Though many of you appreciate the long form blogging on Atomic Insights, there are just too many different topics worth mentioning today to try to put together a reasonably coherent post. If you want to engage and see just how many different issues have captured my attention today, I suggest that you watch the Twitter [...]
Adam Curry Exposes Robert Alvarez’s Fukushima Spent Fuel Pool Fable on No Agenda
I’ve been following a couple of conversations about a recent story that has been floating around the web from an antinuclear Chicken Little named Robert Alvarez. According to Alvarez, a man who seems to believe that it is physically possible for dense, corrosion-resistant, solid material to instantaneously vaporize, the spend fuel pool at Fukushima Daiichi [...]
Human society is changing climate & ocean chemistry – what do we DO about it?
There was a scene in the ABC documentary titled I Can Convince You About … Climate” that featured Bjorn Lomborg, the self proclaimed “Skeptical Environmentalist”. Lomborg acknowledges that human activity is causing the climate to change due to changing atmospheric chemistry, but he thinks that the proposed solutions are either too expensive, not effective, or [...]
Has Apocalyptic Portrayal of Climate Change Risk Backfired?
During the Australian Broadcasting Company documentary titled I Can Change Your Mind About … Climate there is a scene where Anthony Leiserowitz (via Skype video) shares some of what he has learned during his research about climate change attitudes with Nick Minchin and Anna Rose, the show’s protagonists. Here is how the producers of “I [...]
Climate Change is A Now Event, But So Is a Reliable, Cost-Effective Atomic Solution
Jason Mraz, a Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, published a thought piece on the Huffington Post titled Global Warming Is No Longer a Future Problem, It’s a Now Event that inspired me to go and find some of his music. He is the kind of observer of the human condition worth reading and listening to. As [...]
How should you respond to debate opponents who “make things up”?
My friends who advocate for increased beneficial use of nuclear energy often engage in discussions about techniques for responding to critics who frequently make up their arguments as the go along. We were taught in school that it is impolite and ineffective to engage in “ad hominem” attacks during a debate and to keep our [...]
Congressman Upton to Chairman Jaczko: Should NRC Issue “Chilling Effect Letter” to Itself?
Another Friday, Another Episode of “As the Chairman of the NRC Turns” On Friday, April 27, 2012, Congressman Fred Upton, Chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, released a letter addressed to Chairman Jaczko of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. That letter, cosigned by 23 fellow US Congressmen, asked Chairman [...]
Month long quest to convince a fossil fuel advocate to believe climate change
I just spent a fascinating couple of hours watching an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) documentary titled I Can Change Your Mind About..Climate. Aside: Before that turns you off by making you think that the documentary lasts for hours, please understand that it can take me a long time to watch a show while preparing a [...]
Integrated ecological modeling – positive results require healthy dose of nuclear fission
Barry Brook and Cory Bradshaw are the co-directors of the Global Ecology Lab. In less than three minutes, they provide an understandable picture of the lab’s mission and it’s scientific challenges. In the above video, Dr. Brook and Dr. Bradshaw explain the complexity of the systems they model along with the importance of using accurate [...]
Christian Science Monitor – With all this gas, who needs oil?
On April 22, 2012, the Christian Science Monitor published a lengthy feature article titled With all this natural gas, who needs oil? that helps illustrate the extent of America’s current love affair with methane, a fuel that we have been using commercially for about 150 years. According to some of the people quoted in the [...]