Russia has announced plans to lend Hungary $14 billion at below market rates to finance the construction of additional nuclear energy production units at the existing Paks nuclear power station. The announcement is one more piece of evidence showing that Russia continues to diversify its income by exporting nuclear power stations to as large a…
Ionizing radiation is a known, studied and understood phenomenon to which the Precautionary Principle no longer applies. It is time to shift the paradigm that governs radiation exposure limits to a sensible standard of “As High As Relatively Safe” (AHARS). Aside: I’m crediting Dr. Wade Allison with the etymology of the term – AHARS. I…
A California-based correspondent shared the following vignette to a private email list early this morning. An aside — had dinner with a Stanford biz prof teaching entrepreneurship. His 15 Chinese students were at the table too (big table). A few spoke English. One is international marketing head for China Nuclear Power Engineering Company — largest…
Nuclear Energy Insider has announced that it is planning its 4th annual conference aimed at people who are professionally interested in small modular reactors. The conference will be held March 31 – April 1, at the Ritz-Carlton in Charlotte, NC. The organizers have lined up a veritable “who’s who” of people involved in SMR design,…
I’ve been pondering the misadventures of the Akademik Shokalskiy for several days, thinking about the difference in result between an excursion planned on the cheap by people who depend on things going smoothy and a voyage planned by people who included contingencies and had access to more capable technology. In the summer of 1994, the…
One of my favorite pastimes is listening to Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak, who bill themselves as “media assassins”, on the No Agenda Show. On yesterday’s episode, number 580, John and Adam spent about 15 minutes (starting at about 1:44:00) discussing the absurd tales that are propagating around the web regarding USS Ronald Reagan…
Dr. Ron Mitchel is a Canadian scientist with a PhD in biochemistry who has been studying the biological effects of low dose radiation on living creatures for the past 35 years. In January 2013, he gave a talk to the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Nuclear Society on biological responses to low dose radiation. Dr….
There are a number of wacko sites trying their darnedest to stimulate fear and trembling about the events at Fukushima even though the reactors have been in a cold shutdown condition for two full years. As noted earlier this week, if you want to get information about Fukushima from a calmed, interested, and well informed…
The following tweet led me to an interesting tale about the history of recycling. #Recycling seems like a relatively modern phenomenon. Instead, it has deep roots. http://t.co/5NqweNZVkb via @OnEarthMag — NRDC (@NRDC) January 4, 2014 After reading the article, I composed the following comment, taking care to ensure that it followed the rules for civil…
The demonstrations in this BBC video are, as the Brits might say, brilliant. Though it has been posted since June, I learned of its existence from the following tweet: Debunking lack of information on #radiation, the basis of #nuclear science. Very informative video from the BBC… http://t.co/xzsVcYL8OE — Futuro Nucleare (@futuronucleare) January 4, 2014 I…
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Just before Christmas 2013, a diesel-powered, ice-capable Russian research vessel named MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which was carrying scientists studying climate change, got stuck in the Antarctic ice. The scientists on the ship were not in any immediate risk or suffering any hardship conditions; they had plenty of fuel and supplies. The scientists have been evacuated…