U-Battery was one of the more intriguing presenters at the Advanced Reactor Technical Summit (ARTSIII) held at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory last week. Even though this was a technical summit, the segments of the presentation that captured my attention were the business model and the funding source. However, certain technical choices are vital to […]
Conferences
Jump on the Advanced Reactor development and deployment bandwagon
On February 10-11, 2016, the U.S. Nuclear Infrastructure Council (USNIC) sponsored the 3rd annual Advanced Reactor Technical Summit. Oak Ridge National Laboratory provided the venue for the event. Though he wasn’t the first speaker, I’d like to begin my reports from the event with Jeffery Merrifield’s stage setting talk. Merrifield is a man with a […]
NCSE Food-Water-Energy Nexus – Day 1
The National Council on Science and the Environment (NCSE) is holding its annual conference this week at the Hyatt-Regency National Airport hotel in Washington, DC. This year’s conference topic is the food-water-energy nexus; it is aimed at bringing together people who are deeply engaged in science, actions, and policy development to address one, two or […]
John Holdren nuclear energy’s importance as ultra low carbon power source – White House Summit on Nuclear Energy (WHSNE)
John Holdren holds what might be the longest complete title available in the current Administration. He serves as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). In his role as an […]
ANS Winter Meeting – “Nuclear: The Foundation of Sensible Policy for Energy, Economy and the Environment”
In less than a week, I will be joining about 1200 or more of my fellow members of the American Nuclear Society at the annual winter meeting. The gathering place is the Marriott Wardman Park; the dates are November 8-12. This year the meeting theme is “Nuclear: The Foundation of Sensible Policy for Energy, Economy […]
Atomic power to the people
A couple of days ago, I came across an inspirational logo. I liked it so much that I contacted the person who had posted it on the Nukes page on Facebook. It was on a flyer announcing a series of talks about atomic energy at the Dallas Makerspace by a group called Atomic Energy Interest […]
Licensing advanced reactors in the United States
On September 1-2 2015, the US DOE and US NRC jointly sponsored a workshop on advanced non-LWR [light water reactors]. Your intrepid reporter from Atomic Insights attended and managed to ask a few questions. The presentations are available here. One of the highlights of the first day of the workshop came during the question and […]
Finding the New Energy Mix in New England
Dan Yurman recently published a post titled Energy in New England focus of Bloomberg forum with Nuclear Matters that described an intriguing event sponsored by Bloomberg and Nuclear Matters. Here is an excerpt from his post: The proceedings will kick off with a conversation with John Kotek, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of […]
ANS 2015 Plenary Talks – Part 5 Scott Tinker, Texas state geologist and star of the documentary “Switch”
Scott Tinker, Director, Bureau of Economic Geology and creator of Switch was the final speaker during the plenary session on June 8, 2015 at the American Nuclear Society (ANS) annual meeting. As usual, his talk was face paced, well delivered and full of important information about energy. His segment about the challenges and opportunities associated […]
ANS 2015 Plenary Talks – Part 4 David Scott, architect of UAE nuclear program
The UAE has made amazing progress in moving from a country almost totally dependent on burning natural gas (some of which is imported) to provide domestic electricity to one where a rapidly growing portion of its electricity from 2017 onward will be produced in zero fossil fuel, no CO2 emission nuclear fission reactors. In 2009, […]
ANS 2015 Plenary Talks – Part 3 Tom Fanning, President, Chairman and CEO of Southern Company
Tom Fanning is always a good choice to speak to a gathering of nuclear professionals who might need a little bit of confidence building. Here is a quote from the start of his talk during the ANS 2015 opening plenary session. I’m going to give you the punchline and that is that nuclear must be […]
ANS 2015 Plenary Talks – Part 2 Welcome from Doyle Beneby, Chairman and CEO of CPS Energy
Doyle Beneby, the Chairman and CEO of CPS Energy, welcomed the ANS meeting attendees to San Antonio. He talk was partly the traditional greeting provided by the electric utility that supplies power in the service territory hosting the meeting, but he also spoke about his vision for the future of energy. He was not an […]
