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…
Kristin Zaitz and Heather Matteson, the founders of Mothers for Nuclear, sent the following message to their colleagues and other people that have signed up for their mailing list because they are deeply concerned about the fate of one of the best located, robustly designed, and carefully maintained power plants in the country. Heather gave…
Recently, the below email to Diablo Canyon workers landed in my in-box. Aside: I subscribe to a lot of different mailing lists. End Aside. It’s from Michael Shellenberger, the founder of Environmental Progress. Michael is a tireless and vocal advocate for nuclear power as a valuable tool for solving some of the world’s most wicked…
One of the most tweeted sessions at the 2016 Nuclear Energy Assembly consisted of a panel of people from outside the industry that told the crowd they were doing important, exciting, society-saving work. The panel moderator, Entergy’s Bill Mohl, was visibly surprised by the enthusiasm for nuclear technology shown by Rachel Pritzker, Ben Heard and…
During the recently completed Nuclear Energy Assembly in Miami, Fl, one of the panel discussions focused on the importance of ensuring that nuclear energy has a loud voice and is at the table in policy discussions related to clean power production and CO2 emissions reductions. The panel participant list included a last minute change, substituting…
The 2016 Nuclear Energy Assembly included a panel discussion on the topic of preparing for new reactor development. NEI’s Chief Operating Officer, Maria Korsnick, moderated the panel. Other participants included Jacob DeWitt, CEO and co-founder of Oklo, a start-up company with a design for a 2 MWe nuclear generator designed for remote power applications where…
South Australia is making progress in its effort to profitably address an issue that has slowed nuclear energy’s growth prospects for more than 40 years. On May 9th South Australian premier Jay Weatherill released the final version of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission report that had been briefed to him on May 6. The…
Communications professionals have often counseled nuclear professionals to stop sounding so much like scientists and engineers. We often purposely avoid emotion because we like to think of ourselves as rational people that make decisions based on hard facts, numbers and quantifiable metrics. Many of the people who have sought and obtained positions of responsibility and…