Opposing view

Amory Lovins, of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), one of the anti-nuclear industry’s leading mouthpieces has produced another diatribe against the use of the cleanest, cheapest, most abundant, and most reliable energy source available both now and in the immediate future. You can find this document at http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid1154.php. During the next couple of days, I…

Nuclear Power Cooperation with India

On July 18, 2005, President Bush met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House. The leaders announced several new areas of cooperation including commercial nuclear power. This is the first time since 1978 that the United States government has allowed nuclear technology sharing with India, the world’s most populous democracy. The chill…

My new favorite columnist – Bill Mego

Bill Mego writes for the Naperville Sun, one of the Suburban Chicago Newspapers. On July 15, 2005, this was the title of his column – Time to admit nuclear power advocates are right. You NEED to read this column. Since I live in Annapolis, MD, and not the suburbs of Chicago, I had never read…

Oil company advertisements

I just received the July 25, 2005 edition of Fortune Magazine. It has a number of interesting articles in it, but the subject I want to talk about is framed by the advertisements that show up on the inside front cover and on the back cover – two of the most expensive advertising locations in…

WBCSD – Nuclear Rebirth

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has reprinted a National Post article from 14 July 2005 titled Nuclear rebirth that provides a balanced look at the prospects for new nuclear power plants. The article discusses the motivators for renewed interest in nuclear power along with some of the political hurdles that might slow down…

Another "In MY Backyard" resolution

There sure are a lot of “nobodies” in this world. Though the anti-nuclear industry still continues to claim that “nobody” wants a nuclear plant in their backyard, a number of communities have taken action to state loudly and clearly that they are very interested in having a new plant built in their area. The most…

Apple's Intel decision – does it necessarily mean x86?

You might be surprised to find a story about computers on a blog that traditionally focuses on atomic energy. The “tech” field, however, provides some interesting models that can be useful to people interested in the continuing development of practical atomic technology. One of my favorite companies is Apple Computer. (Disclosure: I own a number…

South Korea offers electricity to North Korea

A number of news outlets have reported today that South Korea has offered to supply North Korea with electricity via transmission lines in return for an agreement to stop developing nuclear weapons capability. Here is the BBC’s version of the story – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4674785.stm. Apparently, South Korea believes that this offer of transmission line delivered electricity…

Nuclear Exchange in the Op-ed section of the Washington Post

Scott Peterson, one of the contributors to NEI Nuclear Notes, answered a July 6, 2005 piece by Peter Asmus titled “Nuclear Diosaur” with his own contribution in the July 12, 2005 edition titled “Wrong on Nuclear Power” (free registration required for the Post articles). It will be interesting to see who else chimes in and…

MHI expresses interest in Westinghouse

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) of Japan is one of the suitors interested in Westinghouse. The two organizations have a long history of cooperation, dating back more than 30 years when MHI licensed Westinghouse’s Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)design. MSN Money reprinted an article from the Financial Times on the topic on July 10, 2005 under the…

Competition often drives attitudes

Discussions and articles about energy supply choices often overlook the impact of economic competition on the way that the choices are made and opinion posistions are established. Government organizations play a role because of the way that they get involved in promoting certain kinds of industries or because of the way that they gain tax…

Advanced Nuclear Economics

Steven Ayer at disinterested party has written a number of interesting articles about nuclear power and its future prospects. One of my readers pointed me to his recent article titled Nucleonomics. Unlike Steven and a number of other writers who have written about nuclear power economics, I have a direct and significant interest in getting…