The great state of Texas seems to be poised to become the nuclear capital of the US based on the number of new nuclear plants that have been proposed for the state. TXU, Exelon, NRG and Amarillo Power have all proposed major new nuclear power plant projects in Texas, already the home of 4 of…
The atomic geeks chat about the new radiation warning symbol, France’s interest in selling large plants to South Africa, Japan’s new mixed oxide fuel plant and much more. Enjoy the ride! Half of Atomic Show 50 comes to you from a food court in Norfolk, VA – I am on travel this week. Shane and…
Alberta oil sands producers are taking a hard look at CANDU nuclear power plants. Alberta Canada is one of the few areas in the world where oil production has increased rather dramatically during the past 5 years. The area has a vast resource of unconventional oil in the form of oil sands, where the concentration…
Several months ago, I interviewed Ruth Sponsler, an amateur mineral collector. Ruth also runs a blog titled We Support Lee, which is named for a proposed new nuclear power station in Ruth’s home state of North Carolina, located in the southeast section of the United States. Ruth recently wrote a rather detailed post titled The…
As I talk with other “nukes” at conferences, on the web and in other social circumstances, I often get into political discussions. I know – you are supposed to avoid politics, religion and sex in social circumstances, but I guess I never really accepted the idea that one should avoid all interesting topics as a…
The big news since Shane and I last talked is the announcement by a Texan named George Chapman of the formation of Amarillo Power and its plans to build two Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWR) near Amarillo Texas. Shane questions the location based on his frequent drives through the area. Water might be an issue,…
I hope some of you missed us last week. If not, we must be doing something that needs improvement. Just in case you noticed that we did not post a new show last week, we simply were not able to match up our schedules. I had a series of meetings about Adams Atomic Engines and…
During show number 15 of The Atomic Show, Shane and I discuss the effects of ever increasing gasoline prices on people that need to drive light trucks as part of the way that they earn their living. We then discuss how nuclear power, specifically smaller nuclear reactors designed to compete in markets currently dominated by…
In the period from 1966 to 1964, there were two basic reactor choices being offered for commercial electric power production. American companies were offering reactors that used ordinary water under pressure as the reactor coolant. British and French companies were offering reactors using pressurized CO2 gas as the reactor coolant. There were substantial technical differences…