Happy Nuke Year – looking forward to 2009

I hope some of you have missed having regular updates to Atomic Insights during the past week, but I also hope that you have been able to take some time away from normal routines to think, visit with friends and family and consider future actions in the coming year. For people of many cultural traditions,…

Atomic Show #120 – Commentary about President-elect Obama's Energy Secretary

The Podcast Network has rebuilt the hard drives and data bases that provide access to The Atomic Show and the other fine independent audio shows. I am slowing restoring the show archives to provide access to the library of shows produced since March 2006. Right before the site went down, I finished up a somewhat…

December 23, 2003 – a Day That Should be Remembered

Every year, there are reminders of the anniversaries of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Some of the reminders come from those who do not want to forget the technical lessons learned, some come from people who were directly affected, and some come from those who point to those accidents and claim that they are evidence…

Fighting Words in Florida – "Renewable" versus "Clean" Energy

As a life-long lover of words, I enjoyed reading a PalmBeachPost.com article titled State’s green-energy future down to one choice: Renewable or clean?. It was a well-written piece that should help people understand just how important the battle over certain words can be. In this specific case, the difference between one word and the other…

Jordan Has Ambitious Nuclear Power Plans

I have been aware that many nations in the Middle East are looking towards nuclear power as a vital part of their future energy mix, but until this morning I was unaware of the scope of the Kingdom of Jordan’s plans. According to Taylor Luck’s December 22, 2008 article in the Jordan Times titled Aqaba…

John Holdren, New Science Advisor, on Nuclear Energy

President-elect Obama is expected to name John Holdren as assistant to the president for science and technology during his next weekly radio address. Professor Holdren teaches environmental policy at Harvard University. His selction adds to a slate of policy influencers that advocate increased actions to combat the effects of CO2 and other pollutants produced as…

China Announces 6 GW of New Nuclear Will Cost 10.2 Billion ($1,700 per kilowatt)

China has announced the start of construction for 6 new nuclear reactors on a site in Yangjiang City, Guangdong province. Each plant will produce 1,000 MW of electrical power (1 GWe). The total cost for the 6 reactor project is expected to be $10.2 billion. The announcement, when added to others means that China plans…

MSNBC Video Clip About Used Fuel Recycle – Note the Journalistic "Balance"

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy The above video shows some excellent footage of the inside of a nuclear fuel manufacturing plant making assemblies for large, light water reactors. It also includes views of used fuel storage pools and dry cask storage. Critical thinkers who have an established fear…

Steven Chu is a Great Choice for Secretary of Energy

I have to admit that I could not have written the blog headline before a few minutes ago. I simply did not know enough about President-elect Obama’s choice for Secretary of Energy to make an educated statement. However, with the help of Google and some friends of Atomic Insights, I have now found enough material…