Reactors Archives - Atomic Insights

B&W’s Jim Ferland describes company’s global business outlook

Rod Adams · May 28, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Jim Ferland, the CEO of The Babcock & Wilcox Company, was recently interviewed by Bill Loveless of Platts Energy Week about the company’s global business outlook.

During the interview, Ferland discussed the B&W mPower^TM reactor, one of the leading small modular reactor development projects; FutureGen 2.0, a carbon capture and storage demonstration project; the impact of increasing government regulations; and the company’s technology development programs.

Disclosure: I am employed by B&W as an engineer/analyst on the B&W mPower reactor development project.

NuScale announces achievement of unlimited coping time

Rod Adams · April 17, 2013 · 13 Comments

At the Nuclear Energy Insider SMR Conference in Columbia, S.C., Dr. Jose Reyes, a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer of NuScale Power, announced that his team had achieved an impressive design breakthrough. Two years after the Fukushima event, NuScale is introducing a safety system for our nuclear reactor that does not require DC batteries [...]

NGNP aims to expand nuclear fission out of its electricity producing niche (box)

Rod Adams · March 7, 2013 · 58 Comments

The NGNP Alliance recently published a thought provoking blog titled Energy Vs. Electricity and Why We Care that clearly explains the basis for their interest in using high temperature gas cooled reactors. That group of far-sighted organizations was formed in recognition that the energy market is far larger than just producing electricity. They believe that [...]

The Weather Channel visits B&W mPower, Inc.

Rod Adams · March 4, 2013 · 5 Comments

On February 14, 2013, my day job employer hosted a contingent from The Weather Channel who wanted to learn more about the B&W mPowerTM Reactor project. The video is quite informative and encouraging; even though there is a little poetic license taken with the story and the technical description. Though I work for B&W mPower, [...]

Recycling used nuclear fuel – Argonne research explained in 4 min video

Rod Adams · February 22, 2013 · 8 Comments

One of the most frequently used arguments against using nuclear energy is “the waste issue.” When people ask me, “what do you do with the waste”, my standard answer is “recycle it.” The truly curious then ask for more information. A few days ago, Nuclear Street shared a video produced by Argonne National Laboratory that [...]

LFTR story told from the perspective of a bright 7th grader

Rod Adams · December 19, 2012 · 12 Comments

Though I believe that Katie has received some inaccurate technical information about solid fueled reactors, I cannot argue with the effectiveness of her presentation skills. Please enjoy the below series of videos about the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR). It is one of many alternative ways to use the incredible energy density available in the [...]

Merchants of Doubt about nuclear energy

Rod Adams · December 18, 2012 · 14 Comments

The vast majority of technical specialists in the field of energy production favor the use of nuclear energy and recognize that it is a safe source of power that produces no direct greenhouse gases. Even when measured on a complete lifecycle basis, CO2 emissions from nuclear energy are roughly equal to the emissions from wind [...]

Power cheaper than coal – thorium AND uranium make it possible

Rod Adams · December 12, 2012 · 60 Comments

Bob Hargraves, the author of Thorium: Energy Cheaper than Coal, recently traveled to Shanghai to present a 30 minute talk summarizing the main points of discussion that he covered in his book. The occasion of the trip was Thorium Energy Conference 2012. Bob is a professor with a good facility for numbers and a talent [...]

FFTF – What could a functional Fast Flux Test Facility do for the US?

Rod Adams · December 10, 2012 · 7 Comments

A friend shared the above video about the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). I thought it was worth sharing and discussing, though I am not sure how current it is. The FFTF was not a shining example of government efficiency; it was initially conceived in the 1960s, finally completed in the late 1970s, started up [...]

B&W mPower™ Reactor Control Room Simulator Begins Operations

Rod Adams · December 4, 2012 · 5 Comments

(CHARLOTTE, N.C. – December 4, 2012) – The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) (NYSE: BWC) is pleased to announce that the production-standard control room prototype for its B&W mPower™ small modular reactor (SMR) is now operational. This engineering simulator is a key milestone in the B&W mPower development program. The B&W mPower control room prototype, [...]

Terrific application for highly enriched uranium fuel – tiny NASA reactors

Rod Adams · November 30, 2012 · 17 Comments

How many times have you heard politicians tell you that the only reason a nation with abundant oil and gas might want to enrich uranium is to build nuclear weapons. The United States has always been one of the top two or three oil and gas producers in the world, but we also have scientists [...]

Carnival of Nuclear Energy 130 – Best of the pronuclear blogs for week of Nov 10, 2012

Rod Adams · November 10, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Update #2: (Posted at 1315 EST on November 11, 2012) Steve Aplin provided the following contribution from his insightful blog titled: Canadian Energy Issues Cities and power: revisiting Adam Smith’s Division of Labour Post blurb: Modern cities cannot function without electricity. That electricity is usually the product of other people from outside of the city, [...]