Dr. Edwin Lyman, Senior Scientist, Global Security Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, has published a paper titled Small Isn’t Always Beautiful: Safety, Security, and Cost Concerns about Small Modular Reactors that poses many questions about the development of SMRs. I’ve seen Dr. Lyman taking notes and asking questions at a number of SMR related conferences;…
On Wednesday, September 25, 2013, Democracy Now! aired a very important segment about the potential for the United States and Iran to overcome longstanding mutual distrust. There is some reason for optimism that acknowledging past actions that are the roots of the current situation may lead to constructive engagement that will benefit Iran, the United…
The Idaho National Laboratory released the following exciting news on September 25, 2013. IDAHO FALLS — A safer and more efficient nuclear fuel is on the horizon. A team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have reached a new milestone with tristructural-isotropic (TRISO)…
On the evening of September 22, 2013, I gathered a group of friends who are also pronuclear communicators. We spoke for nearly 90 minutes about some of the challenges that we face in helping people to understand the enormous benefits provided by atomic energy and the vast array of good things we are giving up…
Almost exactly 50 years ago today, President John F. Kennedy, Jr. visited Hanford, Washington to give a speech about the importance of electrical power and the role that he expected nuclear technology would play in the future. (HT to the TriCity Herald for posting the video provided by the Department of Energy and to Martin…
I’ve just read a fascinating series of posts about shale gas extraction published on rbnenergy.com. Planned as a five part series, parts 1-4 have been published so far. The titles of each post start with the phrase “The Truth is Out There”. Here is the list of posts published so far: The Truth is Out…
I realize that I may be accused of cherry-picking a particularly good month for US nuclear power plants, but I wanted to share something that helps to explain why I am so darned enthusiastic about nuclear energy’s potential to improve the human condition. This quote comes from the Nuclear Performance Report of August, 2013. For…
In July 2013, I published a post titled Can nuclear energy save Detroit? about a tiny company with an audacious plan to develop mass produced nuclear power plants. The company was pitching itself to Detroit as a potential nuclear industry that might help to turn the city’s financial situation around. Here is a quote from…
During the 1970s, the antinuclear movement made a collective decision to use “the waste issue” as a weapon to help force the eventual shutdown of the industry. Though the strategy has not succeeded in forcing any plants in the US to shut down, it has prevented a number of plants from being built. Ralph Nader,…
During the summer of 2013, Robert Stone, the director of Pandora’s Promise, was invited to show his documentary at the Traverse City Film Festival. Michael Moore, one of the most famous and financially successful documentary film makers in America, is the founder and president of the festival. After the showing, the two directors chatted about…
Recently, John Dudley Miller published a book review in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists titled A false fix for climate change. The review is sharply critical of a terrific little e-book written by Mark Lynas titled Nuclear 2.0: Why A Green Future Needs Nuclear Power. Mr. Miller makes a number of erroneous statements in his…
On September 10, 2013, the Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Allison Macfarlane and the Department of Energy’s Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Peter Lyons, spent almost two hours testifying in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. They had been invited to the hearing room to tell the committee what their organizations were…