Craig Severance recently wrote a commentary that he calls analysis titled The Case Against Nukes. The piece has been picked up by EcoWorld.com and is currently prominently featured on the home page. Though the author blurb that follows the article claims that Severance was the co-author of a book published in 1976 titled “The Economics…
Again, I have an uncharacteristically off-topic comment/question for your consideration. In nearly every article I have read in the past couple of weeks, the lending/credit crisis in America has been blamed on home mortgages made under less than stringent lending rules and on complex financial instruments designed – ideally – to package those mortgages into…
Many of you are intensely interested in the energy policies that will be implemented following the US election. It is often much easier to hear 5-10 second sound bites and chants like “drill baby drill” than to find serious discussions about what the candidates and their staffs are really thinking. On September 23, 2008, the…
Friends of the Earth is running an internet ad campaign that attempts to link the current world financial crisis with the future prospects of nuclear power. Paul Gunter – a career anti-nuclear activist – has tried to make the same link. From a logical argument point of view, the effort is a real stretch. For…
During the period of September 28 – October 1, 2008, Washington, DC is hosting the 4th International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology. If you are reading this on the day that I post it, you still have a little time to get over to the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel. (I wonder if the…
A friend sent me a link to a well-written expose of the treatment given to a card carrying UK Green Party member after his “Damascene conversion” from an opposer to a supporter of nuclear power. As he says, …the Green case against nuclear power is based largely on myth and dogma. My tipping point came…
Charlie Porter and Roger Hale both have stories of interest. Charlie lives in the shadow of several monster wind turbines, Roger helped to build the PM-2A at Camp Century. Charlie Porter had a nice little horse farm in northwest Missouri. He now really wants to sell that farm and move away because his neighbors are…
I generally try to remain on topic on Atomic Insights, so please forgive me or simply move past this post if you do not want to read about something outside of the energy field. For the past couple of weeks I have been struggling to understand just why my country’s leaders are working feverishly to…
Roger Fraley at XDA produced a pithy summary of the benefits and limitations of various energy alternatives. Here is what he said about nuclear power: There is one solution that seems just the ticket. Nuclear. It produces almost no CO2. It works really well (just look at Sweden and France) and a single, merely large…
There are already tributes being paid to the long career and many contributions of Paul Newman. One activity that will probably not be mentioned in most media is Paul Newman’s sustained efforts to share information about nuclear energy and to promote its use through his Newman-Wachs racing team. Here are other articles detailing some of…
This video should provide some food for thought for people who believe that wind energy is clean and safe. Here is another video that details some of the mechanical and business risks associated with wind energy developments. This is not a spectacular failure, but one where a manufacturing or engineering problem has resulted in a…
The New York Times has a complete, uncut version of the presidential debate, including even the introductory monologue by Jim Lehrer to the live audience telling them how to behave during the debate. I listened carefully to the whole thing – after all, the selection of a Commander in Chief is important to serving members…