On Friday, Nov 16, I wrote about the potential impact of applying a “peanut butter spread” sequestration algorithm to the NRC budget. (I spent a few years as a government budget analyst, so I sometimes speak the lingo.) If the accountants at the Office of Management and Budget continue on their proposed path, the NRC [...]
Portion of NRC budget covered by licensee fees (90%) must be exempt from sequestration
It is time to remind Congress and the President that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s budget is, by law, almost 90% funded with fees assessed on licensees. The structure was put into place during the Reagan Administration at a time when David Stockman was selling the idea that the government could charge fees on users of [...]
Rationally comparing financial risk – nuclear versus natural gas (#1 of ??)
Yesterday I wrote about the need to rationally compare the physical risks associated with producing energy by burning natural gas against the similar risks of producing energy by fissioning uranium in a nuclear power plant. However, even when decision makers includes some reasonable estimates for those kinds of risks, they are still often choosing to [...]
Time for rational risk evaluation of energy sources – natural gas versus nuclear
It is way past time to begin the long process of helping people understand how to rationally weigh the risks versus benefits of available power or fuel systems. For far too many years, promoters of immensely profitable products like natural gas have been loudly and frequently telling society about its benefits while glossing over the [...]
Germany learning difficulty of self-imposed nuclear energy abandonment
One of my sources posted a link to this brief video clip from Russia Today titled Fukushima Legacy: Nuclear phase-out hits Germans with high energy prices regarding Germany’s Energiewende, a well-publicized effort sold to the German public as a replacement of nuclear energy with renewable energy. According to this and many other stories, the reality [...]
Responding to “Science and the Greens” – via Skepteco
Suzy Hobbs Baker at Pop Atomic Studios shared a link to an excellent thought piece titled Science and the Greens that is posted on Skepteco: An Ecopragmatist examines the environmental movement. Near the end of the piece, however, there is a section that needed some feedback. Many analysts who warn against the dangers of rapidly [...]
Carnival of Nuclear Energy 130 – Best of the pronuclear blogs for week of Nov 10, 2012
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, [...]
Out of 110,645 Chernobyl clean up workers, 19 might have contracted radiation related leukemia
On November 8, 2012, Environmental Health Perspectives, a monthly journal supported by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, published a report titled Radiation and the Risk of Chronic Lymphocytic and Other Leukemias among Chornobyl Cleanup Workers. The report details the final results of a [...]
Personal aside – remember Movember & donate generously
Please remember that this is the month of Movember, a time to help raise funds for organizations that are fighting health issues that are not often discussed – prostate and testicular cancer. Please honor the men in your life. If you have ever wondered how you can say thank you for the information and value [...]
Atomic Show #190 – Nuclear plant performance during Hurricane Sandy
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, [...]
Musing about resilient power systems – natural gas, NGL (propane) and nuclear
Widespread power outages stimulate me to intense bouts of thinking about building resilient power systems, both when they happen to me and when they happen to someone else. During the summer of 2012, during one of the hottest weeks of the year, we lost power for a little more than a week as a result [...]
Zero Carbon Options for Australia – Support the Report and Help Promote Nuclear Energy Development
Ben Heard, one of the most effective nuclear energy communicators I know, has produced a report titled Zero Carbon Options – Seeking an economic mix for an environmental outcome in partnership Brown & Pang. It has been peer reviewed by energy and climate experts Professor Barry Brook (Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change at [...]