Entergy’s announced decision to close Vermont Yankee hit me pretty hard. It was the fifth announced closure of a large nuclear reactor in 2013. It was one more indication that the nuclear renaissance that seemed so close to becoming real in 2005 is struggling. It was also an announcement that I took a little personally,…
by Jeremy Whitlock Ah, Nuclear Power, my old friend. Please do come in. Have a seat. Again you’ve been away too long. I feel silly coming here Doc. Now, now, hush. Sooner or later, everyone comes here. Tell me, how are things going? Well that’s just it Doc – on the face of it you…
In a brief editorial published on October 14, 2013, the New York Times editorial board admitted what many of us had suspected for many years – it is strongly opposed to the use of nuclear energy and believes that its use should be halted. The editorial was titled Fukushima Politics; it is quite possible that…
IEEE Spectrum recently published an article titled Former NRC Chairman Says US Nuclear Industry is Going Away that included a few choice quotes about Greg Jaczko that put me into a feisty mood. As regular Atomic Insights readers know; I have no love and virtually no respect for the man. He has spent at least…
On Wednesday, September 25, 2013, Democracy Now! aired a very important segment about the potential for the United States and Iran to overcome longstanding mutual distrust. There is some reason for optimism that acknowledging past actions that are the roots of the current situation may lead to constructive engagement that will benefit Iran, the United…
On September 10, 2013, the Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Allison Macfarlane and the Department of Energy’s Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Peter Lyons, spent almost two hours testifying in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. They had been invited to the hearing room to tell the committee what their organizations were…
A couple of days ago, I wrote about my discovery that Robert O. Anderson, a long time leader in the global petroleum business, had provided the seed money that David Brower used to fund Friends of the Earth, an organization that has been fighting against nuclear energy for more than 40 years. I pointed out…
This post originally appeared as a comment in response to an Atomic Insights post titled Global corruption in natural resource industry. It discusses energy issues from the perspective of someone deeply engaged in action to improve conditions for people in the developing world. It is too important to be buried in a comment thread. By…
Robert Stone’s Pandora’s Promise has been capturing attention and encouraging people to challenge their personal beliefs and tribal assumptions. Stone’s documentary is a classic “journey of discovery” tale featuring five people who changed their minds about nuclear energy from opposition to support. It takes viewers along the path of knowledge discovery followed by Gwyneth Cravens,…
On May 31, 2013, Pix 11 (WPIX-TV out of New York City) published a story titled Local power plant battling lawmakers and environmentalists to stay open that included some information about the potential negative effects on the New York City power supply if the plant is forced to shut down. It mentioned that politicians like…
Attempting to transition away from fossil fuels to an “all renewable” energy system is fraught with cost and reliability challenges. Germany is running into substantial challenges and is burned 5% more lignite – brown coal – in 2012 than it did in 2011. Recently completed studies that including a range of scenarios in Australia and…
Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) trace their heritage to William Proxmire, a senator famous for his “Golden Fleece” awards for wasteful government spending. Yesterday, the organization held a press conference to announce that they had decided to award a Golden Fleece to the US Department of Energy SMR (small modular reactor) program. The press release…
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