Germany's RWE presses forward with coal plant to replace lost nuclear capacity

Though plans for several coal fired power plant projects in Germany have been suspended, RWE recently announced that it is pressing forward with its project to construct a 1600 MWe hard coal facility in Hamm, in the Westphalia region. RWE has several partners in the project including 23 municipal utilities. According to a February 19,…

The Atomic Show #083 – Atomic Advocacy with John Wheeler and Lisa Stiles

John Wheeler of This Week In Nuclear and Lisa Stiles, a contributing blogger at NEI Nuclear Notes joined in a discussion focused on atomic advocacy. John Wheeler, Lisa Stiles and I talked about our passion for nuclear technologies. We also talked about job opportunities in the nuclear business, the need for large infrastructure investments in…

Virginia Senate allows uranium mining study

About a month ago, I wrote about a large uranium deposit in Virginia located under a family farm named Coles Hill owned by Mr. Walter Coles, a retired US government employee. (Coal mining versus uranium mining in Virginia) One aspect of the story that intrigued me was the fact that even studying the deposit was…

Like it or not, the nukes are coming – the big question is how fast

The Houston Chronicle serves a reader base that includes a high percentage of people in the energy business. The city’s prosperity has risen and fallen and risen again as the energy markets have fluctuated during the past 100 years. The primary focus of Houston’s energy business has been oil and natural gas, but there are…

Sleeping guard video from YouTube

In my last post I asked about your reactions to the long running story of the security guards who were caught napping in the ready room at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. A reader’s question led me to make it easier for you to find the video of that illustrate the basis for the…

Should we be concerned about guards sleeping in a "ready room"

Late last year there was a lot of hype about a series of cell phone videos recorded by a new security guard at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station of fellow guards dozing off while in a room identified as a “ready room”. Having never actually been on the commercial side of the nuclear business,…

Fighting to preserve natural areas in the face of massive energy projects

One of the reasons that I am so enthusiastic about atomic fission is the fact that it is an extremely concentrated form of energy production. When all effects are considered, it often provides the very lowest impact on the environment because the amount of land affected is minimized, the amount of air and water pollution…

One point of view about Asian energy choices

Geoffrey Gunn has written a summary article about energy options in the ASEAN countries titled Asian tigers eye nuclear future that provides an interesting perspective. He has a cautious attitude about the technology and its potential for project failures, but he also provides a lot of useful information about the energy supply situation in countries…

Karen Street of "A Musing Environment" thinks we need more energy research

Karen Street produces a thoughtful blog titled A Musing Environment. In a recent post, she makes a case for increasing energy R&D – Increase R&D, don’t cut it. I generally agree that there is a need for more development of high payoff energy technologies with certain focused research efforts to solve known problems. Unfortunately, most…

The Atomic Show #082 – Jill Buck, Founder of the Go Green Initiative

Jill Buck, Founder of the Go Green Initiative, joins Rod Adams for a discussion of the environmental benefits of nuclear power You are going to enjoy this show! Jill Buck is an energetic community leader with a vision for a cleaner world and she has been working for a number of years to make that…

Atomic Show 82 – Jill Buck – Founder of Go Green Initiative

Jill Buck is the mother of 3, a former Naval Officer, a conservationist and the founder of the Go Green Initiative. She is also a strong supporter of the need to build new nuclear power plants. I interviewed her for Atomic Show 082 and found her to be a very articulate and passionate source of…