My Maryland neighbors – UniStar Nuclear – have some new reasons to celebrate. George Chapman’s Amarillo Power has notified the NRC that it now intends to purchase two UniStar Nuclear’s Evolutionary Pressurized Reactors (EPR) instead of two GE ABWRs. At the same time, Amarillo Power also announced its intention to skip the step of applying…
On March 29, 2007 Resourceinvestor.com published an article supplied by Interfax-China titled China needs to develop its own nuclear power technology. It provides a thought provoking point of view about China’s need for new energy supplies and the path that it is taking in expanding its own nuclear power capabilities. China has the capacity to…
Shane and I discuss commercial nuclear ship history and future opportunities Commercial nuclear powered ships were tried in the 1960s and 1970s with little follow on units. The United States built the NS Savannah, Germany built the Otto Hahn, and Japan built the Mutsu. None of these remain in operation today and all demonstrated various…
As mentioned in a previous Atomic Show, the uranium market is full of speculators and get rich quick opportunists. The International Herald Tribune published a story on March 28, 2007 titled High price of uranium prods U.S. mines to life that gives some indications about the natural response from mining companies and independent explorers. A…
I came across an article by Kelpie Wilson, Truthout’s Environmental Editor on a New Zealand based web publication called Scoop that caught my eye. It was titled All Gore and the Wedges Game and was originally published on 24 March 2007. Apparently there are some educators that are working on creating classroom games to teach…
A friend of mine recently wrote a letter to Catholic Online in response to an opinion piece masquerading as an article. The piece was titled Canadian Catholic News: Nuclear energy called ‘a deeply spiritual issue’. The piece was an extensive rehashing of disinformation that has been spread for many years by Helen Caldicott, a professional…
Claude Mandil, Executive Director, International Energy Agency, has warned gas exporting countries that forming an OPEC like cartel would harm their business. I think that his logic is interesting: Mandil said that gas, unlike oil, competes with other energy sources such as coal, nuclear and renewables in power generation and heating, giving consumers alternatives. “If…
An Atomic Show listener pointed me to an interesting article published in the Guardian in September 2006 titled Royal Society tells Exxon: stop funding climate change denial. It is articles like this one that makes me put up my defenses against a headlong rush to a dogmatic belief that human activity that produces CO2 is…
On March 21, 2007, Spiegel Online published an article by Roland Nelles titled Germany Plans Boom in Coal-Fired Power Plants — Despite High Emissions. The article reports that there are 26 new coal fired power stations planned for construction in the next few years in Germany. The coal will be imported from Poland or South…
I was recently introduced to a very new blog titled Left Atomics. Here is how the author described his “voice” in a recent comment on Atomic Insights: Our job at leftatomics is not to become “industry advocates’ but to stymie opposition to needed construction (and R & D) of base load nuclear projects. We do…
Shane and I discuss our understanding of human activity’s effects on global climate. As two geeks not trained in climate science, but comfortable with complex systems, our approach is unique. Unless you live under a rock, you have an opinion about whether or not man’s activity is causing a coming global catastrophe. Two recent films…
This post originated in the middle of a great discussion on the Oil Drum. On March 1, 2007, that blog published a story titled Is Nuclear Power a Viable Option for Our Energy Needs? The story generated a lot of interest with more than 300 comments and about 678 “Diggs”. Comments are now closed on…