Here are some items worth watching or listening to when you have some free time: On January 28, the Colbert Report included an interview with Michael Shellenberger of The Breakthrough Institute. Colbert introduced Michael as “an environmentalist who believes in nuclear energy. Finally, liberals who glow in the dark.” On January 30, Mark Lynas, a…
One of the benefits of being “out there” in the social media world – which includes old fashioned email lists – is the opportunity to meet like minded souls without being limited to people who happen to be in your neighborhood or your physical social circle. I recently saw an exceptional commentary about Pandora’s Promise…
Sami Mäkeläinen and I agree that the world’s economy is barreling forward on a course that will result in a great deal of pain and suffering as we collide with the limitations on the available supply of hydrocarbons paired with the negative environmental effects of continuing to increase the rate at which they are consumed….
One of the more frequent inquiries I have received during my years operating Atomic Insights is “What happened to the NS (nuclear ship) Savannah?”. I just learned about a recently completed documentary film by Thomas Michael Conner, a former member of the ship’s crew, that is designed to answer that question in detail using sea…
Though I believe that Katie has received some inaccurate technical information about solid fueled reactors, I cannot argue with the effectiveness of her presentation skills. Please enjoy the below series of videos about the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR). It is one of many alternative ways to use the incredible energy density available in the…
The ANS Nuclear Cafe recently posted the above video in a post titled Nuclear Cafe Matinee: Nuclear Recycling in 4 Minutes. It is a useful example of the kind of information that needs to be made more accessible to the public. I hope you share it widely, but more importantly, I hope it inspires you…
Bob Hargraves, the author of Thorium: Energy Cheaper than Coal, recently traveled to Shanghai to present a 30 minute talk summarizing the main points of discussion that he covered in his book. The occasion of the trip was Thorium Energy Conference 2012. Bob is a professor with a good facility for numbers and a talent…
The Virginia Uranium Working Group held its final public meeting before turning their report in to the Governor on November 27, 2012. The meeting was held in a modest sized room at the Virginia Science Museum in a room where the photos on the wall celebrated Virginia’s railway heritage. One of the two large photos…
The Virginia Uranium Working Group, the body chartered by the governor to provide a scientific policy analysis to determine if the current moratorium on mining uranium in Virginia should be lifted, is holding its final public meetin tonight. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:00 pm at the Virginia Science Museum, 2500 West Broad…
One of my favorite aspects of hosting a topically focused site like Atomic Insights is attracting active participation from people with varied backgrounds who join together to discuss their shared energy interests. I hope you delve into the comment threads; they are often more informative than the initial post that starts the conversation. A few…
Energy discussions often frustrate me, partially because so many people in the discussion ignore what customers want. Perhaps my view is wrong, but my conclusion is that people really want power, not energy. There is a fundamental difference; power is energy per unit time. Power units measure the rate at which energy can be consumed;…
There are 34 nuclear reactors located in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. Of those, 7 were shutdown for planned maintenance. Three units tripped due to disturbances on the grid or issues with one of their redundant cooling systems. The other 24 remained operational and supplied as much power as the grid could accept. On Sunday,…