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…
Joe Romm, the lead thinker at Climate Progress, has once again exposed the fact that he is not terribly serious about fighting climate change. In fact, he is so casual about the effort that he wants everyone to dismiss nuclear energy out of hand as being too expensive to matter, without even thinking about trying…
Waiting for something to take shape is simply not in my nature. I was trained to look ahead, bring some technology to bear, sense the rocks on the radar and note the shoal water warnings on the chart. Gail Marcus at Nuclear Power Talk recently published a post titled Natural Gas: A Flash in the…
After a number of discussions with people in positions close to the decision to destroy the Kewaunee nuclear power station, I am now about 98% sure that it will be shut down as currently scheduled in May of 2013. I am also about 95% sure that the decision will cost electricity customers in the Midwest…
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…
During President Obama’s February 12, 2013 State of the Union address, he spoke for six and a half minutes about the importance of energy to the American economy and the importance of being a world leading supplier of clean energy technology. As a proud contributor at an American clean energy company that is developing a…
While participating in a discussion thread associated with my recent appearance on Dot Net Rocks, I remembered I’ve been meaning to write a post recommending that the the electricity production industry change its attitude about electricity conservation. For many complex reasons, the power business is one of the only industries I can think of where…
Though I am not actively pursuing the idea right now, I have had several opportunities in the past couple of days to explain to people why I made the design decisions I did when putting together the Adams Engine concept. As a rather lazy man, I figured it would be easier to repurpose those arguments…