when he took a job with a group that does not like its employees to talk much about nuclear energy. The show schedule is completely unpredictable; we highly recommend subscribing to it using iTunes so that you receive the new shows whenever they happen to be produced.
Atomic Insights is now entering a new phase in its development. We are brimming with ideas, and will keep you informed as we make changes. Actually, we might forget to let people know - we will just make the changes and see what you think about them by collecting comments on the blog and the blog associated with The Atomic Show. Thank you for your interest in our efforts. End Update.
One thing that really makes our day is when long time readers make contact and tell us that one or more of our articles made an impact on their thinking about nuclear power. That is happening more and more these days, and it makes all of the effort seem worth while.
Topical index - Atomic Insights articles arranged by subject.
Periodical index - Atomic Insights issues arranged by date.
Article file - Individual Atomic Insights articles arranged by date of publication and volume.
For the Rest of Us - A series of energy related columns begun in November 2000.
Guest Columns - Energy policy related thoughts by influential thinkers and leaders.
We hope you find what you are looking for. If you have any suggestions about our site organization, or about topics that you want to see covered in future issues, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our mission is to meet your atomic information needs.
You can contact the editor at rod_adams (@) atomicinsights.com.
(You will need to put that into normal email format - we have to make things a little difficult to combat email address harvesters.)