Shell Oil's Version of Future Energy Sources

I hope that the below copy is readable, but if not, you might try clicking on it to get access to a larger version. It came from the December 8, 2008 issue of Fortune Magazine. Just in case you cannot read the copy, here it is: “Tackling climate change and providing fuel for a growing…

Smoking Gun Part 14 – Peter Hartley Claims Natural Gas is Cheaper Than Nuclear

Eric Berger, writing for the Houston Chronicle, published an article on Friday titled Nuclear power’s core of support gains strength. He provided some opposing view commentary from Peter Hartley, a man he describes as “an energy expert at Rice University”. Here are some of the quotes from the article: “I just don’t think there will…

Gas Crisis in Europe Definitely Leading to a New Nuclear Conversation

A couple of days ago, I linked to an article quoting Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov stating a need to restart Kozludy 3, a 405 MWe nuclear power plant that was forced to shut down at the end of 2006 as a result of EU demands as part of Bulgaria’s accession to the EU. A reader…

Interesting Word Substitution

I am not sure if anyone else will as amused as I am with the following quote, but I just had to share it. This is from an article titled International nuclear fuel program set for Monday published on January 9, 2009 in the Pahrump Valley Times, which bills itself as Nye County’s largest newspaper…

Two More Utilities Tell GE "No Thanks" on the ESBWR

Entergy and Dominion Resources have announced that they have been unable to reach an agreement with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy on the details of building Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactors (ESBWR) as their next new nuclear power plants. Entergy had started the process of obtaining a Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) for an ESBWR…

Bulgaria May Respond To European Gas Crisis By Restarting Nuclear Power Plants

As a result of the gas supply crisis in Europe, Bulgaria has announced the start of activities to begin producing electricity from Kozloduy 3, a 405 MW reactor that was shut down in 2006. The reactor has been purposely maintained in a condition that would allow it to be restarted within approximately one month if…

The coal waste issue

I have been getting into conversations with people about nuclear energy for several decades now, and nearly every one of them eventually gets around to “the waste issue”. It happened to me again on Monday night during an interesting conversation with a politically active federal government employee. Here is the scene. I was at a…

The Atomic Show #121 – LFTR with Kirk Sorensen and Charles Barton

Kirk Sorensen and Charles Barton are some of the world’s most vocal advocates of the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) concept. Together, they operate Energy from Thorium, one of the richest veins of energy knowledge available on the web. During our conversation, they provide a lot of food for thought with their detailed descriptions and…

Russia's New Year Gift to Nuclear Power – Another Natural Gas Cutoff

Though I often describe Russia as a nation of skilled chess players to my colleagues as I attempt to remind them that Russia’s “Great Power” aspirations did not start or end with the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, even good chess players can make short sighted moves. This morning, Russia, after another round…