Update: One-woman crusade to save Zion nuclear power station heads to court

It has been several months since I last reported on the efforts of Nancy Thorner, the Illinois resident who has been working diligently for several years to encourage Exelon to reconsider its 1998 decision to shut down the 22 year old (at the time) Zion nuclear power station. You can find links to previous articles…

Atomic Show #172 – Decarbonise South Australia

On August 13, 2011, I spoke with Ben Heard of Decarbonise SA and Barry Brook of Brave New Climate. These two Australians are both working hard to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in a land where the idea of reducing the consumption of carbon and hydrocarbon fuels trends on the interests of some very powerful…

Decarbonise South Australia and Brave New Climate visit The Atomic Show

On August 13, 2011, I braved the 13.5 hour time difference between Adelaide, South Australia and Lynchburg, VA to record an interview with Ben Heard, the force behind Decarbonise SA and Dr. Barry Brook, the well respected climate scientist who blogs at Brave New Climate. Aside: I used the phrase “braved the time difference” because…

Photos of Sanmen 1 pressure vessel arrival

The pressure vessel for Sanmen unit 1, which will most likely be the world’s first Westinghouse AP1000 in operation, arrived on site in late July. I thought you might like to see some photos of the component. One thing that never ceases to impress me is the fact that the pressure vessel fully contains the…

Chairman Jaczko does not like the NRC voting process when he loses

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman, Dr. Greg Jaczko, has expressed his frustration with the voting process in effect at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He is the same man who defended that process rather vigorously when it allowed him to pocket veto a vote about legal requirement for the NRC to continue its evaluation of the…

Nuclear professionals move forward with due haste – rushing is not in our DNA

On August 2, 2011, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing with all five members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The subject was the 90-day report by six career regulators with recommendations for actions to take as a result of their interpretation of the sketchy information that has been discovered so far…