Eskom, the South African state owned utility that has been involved in the research and development process for the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) since the early 1990s is also entertaining the idea of building additional light water reactors. The company classifies the PBMR as an R&D project and does not see it as a…
After posting my comment about the Washington Times review of Jeff Goodell’s “Big Coal”, I wanted to find a different point of view. Google found a good one at Sustainablog: Big Coal: Empire of Denial published back on June 4, 2006. Sorry I missed this one when it was written, I could have had the…
The Washington Times is a conservative paper that many DC workers purchase to provide “balance” to their perception that the Washington Post is full of liberal bias. I give that to you as a preface before mentioning that the paper has published a review of Jeff Goodell’s new book titled “Big Coal: The Dirty Secret…
George Chapman, an entrepreneur, developer, cattle rancher and former nuclear power plant welder is building a formidable team to help him build one of the first new nuclear plants in the United States in more than a decade. The most recent of several stories about the project was written by Karen Welch Smith and published…
Grace Mojtabai has written a letter to the editor of the Amarillo Globe News titled Just hold on a minute with the nuclear reactor that mentions the biggest reservation that I have about the project – typical light water reactors with steam plant secondary systems use a lot of water for cooling. Shane Brown, my…
According to AEDC adds nuke plant to agenda, by Karen Welch Smith of the Amarillo Globe News, the next small step in the long process of licensing and building a new nuclear power plant near Amarillo, Texas is to obtain a formal indication of support by the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation. The article also reports…
Aluminum production is a very energy intensive industry. A couple of Russian producers have recently signed MOU’s to support research and development of new nuclear power plants by the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy. You can learn more by reading an article in the Jamaica Gleaner News titled Russian aluminium producers eye new nuclear power…
Creamer Media Engineering News Online has recently published several articles about the PBMR and the project status. One article titled How PBMR’s Work provides good information about the history and design choices made during the lengthy refinement period since the late 1950s when Rudolf Schulten first developed the concept of enclosing nuclear fuel into graphite…
A few days ago I mentioned that I was attending the Utility Working Conference sponsored by the American Nuclear Society. It is an annual meeting that has been held in the same location for about 15 years and it provides the opportunity for industry leaders, vendors and regulators to discuss and make steps towards solving…
The big news since Shane and I last talked is the announcement by a Texan named George Chapman of the formation of Amarillo Power and its plans to build two Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWR) near Amarillo Texas. Shane questions the location based on his frequent drives through the area. Water might be an issue,…
Here is a story that I have difficulty telling better than the original source. Today’s article in Bloomberg.com titled Oil Surges Above $76 as BP Shuts Alaska Field, Largest in U.S. is a litany of the current threats to the US oil supply. It should be a cause of grave concern for all of us…
I am at the Amelia Island Plantation on the northeast coast of Florida for the annual American Nuclear Society Utility Working Conference. The meeting, which has been held during the same week in August at the same location since 1994, is a chance for leaders in the nuclear portion of the electric utility industry to…