On November 11, 2011, the Institute of Nuclear Plant Operators (INPO) released a report that provides a detailed timeline of events that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in the days and weeks following the Great North East Japan earthquake and series of seven tsunamis. Releasing that report was a rare event; INPO…
Dr. Wade Allison, the author of Radiation and Reason, was interviewed following a recent visit to Japan. He has a rational recommendation for the international radiation protection community – instead of setting radiation dose limits based on keeping them as close to zero as possible, why not choose levels that are based on keeping the…
On November 12, 2011, USA Today published an article titled Media allowed in tsunami-hit nuke plant that contained some classic elements of slant by selectively highlighting certain facts while ignoring others. The situation was a good news story. Tepco, the electric power utility company that owns the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station has reached a…
A November 9, 2011 Platts headline caught my attention this morning New Calvert Cliffs nuke ‘almost inconceivable’: Exelon CEO. I have been following the Calvert Cliffs Unit 3 story for several years. I used to be a Maryland resident and made a couple of trips down to Calvert County for public meetings on the proposal…
On November 3, 2011, Thalia Assuras of EnergyNow conducted an extended interview with NRC Chairman Greg Jaczko regarding Yucca Mountain, used fuel storage, the lengthening process of getting a license from the NRC, the reasons why nuclear license applicants are getting discouraged, and the possibility that the courts might direct the NRC and the DOE…
On Friday, Nov. 5, I heard an inspirational talk given by a man who had a big influence on my early career; he was the Brigade Commander who welcomed the class of 1981 to the US Naval Academy on July 6, 1977. Col. Art Athens, USMCR (Ret.) is now the Director of the Stockdale Center…
The Philadelphia Inquirer recently ran a story titled Exelon’s Rowe an unlikely booster for shale gas. The headline writer was wrong; John Rowe is one of the most motivated natural gas salesmen in the United States right now. Though he will not receive any commission checks for his efforts, he stands to profit immensely if…
A few days ago, I wrote What should “Radioactive Wolves” teach critical thinkers? and promptly got really busy at work. I put in several “half-days” (Navy lingo for a 12 hour work day) and did not have much time for paying attention to Atomic Insights. When I finally got around to checking on things, there…
I hope this helps you get pumped up to work to improve the American economy and restore American power. I admit it, I am feeling a little sarcastic this morning. Perhaps a better word would be jealous – why doesn’t my industry run ads like these? Please forgive me for this one, but one of…
Radioactive Wolves, the first episode of the 30th season of PBS’s Nature, documents current conditions in the area that was forcibly evacuated following the uncontrolled radioactive material releases caused when the operators at the Chernobyl nuclear power station conducted a poorly planned experiment and blew up their power plant. In the absence of human beings,…
For the past few months, I have been rereading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Though the book was first published more than 50 years ago, it is remarkably prescient about some of the risks that society can face when too many people forget how to produce items of real value and quality. It is a book…
Sometime before December 2009, someone at the New York Academy of Sciences decided to print a Greenpeace sponsored book titled Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment in a publication called the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. The roots of the decision remain murky. Within a few months after…