Last night, CNN Presents aired a completely one sided and inaccurate portrayal of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. It extensively quoted both Arnie Gundersen and Bernie Sanders and included a staged interview that made the Nuclear Regulatory Commission look both incompetent and unresponsive. That episode is scheduled to be repeated tonight. Here is a [...]
Has the MIT Energy Initiative been captured by natural gas industry money?
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is one of the most venerated engineering institutions in the United States. Its pronouncements and considered opinions have a significant influence on our government’s policy, especially in such important fields as energy. In recent years, the MIT Energy Initiative, a multi-disciplinary team led by Professor Ernie Moniz has issued [...]
Fighting over fuels and markets – dumb & wasteful when we have essentially unlimited energy
I am deeply troubled by the sabre rattling over the issue of Iran developing nuclear energy capabilities. Tiny efforts like mine on Atomic Insights may not matter much, but it is time to do all I can to shift the conversation away from war mongering to something that is a more productive and positive use [...]
Lord Monckton advocates purchasing an entire news media infrastructure
George Monbiot (@GeorgeMonbiot) provided a link to the following video in a tweet about the growing influence of Australian mining interests on the news media. Lord Monckton is one of the world’s most famous, and well paid, climate change deniers.
Natural gas is not clean, not cheap, not better for climate
Nature, one of the world’s most prestigious science publications, has published an article that should give natural gas promoters in the environmental community an enormous dose of indigestion. It provides scientific evidence supported by hard data measurements that the act of extracting and “producing” natural gas for consumption releases enough methane into the atmosphere to [...]
Senator Carper (D-DE) Commends NRC for Vogtle COL – Advocates Continued Nuclear Expansion
One of the myths that Atomic Insights is continually working to dispel is the idea that nuclear energy is a partisan issue with one party supporting it and one party fighting it. Not only is that perception untrue, but it is destructive to the nation and to the technology. Nuclear energy developments are not easy, [...]
NRC may FINALLY issue its first COL ever
At noon today, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is scheduled to hold an affirmation session. The second item on the agenda is listed as “b. Southern Nuclear Operating Co. (Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 3 and 4), Docket Nos. 52-025-COL & 52-026-COL – Draft Mandatory Hearing Decision (Tentative).” The meeting will be available via a [...]
Smoking Gun – Sierra Club admits donations targeting a natural gas competitor
On February 2, 2012, the Sierra Club allowed a Time magazine blog to break a poorly kept “secret” whose existence had threatened to get out of hand. In a post titled Exclusive: How the Sierra Club Took Millions From the Natural Gas Industry—and Why They Stopped Bryan Walsh described how one of the oldest, largest, [...]
NRC releases draft of reactor accident consequences study for public comment
Nuclear reactors operating in the United States are safe. They pose no threat to the people who live near them, even in the event of a severe accident. Though many pro nuclear advocates believe that the above statements are true, we are generally reluctant to use those simple, declarative statements. Instead, we often obscure the [...]
Byron nuclear power plant loses power and shuts down
Corrected copy Yesterday, the Byron nuclear power station lost power to Unit 2, which had to shut down. During the shutdown, the plant vented steam from the plant secondary side, which MIGHT contain minute quantities of tritium based on the assumption of some leakage between the primary and secondary through steam generator tubes. Here is [...]