I just read a pithy quote that distills part of my beef with the Amory Lovins school of energy thought – he makes statements about energy supply costs that imply that there is no difference between a kilowatt-hour avoided and a kilowatt-hour supplied and that there is no difference between an intermittent kilowatt supply and…
World Nuclear News has published a brief article with the following thought-provoking quote “EDF Energy said: “One element we will be consulting on as we develop our plans is the visual impact the plants will have.” I think it is fantastic news – perhaps there will be even more people interested in having a nuclear…
I have long struggled to understand my country’s views on Iran. Throughout my career as a professional naval officer, the official position has been demonization, with words and actions roughly equal to those applied to Cuba. I have done a lot of reading over the years about our involvement in the country dating back to…
After blogging about Warren Buffett’s decision to purchase Constellation Energy Group, I received some comments from readers posing an interesting question. One reader interpreted the decision as a signal that Buffett, one of the world’s most savvy investors, supported the development of new nuclear power plants. Another one questioned that interpretation, pointing back to MidAmerica’s…
There is nothing like having cash available when good products go on sale. Warren Buffett made what may go down in history as one of the best purchases of his long and distinguished career yesterday when he beat out EDF in a bid to purchase Constellation Energy Group for $26.50 per common share in cash…
NNadir is a diarist at Daily Kos. He is a Democrat who encourages support for clean, safe nuclear power. He is also a chemist who is enthusiastic about materials found in used nuclear fuel. I recently posted a blog on Atomic Insights about nuclear fuel recycling that broke a record for the number of comments…
The Nuclear Fuel Recycling Discussion in South Carolina broke an all time record for the number of comments received on an Atomic Insights post. I got so interested in the discussion that I invited one of my favorite bloggers – NNadir from Daily Kos – on to The Atomic Show Podcast to discuss some of…
In recent weeks, there has been an expanding discussion of the concept of nuclear fuel recycling in the state of South Carolina. I have been following it rather closely for a number of reasons. I have a soft spot in my heart for South Carolina; I spent five and a half very good years living…
The author of Wind Fuels Gas missed a golden opportunity for a feature spot in the Atomic Insights Smoking Gun series. He produced an exceptional opinion piece linking the political popularity of intermittent renewable energy with the marketing efforts of global fossil fuel companies and pointed out the fuel competition between coal and “natural” gas…
Here is a random bit of food for thought. In the current presidential debate, much is made of the “pork barrel” expense of building a bridge to an island with “just” 50 inhabitants. Knowing little about the specific island, I still want to offer these observation from some of the places where I have lived….
Several days ago, I blogged about an article in The Economist that profiled Amory Lovins and talked about his “frugal” vision for the world’s energy supply system. In the thread of comments attached to that post a reader named Gordon provided commentary indicating that he was a true believer in the “soft energy path” that…
Jack Spencer at the Heritage Foundation is hosting a Capitol Hill event on September 15, 2008 called American Jobs and the Nuclear Renaissance. Nick Loris has posted the details on the Heritage Foundation Blog – The Foundry. I think it might be time to take a few hours of leave from my day job to…