On January 16, 2007, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reset the hands of their famous Doomsday Clock, moving it forward from 11:53 to 11:55. According to their analysis of the world’s current political and environmental situation, we are now a figurative “five minutes till midnight”, with midnight equating to the end of the world…
Piketon, Ohio has been involved with nuclear materials since the early 1950s, when it was selected as the site of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The site had a number of physical attributes that made it suitable for such a use – it had a vast quantity of flat land, plenty of reliable water, and…
According to an opinion piece published on TheState.com (South Carolina’s Home Page), James McKibben believes that Nuclear power is safest, cleanest and cheapest energy source. I guess he is in the right job – his signed title is “Executive Director, Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness. Here are some of his points – little argument from…
According to a Jan 28, 2007 article titled Ukraine plans to raise uranium output published in Hindu Times, Ukraine is planning a 75% increase in its uranium production within the next three years. The article also indicates that Ukraine is investigating the possibility of building nuclear fuel recycling facilities and is planning to achieve nuclear…
I can’t believe it has been more than a week since my last post. Time flies when you are busy and on the road in places where there is little to no connectivity. I have a bunch of saved comments and will try to catch up over the next few days. A lot is happening…
Leaders of at least ten major corporations have requested mandatory federal greenhouse gas limits Shane and I talk about the somewhat counterintuitive request by the heads of ten major US corporations (Including GE, FP and L Group, PG and E, Duke Energy, Caterpillar, Alcoa, DuPont, BP America, Lehman Brothers, PNM Resources) for the federal government…
The United Kingdom (UK) equivalent of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Apparently that organization is under some of the same pressures as the NRC; it’s staff needs to expand to begin the process of reviewing new designs in a timely manner. As in the US, it has…
Alberta oil sands producers are taking a hard look at CANDU nuclear power plants. Alberta Canada is one of the few areas in the world where oil production has increased rather dramatically during the past 5 years. The area has a vast resource of unconventional oil in the form of oil sands, where the concentration…
For the past 30 years, there has been a perception, sometimes reinforced by actions and statements, that the US Democratic Party is reflexively anti-nuclear. At the same time, it has been the perception, sometimes reinforced with words, if not action, that the Republican Party at least wants to “keep the nuclear option open”. When involved…
Tom Ford is a journalist from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. On January 17, 2007, he published an article on TheRecord.com titled Nuclear power may be our best option. Go there; read his article. It is heartwarming reading that even includes a mention of the fact that nuclear competitors have been repeating some scary, and provably false…
Rüdiger Falksohn, a writer for Spiegel Online, published a story titled A Nuclear Power Renaissance on January 16, 2007. Though the story accurately tells of numerous plans on the drawing boards and projects already in progress, Mr. Falksohn cannot resist some rather slanted jibes indicating his skepticism about the future of the industry and its…
On Saturday, January 13, 2006, Nathan Nadir of the Daily Koz posted a comment titled A Black Mark Against Barack Obama: Coal Liquefaction. The comment thread associated with Nadir’s observation has included some very interesting discussions about the comparisons between burning coal and using fission power. As you might imagine, I have made a couple…