Yesterday, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry toured the Yucca Mountain site to get a first hand look at the current state of the facility. Following the site tour, Sec. Perry met with Gov. Brian Sandoval. Here is what the Department of Energy press release said about that conversation. “Governor Sandoval and I had a frank…
The first few words of the first bullet in the Department of Energy’s (DOE) section of the Trump Administration’s Budget Blueprint seem purposely chose to instigate maximum conflict. Provides $120 million to restart licensing activities for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository This phrase, describing a spending item that represents just 0.4% of a $28…
The current practice for controlling ionizing radiation exposures is ALARA – (As Low As Reasonably Achievable). This practice is based on acceptance of the 1950s vintage assertion that all exposure to radiation, down to a single low energy gamma ray, carries a greater than zero probability of causing a genetic mutation that might result in…
By: Robert Hargraves and Chris Uhlik Introduction This essay responds to an article by Stanford Professor Mark Z. Jacobson et al, 100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water, and Sunlight (WWS) All-Sector Energy Roadmaps for 139 Countries of the World. Their controversial WWS roadmap has several interesting features and benefits. Coal, natural gas, and petroleum energy…
Generation mPower, one of the early leaders in the development of small modular reactors (SMR), has decided to fully terminate its partnership and put the design material that was developed onto a corporate shelf. Though this isn’t specifically good nuclear news, it is an indication that nuclear energy development has many hurdles that it shares…
Yesterday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission accepted NuScale’s 12,000 page design certification application (DCA). That action starts the safety determination process, which is scheduled to take 40 months. Completed on December 31, 2016 and submitted to the NRC on January 12, 2017, NuScale’s certification application has been subjected to a 60 day checklist review designed to…
Nuclear Energy Insider, a UK based trade publication and conference organizer that shares an acronym name with the Nuclear Energy Institute, will be holding its 7th annual early spring event focusing on small and advanced reactors. The Summit includes a face-paced, two day agenda on March 30-31. The venue is the conveniently located Westing Buckhead,…
Three state-owned Indonesian companies, Pertamina, PLN and INUKI, have completed the ThorCon technology pre-feasibility study agreed to in the Memorandum of Understanding with ThorCon International. The ten-month study concluded that the ThorCon molten salt reactor design could deliver safe, cheap, clean energy, could be built now, would be economically viable, and would have the potential…
Californians for Green Nuclear Power (CGNP) is hosting its 3rd annual rally in support of the continued safe operation of PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) a week from today on Friday, March 17, 2017 (St. Patrick’s Day). The event starts at 11:00 AM and is schedule to conclude at 1:00 PM. Participants are asked…
Senator Carper (D-DE) asked each witness at a March 8 hearing about NEIMA – Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act – to give one suggestion for improving the bill. If asked, my answer would be to include findings that emphasize the importance of U.S. government-owned testing facilities that are capable of supporting the NRC licensing…
Yesterday, on International Women’s Day, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee held a hearing that provided both visible and audible proof that times are changing in the political and public acceptance of nuclear energy. The committee organized the hearing in order to gather information and invited stakeholder feedback related to the recently reintroduced…
For International Women’s Day, we’d like to honor a pioneering medical physicist who developed one of the most important medical tools still in use today – radioimmunoassay. Dr. Rosalyn Yalow was a fearless pioneer in the medical physics profession. In 1977, she shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her contributions in developing…