Bob Bromm is a professional mechanical engineer who has been doing nuclear focused work throughout his career. He cut his engineering teeth working as one of the architect-engineers for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, a three unit power station with a total output capacity in excess of 3600 MWe. Each generating unit is a…
Michael Kanellos, a staff writer for CNET, published an article on September 13, 2007 titled Nuclear power looks for comeback in U.S. based on an interview conducted with Skip Bowman, the CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). The article is useful, and there is an extensive set of comments attached. You might recognize the…
Steve Kidd, head of Strategy & Research at the World Nuclear Association, has written an informative article for Nuclear Engineering International (not to be confused with a different nuclear related entity called NEI) titled Evolving international pacts for tomorrow about a number of different aspects of international cooperation in nuclear power developments. It is really…
Bob Bromm is a professional mechanical engineer. He has recently been assigned to a new job with the team that has a contract to provide architect-engineering services for a two reactor ABWR for NRG. As we have discussed on a number of occasions, the renaissance in atomic energy has begun. For show 67, I had…
It is difficult to get into an internet conversation about the economic advantage of nuclear power without having someone make the claim that nuclear plant operators could not be economically competitive without the Price-Anderson insurance “subsidy” from the federal government. My general response has always been that it is hard to call Price-Anderson a subsidy…
I recently had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of an informative and important book written by Gwyneth Cravens titled “Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy”. (You can find out a bit more about the book and the publication schedule at Borzoi Reader | Catalog | Power to Save the…
About a year ago, I had the opportunity to attend a conference sponsored by the American Nuclear Society called the “Utility Working Conference”. This conference is held every year during the first week of August at Amelia Island Plantation, a comfortable family resort in northern Florida that has traditionally had good rates in August. (It…
According to an opinion piece titled Turn against coal leaves nuclear as power option written by James McGovern and posted on the Asbury Park Press (App.com), the recent flood of political decisions against new coal fired power plants indicates that nuclear power is the more palatable energy supply option. The article points to a big…
I have returned from a wonderfully relaxing and informative trip. My wife and I took a cruise up the Rhine River from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam and saw a lot of quaint villages, castles and a whole bunch of industry, coal barges and power plants. Once I get out from under the pile of email,…
TXU purchasers are on the road telling investors about the value of their decision to buy the utility for $45 Billion. As is made clear in an article published on Star-Telegram.com titled TXU buyers bet on higher natural gas prices, one of the major factors that will make the decision a good one is the…
Argentina recently announced a plan to complete the Atchua II project that was started in 1980 and suspended in 1996 after completing approximately 80% of the project. Brazil, the United States, the Philippines, Iran, and probably several other countries are also taking a hard look at partially completed nuclear power plants to determine if economic…
My wife and I have returned from our summer vacation. This year’s trip was special – we journeyed with some long time friends to Europe for a “Castles on the Rhine” river cruise. Because of the nature of the trip, we decided that we would completely unplug. We did not carry a laptop or even…