I came across a great news story on timesunion.com about the controversy surrounding the Indian Point nuclear power station titled NY plant finds support at public meeting. There was a recent public meeting to discuss Entergy’s appeal of a ruling by the state Department of Environmental Conservation which denied Indian Point a water use permit…
I decided to take a day off from Atomic Insights and provide a guest post on The Oil Drum titled Possibilities for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors. It is occasionally useful to reach out to other audiences. As some of you who are familiar with that venue and its members will recognize, there is often a…
There is an opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal titled The Natural Gas Revolution written by John Deutch. According to the credit at the bottom of the article, Mr. Deutch is a professor at MIT and former under secretary of the Department of Energy. He currently serves on the board of directors of Cheniere…
I attended a heart warming press event this morning that gave me the same kind of goosebumps that I feel when listening to the Star Spangled Banner after an American wins a gold medal at the Olympics. Considering the potential economic and environmental impact of the product that will be produced as a result of…
The Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Greg Jaczko, has scheduled a one day trip to Vermont for today, July 14, 2010. As you may or may not know, the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant has been under a focused attack by people who want it shut down at the end of its current operating…
This story is adapted from an article that first appeared in the June 24, 2010 issue of Fuel Cycle Week, trade newsletter offering complete coverage of the nuclear fuel cycle from a U.S. business perspective. It has been repurposed with permission. During the week of June 8-11 AREVA brought five North American writers to France…
An article titled Alstom opens largest rotor balancing facility in Tennessee appealed to both my inner manufacturing geek and my patriotism. It described, in glowing terms, a tour of a factory that recently opened on the Tennessee river in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The facility includes an impressive rotor balancing tunnel that allows the manufacturer to spin…
The American Public Power Association (APPA) has released a detailed, 95-page study titled Implications of Greater Reliance on Natural Gas for Electricity Generation (4.8 MB PDF) that analyses the costs, required rule changes, and risks of replacing a major portion of the coal fired electricity in the United States with natural gas. APPA is the…
On June 15, 2010 during the American Nuclear Society annual meeting, Lisa Stiles interviewed Joe Colvin, the new President of the American Nuclear Society. Joe talked about the opportunities and challenges facing the ANS and discussed his priorities for the upcoming year. Look for some technological improvements, new opportunities for the ANS to provide independent…
This morning I was catching up on Democracy Now while engaging in an early morning bike ride. Aside: It rained all day yesterday. That provided some welcome relief from a week long heat wave and did a great job in clearing the air of the soot and haze that had built up during the associated…
It has been a hot week here in Maryland and throughout the eastern portion of North America. As a guy who enjoys his air conditioned comfort during heat waves, I want to send a thank you note to the people who are operating all of the power plants, but especially to those nuclear plant operators…
Lisa Stiles and Rod Adams met for a chat about recent nuclear industry meetings including the American Nuclear Society annual meeting that Lisa attended in San Diego in early June and the Platts – DOE Small Modular Reactor meetings that Rod attended in Washington, DC in late June. After signing off with Lisa, Rod asked…