A BusinessWeek article titled Putin $14 Billion Nuclear Deal Wins Over Russia Critic Orban recognizes the importance of recent Russian power deals to supply gas, oil, and nuclear energy facilities. There is widespread confusion about energy versus power. Conversations about the business of selling hydrocarbons or electricity are described as being about energy, but the…
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…
The above clip is titled Nuclear power for the future. It describes the industry leading example of the construction project at Plant Vogtle in northeastern Georgia and it includes some opining on America’s energy future by Greg Jaczko the former Chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The video correctly points to the fact that…
Watch more video from the CNN channel on Frequency Though I sometimes suffer from the blues, I am not crazy — I swear. Even though I am just a guy who often blogs in my PJs, I’m also pretty sure that I am not a nobody. In fact, none of us are nobodies, we are…
By Timothy Maloney, PhD Editor’s note: Timothy Maloney has written a number of text books about electrical circuits, electricity, and industrial electronics. The below is a copy of a letter that he wrote to Ralph Nader in response to an opinion piece published by CounterPunch under the headline Why Atomic Energy Stinks Worse Than You…
The October 8, 2013 episode of Democracy Now! featured a fascinating conversation with James Marriott, Anna Galkina, and Timothy Mitchell. The three guests shared a passion of mine; they have obviously invested a great deal of time investigating the way that oil and gas dependence influence power politics, economics and the condition of our environment….
John Horgan and I had another conversation on Bloggingheads.tv about nuclear energy. He asked a lot of good questions; I hope that you find my responses worth considering. In the above embedded video segment, we talked about the causes of low natural gas prices in the US. I explained how I believe that the situation…
In an interview that shows what kind of “nuclear industry executive” he was, Arnie Gundersen explains to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! that even though nuclear fuel costs are far lower than fuel costs for gas or coal plants, the need to employ hundreds of trained, dedicated professionals is a severe disadvantage. He was the…
We spent a lot of time on this show talking about energy-related education. It is important for people to have a better understanding of how they get energy, how humans use energy to enable better living, and how difficult life can be when there is no reliable, convenient source of delivered energy. We tipped our…
Dr. Mark Cooper is strongly opposed to the use of nuclear energy, but on July 18, 2013, he issued a report sponsored by the Vermont Law School titled Renaissance in Reverse: Competition Pushes Aging U.S. Nuclear Reactors to the Brink of Economic Abandonment that may inadvertently spur action to create a more competitive industry. If…
The US Nuclear Regulator Commission (NRC) recently posted a blog written by Kenneth Karwoski, Senior Advisor for Steam Generators that attempts to help people understand a little more about steam generators. The blog post was titled Where There’s Steam, There’s … a Steam Generator. Aside: Many of my colleagues would immediately point to the title…
Nuclear energy in the United States and Europe is far more expensive that it should be. There is plenty of blame to spread; nuclear professionals have to accept some of the responsibility. If you want to do something about the high cost of nuclear energy, it might be best to start with taking the actions…