Year: 2007

  • Apologies for the hiatus

    Shane and I have missed you all the last couple of weeks. One week it was illness – it is hard to do an audio show with laryngitis – and then this week we had an operator error by the show’s producer – me. We had a great chat about uranium and the hazards of…

  • Nevada governor explains opposition to Yucca Mountain and his alternative solution

    Chris Matthews of the MSNBC show “Hardball” interviewed Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons about what candidates need to do to win in Nevada. The segment is titled Nevada: New battleground of 2008? A big issue there is, of course, Yucca Mountain, which is nearly universally opposed in the state. Governor Gibbons does not question the science;…

  • More atomic discussions from Australia

    The nuclear debate continues to progress in Australia, with recent opinion polls indicating a shift in perception of the technology, especially when its nearly zero emission nature is linked to a contribution to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. According to a March 6, 2007 article published on News.com.au titled Australians warm to…

  • Intriguing commentary in the Houston Chronicle

    One of the habits that English majors cannot resist is trying to read between the lines of a piece of written material to try to determine what the author is really saying. Many people make fun of this activity and claim that the words on the paper tell everything that the author intends and that…

  • Energy supply comparisons in theage.com.au

    A March 5, 2007 article titled Countdown to climate change had some favorable comparisons between nuclear power and other possible new energy sources. Geosequestration is further away and arguably more unsafe than the nuclear option. Its problems include: there is no evidence to show it can be done on a commercial scale; nobody knows what…

  • Motley Fool has positive comments about nuclear prospects

    In a March 2, 2007 investment opinion piece titled GE Cleans Up Jack Uldrich, a Motley Fool writer, had this to say about nuclear energy growth prospects: GE will also benefit as public attitudes about nuclear power continue to soften. Although no new nuclear plants have been built in three decades, nuclear power (which emits…

  • Thailand includes nuclear power as a future electricity supply option

    Thailand, like many rapidly developing countries, has a growing need for more power. It has plans to build about 32,000 MW of new capacity during the next fifteen years – with the vast majority of that capacity coming from coal and gas fired plants. However the plan does include about 5,000 MW of capacity from…

  • Head of UK Atomic Energy Authority encourages Jordan to consider atomic power

    Lady Barbara Thomas Judge, the chairwoman of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) told listeners at the CEO Middle East forum in Doha that atomic power was a reasonable alternative to complete dependence on oil and gas. Here is a quote from an article titled GCC gears up for nuclear power race that was…

  • Saudi Oil production analysis

    The Oil Drum is a great place to find intriguing (and sometimes scary) discussions and analysis about energy topics. A March 2, 2007, graph-filled posted titled Saudi Arabian oil declines 8% in 2006 falls into the second category. Saudi Arabian oil has been so important for so long that many world leaders take it as…

  • Patrick Moore carries the pro-nuclear environmentalist message to California

    Patrick Moore is doing great things in terms of getting people to reconsider their position on the use of nuclear energy. I continue to remain a bit jealous of the attention that he is able to command as a “founder of Greenpeace” and “former anti-nuclear activist” who has changed his mind. I know that there…

  • Not "news" but still interesting poll by UPI/Zogby International

    Just before the State of the Union Address (January 16-18), Zogby International teamed with UPI to conduct a poll of 6,909 Americans about their views with regard to energy. A summary of the results of the poll are available at the Zogby International web site: (http://www.zogby.com/NEWS/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1241). The most interesting comment from my point of view…