Atomic Advocacy

  • Professional climate change mitigation consultant says: “Let’s get real: nuclear is the only option”

    By Ben Heard HOW dare anyone pretend to be surprised by Japan’s reduced emissions target? This was a foregone conclusion with a global element of responsibility and important lessons for Australia. The frightening loss of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors precipitated the withdrawal from service of Japan’s remaining, largely undamaged nuclear generators for stress testing and…

  • Professional antinuclear greens resist; greens concerned about climate change embrace

    Fissures related to nuclear energy are developing in the monolithic movement known as Environmentalism. The Breakthrough Institute has published a good introduction to the schism titled The Great Green Meltdown: How Economic Arguments Against Nuclear Highlight Environmentalist Delusions. Though this is a simplification, it is generally accurate to describe two sides of the movement that…

  • Naval Reactors should be empowered to show the way – again

    President Obama should task John Richardson with a mission similar to the one that President Dwight Eisenhower gave Hyman G. Rickover. Richardson is the current leader of Naval Reactors (NR), the organization that Rickover built. If directed, NR could begin a new assignment to show others how to manufacture complete nuclear fission power systems starting…

  • European broadcasters shun Pandora’s Promise; It contradicts their prior investments

    At the end of September 2013, Robert Stone was interviewed about Pandora’s Promise by Société Française d’Energie Nucléaire (SFEN). During that interview, he described his inability to convince a single European broadcaster — outside the UK — to show his documentary. According to Stone, representatives of broadcasting companies throughout the EU have told him that…

  • Time for an atomic career change

    It is time for a career change. For the foreseeable future, I am going to write books and articles for a living. This career move has been a long time in the making. During my first interview for a nuclear-related job, Admiral Rickover asked me, “English major? Why are you an English major?” I responded…

  • JFK’s “Best of the Above” speech at Hanford, WA on September 26, 1963

    Almost exactly 50 years ago today, President John F. Kennedy, Jr. visited Hanford, Washington to give a speech about the importance of electrical power and the role that he expected nuclear technology would play in the future. (HT to the TriCity Herald for posting the video provided by the Department of Energy and to Martin…

  • Robert Stone talks with Michael Moore at the Traverse City Film Festival

    During the summer of 2013, Robert Stone, the director of Pandora’s Promise, was invited to show his documentary at the Traverse City Film Festival. Michael Moore, one of the most famous and financially successful documentary film makers in America, is the founder and president of the festival. After the showing, the two directors chatted about…

  • PBS Need to Know – The Nuclear Option. Damning with faint praise

    As a pronuclear advocate who majored in English as an undergraduate, I could not help but notice the frustratingly effective use of slanted language in the above video segment to damn nuclear energy with faint praise. From the very pregnant pause after President Obama says “if it’s safe…..”, to Dr. Lester’s multiply negative statement saying…

  • Atomic Show #207- Stomping scare stories

    There has been a whole spate of scary stories published in the past couple of weeks about various aspects of nuclear energy. While the reason for the flood is not entirely clear, some atomic advocates — including me — believe that people who have invested their careers in working to halt nuclear energy are worried…

  • Importance of nuclear energy to modern society

    This video from the International Atomic Energy Agency includes many enlightening facts and images that should help people to understand why nuclear energy is a valuable, long-term investment.