While there has been a tremendous level of attention paid to the small leaks of tritiated water discovered at some US nuclear power plants, a much larger magnitude source of radioactive material has been largely ignored in public discourse. Rock formations that contain fossil fuel resources also contain uranium, thorium and their decay products in…
In an long delayed effort to prove to Vermont legislators that they are taking action to correct leakage of mildly radioactive water into the ground under the buildings that house Vermont Yankee, Energy as announced that they have disciplined 11 senior employees, five of whom have been removed from their positions and placed on administrative…
Today, February 25, 2010, professional anti-nuclear organizations are encouraging people to call their congressmen and senators to express themselves about the President’s decision to increase the ceiling for nuclear project loan guarantees from $18.5 to $54 billion as part of his FY2011 budget submission. Please take a minute or two out of your day to…
I came across an interesting statement in an article titled “Coal Industry Review” written by Alfred T. Wells, Jr. and published in the September-October 1964 issue of the Financial Analysts Journal. (I know, I need to find some more interesting hobbies besides digging through ancient magazine journal articles.) Here is the quote that caught my…
During the last couple of days, I have listened to two lengthy reports on the impacts of fracking, a method of breaking up very deep shale formations to free up trapped fossil gas so that it can be profitably extracted if market conditions are favorable. The first story about fracking comes from from DemocracyNow.org. It…
Some advertisers have been known to issue cease and desist letters to bloggers who republish their ads for free. Something tells me that NEI will not mind too much if I share one of the print ads that they are going to be running during the next few months. I’ll remember to seek forgiveness later…
Perhaps it was the President’s expression of strong support when he announced that Southern Company would be the first company offered the opportunity to pay the federal government hundreds of millions of dollars in loan guarantee fees to support its well-vetted investment in 2 major electrical power factories in a jobs challenged rural area in…
On Sunday, February 21, I gathered a group of well experienced nuclear professionals to talk about the impact of President Obama’s February 16, 2010 speech announcing loan guarantees for Southern Company to build two additional units at its Vogtle Nuclear Station. Margaret Harding, Kelly Taylor, John Wheeler from This Week in Nuclear, Dan Yurman from…
On Sunday, February 21, I gathered a group of well experienced nuclear professionals to talk about the impact of President Obama’s February 16, 2010 speech announcing loan guarantees for Southern Company to build two additional units at its Vogtle Nuclear Station. Margaret Harding, Kelly Taylor, John Wheeler from This Week in Nuclear, Dan Yurman from…
USA Today has an article titled Actor Alec Baldwin blasts Obama’s call for nuclear power, citing safety risks that quotes Balwin and ends with a question to readers about his comments. Readers: Is Baldwin right? Here is my response: Of course not. The real question is why do people pay attention to an actor’s opinion…
Steve Packard at Depleted Cranium has published an excellent, well-researched post titled Why You Can’t Build a Bomb From Spent Fuel. It is getting high praise among people who understand the technical and political aspects of the topic being covered. Here are some sample reactions: “In the context of this discussion, this is very useful….
Scott Simon interviewed Stewart Brand, an icon of the US environmental movement on Weekend Edition for Saturday, February 20, 2010. He asked some probing questions and Brand gave some clear responses that are worth listening to and understanding. Brand is an excellent communicator and has a savvy media presence that is worth emulating. He does…
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