Over the past 15 or more years of trying to talk to people in the nuclear industry about smaller power systems, I have frequently confronted with the “economy of scale” argument. When I try to explain that there are also “diseconomies of scale” that can make very large items more costly than an equivalent capability…
On Thursday, October 8 and Friday, October 9, the US Nuclear Regulator Commission hosted a workshop to discuss generic issues related to licensing of small and medium-sized nuclear reactors. The meeting was billed as the first in a series on the topic. The NRC managers responsible for Advanced Reactors organized the meeting because they have…
Oops – my blog title might have provided a spoiler to the punchline for the below video. Never mind, it is only a minute and a half long, so the there is not much time to build up suspense anyway. However, please watch the video. If you have a blog, consider embedding it; if you…
The New York Times has published an encouraging story about how some Senate Democrats See Nuclear as a Way to Gain Votes on Climate Bill. It seems that there really is hope for logic and a reasonable political process to work in America.
Last weekend, a friend who regularly publishes diaries on Daily Kos asked permission to reprint my Atomic Insights post titled Charleston (West Virginia) Daily Mail Warns Readers – Proposed Nuclear Plants Could Affect WVa Coal. Knowing that Daily Kos often attracts some passionate commenters, especially when it comes to matters that might challenge their normal…
Several months ago, I attended a talk by a representative of the Natural Resources Defense Council who demonstrated one of the debating techniques that has always frustrated me – he categorically stated that “no one” wants a carbon tax but that it was “politically possible” to pass a cap and trade bill. The reason such…
One of the best explanations of electricity supply dispatch curves that I have ever read is available in the Saturday, October 3, 2009 edition of the Charleston Daily Mail under the headline of Proposed nuclear plants could affect WVa coal. That article describes in detail how bidding in the PJM Interconnection transmission network sets prices…
Hyperion Power Generation, a company that has been covered extensively on Atomic Insights, has been talking for a couple of years about its plans to build hot tub sized reactors that can generate 70 MW worth of heat for 5-10 years without any new fuel. According to Nuclear Engineering International, they intend to build their…
I do not understand why there are people who believe that there is really anything that the world can or should do to discourage any particular country from using nuclear energy to supply the power needs of its own people. My personal experience with the technology leads me to believe that anyone who knows much…