A common theme in works or speeches by Joe Romm, Amory Lovins, T. Boone Pickens, and Tim Wirth (and a whole chorus of other like minded people) is that natural gas, which is mostly methane (CH4), is a bridge to a utopia that can be powered by natural flows from the sun and wind. The…
Yesterday, the New Jersey senate held hearings lasting more than three hours on proposed legislation that would force Oyster Creek, the oldest currently operating nuclear power plant in the United States, to install cooling towers. The plant currently operates with the required steam condenser cooling water being drawn from a local surface water supply and…
American Clean Skies Foundation, Worldwatch Institute, and the U. N. Foundation sponsored a panel discussion titled The Evolving Role of Natural Gas. Panelists include: Holmes Hummel, Senior Advisor for Policy and International Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy Ian Smale, Group Head, Strategy and Policy, BP Dr. J.K. (Jorg) Gigler, Manager, Sustainability and Clean Energy, KEMA…
On December 11, 2009, I downloaded a copy of ExxonMobil’s publication titled “Outlook for Energy: A View to 2030”. When I searched through the document to see what ExxonMobil, a large supplier of both oil and natural gas that compete with nuclear energy for market share, had to say about the future of nuclear energy….
ExxonMobil is a company that is vilified by many in the environmental community, but it is also a company that is deeply respected by engineers. It is a company that is well known for focusing on its core competencies, and for not following the latest fads. Unlike some other major oil companies that have created…
An old friend sent me a link with intriguing headline on December 2, 2009 – COSCO Investigates Nuclear Option. My first thought was “why would a big box competitor to Sam’s Club be interested in a nuclear option?” That misunderstanding was quickly dispelled when I realized that Lloyds List is not terribly interested in American…
I noticed a headline a couple of days ago that really got my attention – $90bn natural gas deal with Japan. For the last couple of days, I have been thinking about how to explain why that particular headline means so much to me and to the rest of the world as we discuss and…
Last weekend, I received a press release from Babcock and Wilcox describing their recent leasing of a 50,000 square foot building in Lynchburg capable of eventually hosting a team of 300 engineers, reactor designers, and support people. The entire facility will be focused on efforts to complete the mPowerTM modular reactor design work and then…
Ship propulsion is one of my key interest areas. It is a segment of the energy industry that gets little discussion; perhaps because of its “out of sight, out of mind” existence in a place where few people spend much time – out in the middle of the ocean. As a former (undersea) ship engineer…
Natural gas is so abundant that it can supply about 20% of the United States energy demand for the next 100 years before it runs out! (That is my translation of the recent meme being pushed by those new commercials about having a 100 year supply – at current rates of consumption.) A friend just…
Being a pro-nuclear activist can cause occasional frustrations, especially considering how easy it is to get stuck in circular arguments with groups holding conflicting views about the same aspect of nuclear technology. One topic associated with nuclear energy production that can lead to frustrating arguments is the question of cost. People like Amory Lovins and…
On December 4, 2009, I spoke with Dr. Madeline Feltus, the Department of Energy technical program manager assigned the responsibility of coordinating the efforts of a team of scientists and engineers working on the refinement and testing of TRISO fuel particles for high temperature gas cooled reactors. During the interview, Dr. Feltus mentioned a few…