Strange blog post title today. I have been having some difficulty juggling a number of activities recently, and I find that I have missed commenting on a several recent events and updates associated with the NuClear renaissance. One of my activities has been a continuing conversation with Adam Curry on the DSC. If you have…
There is nothing like high retail gasoline prices to get Americans talking about energy issues. Even some of the American aristocracy – members of the Rockefeller family -are taking advantage of the current interest to try to gain more support for a shareholder initiative suggesting a change in ExxonMobil’s corporate structure. Since about 2003, certain…
Nichole Ellis is a 30-something owner of an LLC that performs nuclear criticality safety computations from a home office. We spoke about the nuclear industry as a career choice. I met Nichole Ellis last fall when she was the leader of a well run conference for young nuclear professionals. As a 30-something engineer who started…
Wired Magazine’s Spencer Reiss has long been a supporter of new nuclear power plants. In a recent series of short articles all under the heading of 10 GREEN HERESIES that environmentalists must overcome to succeed in a battle against global climate change, Spencer’s contribution is titled EMBRACE NUCLEAR POWER:Face It. Nukes Are the Most Climate-Friendly…
One of the myths of the first Atomic Age was that safety fears following Three Mile Island halted new development. A more careful reading of history shows that the new development had already stopped well before April of 1979; the first major wave of order cancellations happened soon after the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973…
Hans and Mary Lou Gougar are two of most interesting nukes that I know. They are currently living and working in South Africa for PBMR Pty Ltd. Their story is fascinating. I got up bright and early this morning (0400) to prepare to record a conversation with two fascinating people. Hans and Mary Lou Gougar…
As regular readers of Atomic Insights know, Adam Curry, one of the founders of the “new media” company called Mevio.com – formerly known as Podshow – has been asking his Daily Source Code (DSC) listeners to think about ways to rebrand nuclear energy. Today, while on a long bike ride taking advantage of a gorgeous…
Recent events in the world of politics made me do some thinking about the difficulty of entering into a negotiation with the supplier of a product that you really need. I generally prefer a more equal footing where the supplier is at least as motivated as I am to strike an equitable deal. If you…
One of the big reasons that I favor the expanded use of atomic fission power is that it is the cleanest source of reliable power available. As part of my effort to share that knowledge with people that might not have heard it yet, I have begun writing for CleanTechnica.com, which is part of the…
In an interesting editorial in the Tri-City Herald (serving Kennewick, Pasco and Richland Washington) titled Slow resurrection of nuclear power the paper’s editorial board bemoans the fact that there does not seem to be much progress visible in the Nuclear Renaissance. Of course, we all know that there are things happening in preparation for building,…
In a shocking development, (tongue firmly planted in cheek there) the Wall Street Journal has published a lengthy article by Rebecca Smith discussing the potential that the Nuclear Renaissance might be derailed because of rapidly escalating cost estimates for new nuclear power plants. You can find the article at New Wave of Nuclear Plants Faces…
Kiera Butler has produced a post on Mother Jones titled Power Q&A: Stewart Brand: The Long Now futurist and founder of the Whole Earth Catalog talks about why it’s time to rebrand nukes. I read the posted interview twice and did not see any real discussion or mention of rebranding nuclear power. Sure, Stewart says…