By: Ryan Kinney and Randy Reames The U.S. nuclear industry is in a tough spot right now. The closures of well-operated units, e.g. Vermont Yankee, and the potential closures of several more (e.g. Fort Calhoun, Clinton, Quad Cities) are neither motivating nor good press. While some people may despair that we are doomed because of…
Rachel Pritzker and Ben Heard, two skilled communicators that have recognized the immense gift to humanity represented by the tightly packed power inside uranium and thorium nuclei, joined me in a terrific discussion about effectively communicating the awesome story of nuclear energy. It should be apparent by now that the US nuclear industry is facing…
BY: William Rodgers “Why would PG&E decide to destroy Diablo Canyon during its (I would think) period of highest ROI?” Because they can “earn” a higher ROI by switching to natural gas-fueled power plants that are supplemented by federally subsidized wind and solar. The stockholders will earn a guaranteed return on subsidized wind and solar….
The Precourt Energy Efficiency Center at Stanford University hosted the 2016 Silicon Valley Energy Summit yesterday. The headline attraction was an “Oxford-style” debate featuring two Nobel laureates–Steven Chu and Burton Richter–versus UC-Berkeley’s Dan Kammen and NRDC’s Ralph Cavanagh. The topic was promoted as Resolved: “The World Needs A Nuclear Renaissance.” The event was live-streamed and…
Reprinted with permission. Original published on Forbes.com on May 20, 2016. On Thursday, May 19, the Department of (DOE) hosted a four-hour, invitation-only summit in a meeting room in the Senate Office building. Billed as an action-oriented forum for a variety of stakeholders to discuss what they can do about the economic challenges facing nuclear…
A few minutes ago, Exelon employees received an email from Chris Crane, the company CEO, announcing the company’s decision to permanently close three nuclear reactors that each produce 7-8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year without dumping a molecule of CO2 into the atmosphere. Even though the company reported 2015 after-tax earnings of approximately…
Exelon, a corporation that I publicly “unfriended” in 2009, has apparently failed to receive the assistance it demanded by the May 31st deadline it imposed on the Illinois legislature. Aside: For reasons that aren’t obvious, Exelon’s public communications about financial difficulties affecting its nuclear plants rarely, if ever, mention the magnitude of the cost increases…