Liquid Fluoride Reactor Talk on Google Tech Talk
I have not yet had a chance to view this, but the material in this video was partially prepared by my friend, Kirk Sorensen, so I know it is good. Hope you enjoy:
The Podcast Network Deserves Your Support
As we come close to the holiday season, several listeners have very generously asked what they can do to show their appreciation for The Atomic Show. I am actually quite humbled by those requests. Since March of 2006, a loosely connected team of people has been working with available time to provide you with the…
Building a power plant in less than 6 months using small modules
Raser Technologies has recently started up a geothermal power plant in Utah that produces 10 MWe using a collection of identical, 200 kwe binary cycle units manufactured by UTC Power. It takes 50 of those units to produce the combined output, but by using these small, off the shelf machines, Raser was able to put…
Nuclear Reading List from the Wall Street Journal
I received several comments from people who had perused yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. Apparently they saw the abbreviated paper version of the article titled Reading Up on Nuclear Energy. It was nice to hear from so many people and kind of nice to see my name in print. ( I am the guilty owner of…
Power in Scotland – how can increased coal use be called "compatible with drive for cleaner energy"?
British Energy has been having some unscheduled maintenance difficulties in recent months. Combined with scheduled maintenance that cannot be deferred, the issues have caused the portion of UK energy provided by nuclear power to drop – temporarily – to approximately 10%. Since North Sea gas production is falling, natural gas prices in the UK remain…
Decarbonization and Nuclear Power – Webinar on The Energy Collective
Dan Yurman who writes for Idaho Samizdat, Fuel Cycle Week and The Energy Collective shared a link with me to a very interesting hour long discussion on the topic of Nuclear Power and Decarbonization. Dan’s fellow panel members included E. Ashton Poole, Managing Director Global Power and Utility Group, Morgan Stanley and Jerry Paul, CEO,…
Detailed Information About Australia Coal Miner's Carbon Capture and Sequestration Efforts
Luke Weston at Physical Insights has produced a valuable and detailed post about the Australian coal industry’s research and marketing efforts in the field of carbon capture and sequestration. Go read it – perhaps twice – before getting excited about the prospects for “clean coal”.
University of Nevada gets DOE Grant to Study Used Nuclear Fuel Recycling
The University of Nevada News has posted a brief article about a new project to develop ways to use molten salts to recycle used nuclear fuel. Mano Misra, Director of the Center for Materials Research and a professor in the Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering said the following about the project: “This will be…
Green Inc. – NY Times Blog Asks for New Nuclear Power Imagery
The NY Times Green Inc. blog recently asked readers to provide some suggestions for an image makeover for nuclear power. I did not like the published responses very much so I submitted my own: Dear Editor: In 1991, I took a cruise with my wife and noticed just how much smoke was pouring out of…
Electricity Supply – Demand and Nuclear Power Industry History
Wisconsin is one of the states in the US that has a law on its books that is a virtual moratorium on new nuclear power plants. Its law is similar to the one in California that states that the public service commission cannot approve a new nuclear plant until the federal government has built and…
If Utilities Are Not Large Enough To Finance Nuclear Power, Consider Smaller Nuclear Plants
On numerous occasions, I have heard speeches or read commentary by leaders in the US electric utility industry that have made the case that utilities need to partner or merge in order to have the financial heft to develop a new nuclear plant. The line of logic is something like this – official estimated cost…
Atomic Show #113 – Obama and Nuclear Power, Areva-Northrop, Constellation
Kelly Taylor and Rod Adams chat about President-elect Obama’s nuclear energy policies, the Areva-Northrop Grumman joint venture, and Warren Buffett’s purchase of Constellation Energy. Kelly Taylor and I got together for a Sunday evening chat to discuss President-elect Obama’s nuclear energy policies and their implications for the nuclear industry’s growth and development. We also talked…