Until very recently, the understanding held by most people associated with nuclear energy has been that nuclear energy plants must be very large to achieve the “economy of scale”. Yesterday a group of several hundred ANS meeting attendees heard from representatives from the USA, Jordan, Mexico, Japan, and Russia that there are customers who are…
Today is the first official day of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Winter Meeting for 2009. The title of this year’s meeting is “Nuclear Power: Crafting Energy Solutions”. During the plenary session that is scheduled for this morning at 8:00-11:30 two US Senators (James Webb (D-VA) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN)) are scheduled to provide information…
On Friday, November 13, 2009, President Obama paid a brief visit to Tokyo, Japan. As part of his visit, he gave a speech in which he affirmed America’s commitment to the basic bargains of the nuclear non proliferation treaty. All nations have a right to peaceful use of nuclear energy Nations with nuclear weapons have…
Dan Yurman at Idaho Samizdat has led the charge in organizing a blogger meetup during the upcoming American Nuclear Society Winter meeting. The meetup will take place in the Capitol Room between 6:30-8:30 pm on November 17, 2009 at the OMNI Shoreham Hotel on Calvert St NW. Areva will be providing refreshments. If you are…
In the past couple of days, I have noticed a significant increase in the amount of highly visible outdoor marketing in Washington, DC that is touting the benefits of burning methane, which is sold under the brand name of “clean, natural gas.” At the corner of 7th Street and Pennsylvania Ave., right across the street…
Steve Kirsch has recently published a guest post on Brave New Climate titled Fee-and-dividend is superior to cap-and-trade for effective carbon emissions reductions that does a better job than I have been able to do to explain my favorite solution to the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. (I called it a tax and return…
One of the banes of my current existence is a long commute from Annapolis to Washington. There are some advantages of a daily opportunity to see a lot of people and pass by a lot of examples of how people live and work. I also am blessed by being able to pass by some inspirational…
While visiting our daughter this weekend for a gathering to celebrate the pending birth of our granddaughter, I noticed the below bumper sticker on a vehicle belonging to a young friend who attends college in western Virginia. I gave her a big hug and told her I was proud of her proclaimed sentiments.
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is one of the most respected news sources in the world. Its status as a media tax supported organization that does not completely depend on advertising dollars has allowed it to maintain investigative journalism departments, to continue to cover the world and to produce high quality dramatic shows that do…
This morning I posted a blog talking about how a second round of new nuclear power plants analogous to the one that the US undertook during the period from 1970-1990 might lead to a lengthy period where natural gas supplies will be greater than natural gas demand. I described how such a situation can lead…
Just yesterday, I wrote a lengthy piece talking about how natural gas suppliers are working hard to market their product to both gas customers and to politicians who are making large impact energy policy decisions. One of the marketing bullets being used is that natural gas is newly abundant and can thus be considered a…
My years as an operating engineer has turned me into a contrarian and a pessimist who is constantly looking for signs of trouble, especially as others get excited and focused on temporary good news. My years as a critical consumer of commercially sponsored media has also made wary of sales pitches disguised as news stories….