Month: April 2008

Of course, the title to this article is rhetorical. I know exactly why Europe is turning to coal – Europeans needs power, they cannot depend solely on importing gas from Russia, Iran and Algeria, there are some Europeans that comprise a very strong and financially well supported anti-nuclear movement, and European consumer needs are vastly…

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Robert Hargraves’s Rethinking Nuclear Power course and pointed out how to find it. In the intervening weeks, I have taken on a new job within the Navy and have also taken a short Florida vacation. Quite frankly, I had forgotten about the course until I noticed a reminder…

In a comment on an earlier post, a reader included a link to an April 17, 2008 article from Pantagraph.com out of Bloomington, Il titled Are wind farm turbines making people sick? Some say yes. I thought that it would be worth elevating that link to the main blog, just in case there are rare…

One aspect of the energy industry that fascinates me is the interdependent nature of the business and the way that one can trace how certain major events have consequences half a world away. Last July, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear complex in Japan was shaken by a large earthquake. So far, all visual inspections of the internals…

When Glen Rose, Texas has an opening for a teacher, it gets a stack of applications. Considering the fact that it is a relatively rural, out of the way place, that is an unusual effect. Part of the reason for the interest in teaching there is that the schools are well supported and have excellent,…

(Update posted April 20, 2008 – For more information on the NSG policy shift I recommend a visit to Canada drives G8 enrichment shift) The term “nuclear non-proliferation” is a mouthful that has seen frequent use in public policy discussions for at least four decades. It is a concept that has its own treaty and…

Please believe me when I say that I am not “rooting” for wind turbines to fail. I certainly hope that most of the machines that are built and installed provide reliable service for their owners. However, as guy who used to make a living as operating engineer, I have to say that I was not…

Timothy Hurst at Red, Green and Blue took notice of the Nuclear Energy Live debate on Green Options and was somewhat surprised by the final poll results that showed that 75% of the self selected audience of readers accepted nuclear power as a tool in the battle against global climate change. In his post titled,…

I have a long day ahead and am running late, but I wanted to make sure that you were all aware of an important new contribution to the nuclear power debate – The Nuclear Option by Judith Lewis. Judith has written about nuclear power before, you can probably find her work referenced here on Atomic…

I am a biased observer in the energy field. I firmly believe that atomic fission based power systems have the potential to replace fossil fuels in many applications, that fission power sources can capture market share in competitive contests, and that fission is far cleaner than the fossil fuel competition. I also will assert, based…