The Nuclear Energy Institute is celebrating its victory for consumers, having convinced the DC Circuit Court and the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Court to set the nuclear waste fee to zero until the federal government implements a new plan for used nuclear fuel. That victory will save each of the people…
On Wednesday, February 5, 2014, a salt-hauling truck in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) caught fire when flammable liquids (either diesel fuel or hydraulic fluid) in the engine compartment contacted hot surfaces, most likely the catalytic converter. Though the fire filled much of the underground with smoke, all 86 workers underground at the time…
Newsweek Magazine has published a story by Alexander Nazaryan titled Shine On, Tiny Little Star in its March 17, 2014 issue. It describes recently achievements announced via widely distributed press releases. It includes the following quote indicating the excitement of the people involved in the project: The people here at Livermore are pretty stoked, to…
Have you ever noticed that many of the same organizations and people that fight nuclear energy also fight GMOs? Both technologies promise disruptive abundance that can improve the lives of billions of people. Here’s food for thought: Big Agriculture has as much to lose from technologies that solve world hunger as Big Oil, Big Coal,…
While researching answers to comments made on the Atomic Insights post titled Healthy doses of radiation, I found a book titled Nuclear Shadowboxing: Legacies and Challenges. It includes a fascinating appendix titled Radiation, Pollution and Radiophobia that should be required reading for people who are interested in understanding more about the health effects of low…
Doses of radiation that are lower than about 700 mGy/yr (see note below) are more likely to reduce cancer incidence and increase life span than to decrease it. In other words, moderate radiation doses are good for you in the same way as moderate exercise is good for you. The basis for this economy-altering assertion…
If you want to know something about radiation and have a five minute time window, invest your available time by watching What is Radiation: Understanding Radiation With the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. In my opinion, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has lapped the competition. They are in a commanding lead as the true “gold standard”…
A March 12, 2014 Democracy Now! segment featuring an interview with Ralph Nader was advertised as a report about the recent US Senate climate change talkathon. Nermeen Shaikh, the show co-host, moved rapidly from a discussion about the Senate actions to draw attention to climate change to asking Nader a leading question about nuclear energy….
Did you know that Michio Kaku has been actively opposed to the use of nuclear energy for at least 16 years? He was so worried about the use of the technology that he participated in organized protests against NASA’s use of radioisotope thermal generators (RTGs) to provide a steady flow of power to the Cassini…
Several times during the past couple of days, I have encountered comments from a variety of people who have claimed that a document released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request proved that the accident at Fukushima resulted in 5 people receiving lethal radiation doses. That claim does not match the…
On March 9, 2014, a small group of nuclear professionals gathered to talk about the events at Fukushima on March 11, 2011 and the continuing situation during the subsequent three years. The conversation included: Cal Abel – PhD candidate in Nuclear Engineering at Ga Tech who also blogs at Statistical Economics Meredith Angwin, who publishes…
There have been numerous discussions on Atomic Insights about the partisan nature of support for — or opposition to — the commercial use of atomic energy. I happened across the text of Adalai Stevenson’s 1956 commentary on the Republican Party platform, as published in the New York Times on August 26, 1956. It’s worth sharing…