General

  • The Atomic Show #036 – Professor Rodney Ewing Interview

    Interview with Professor Rodney Ewing – Department of Geological Science and Nuclear Engineering at the University of Michigan On November 2, 2006, I chatted with Professor Rodney Ewing of the University of Michigan. Dr. Ewing has been studying methods for disposal of used nuclear materials for more than 25 years. He made a recent speech…

  • The Atomic Show #034 – Aimless atomic chatting

    Mixed bag of atomic (and a few non-atomic) topics – enjoy! Shane and I have had a few busy days in our day jobs, so this show is a zero prep show with a variety of topics including long term storage of used nuclear fuel, the design and operation of Fermi’s CP-1, Steorn’s claim of…

  • The Atomic Show #032 – Uranium mineral collector – Ruth Sponsler

    Chat with a uranium mineral collector and nuclear power supporter Ruth Sponsler is an amateur mineral collector, a resident of the beautiful mountains of North Carolina and an active supporter of the use of nuclear energy. She blogs at We Support Lee. Shane and I invited her onto the show to talk about her unusual…

  • The Atomic Show #031 – Uranium resources and mining techniques

    Uranium resources and mining Uranium is a relatively common metal. The quantity that is readily available for human use is far larger than the quantity that would be required to fuel a vastly larger base of nuclear reactors than the one that is in operation today. The Uranium Information Center has published an excellent briefing…

  • Al Gore and nuclear power

    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 Atomic Show #030 – Nuclear energy: Status and outlook

    Impressions of talk by the Nuclear Energy Institute President. Shane and I start off the show by congratulating the voters in Sweden for their recent election of a new government. The leaders of the parties that seem likely to form the new coalition government have declared that they will not shut down any of Sweden’s…

  • The Atomic Show #029 – Nuclear power in space

    Space exploration applications of nuclear power Space exploration is critically dependent on energy sources that are long lasting and can operate in a vacuum. Nuclear power fits the bill, but there have always been objections that limited its applications. Objections notwithstanding there have also been a number of missions where the only real solution was…

  • Gas well blowout on Java

    Sometimes, important things happen in the world that get almost no notice. I was rummaging through some old email, including items from a mailing list that I have been subscribed to for years, when I ran across a story titled Poisonous mud wreaks havoc on Java. Apparently a gas exploration project has gone horribly wrong…

  • The Atomic Show #022

    During episode number 22, Shane and I begin with a rant about people like George Monbiot, the author of a recent article titled Sure, nuclear power is safer than in the past – but we still don’t need it. Our big beef is that he accepts a fossil fuel industry supported notion that it is…

  • The Atomic Show #021

    Atomic Show number 21 is a special episode. I was honored by the opportunity to interview Mary Mycio, the author of Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl. Mary is a unique person with an interesting career path; she earned her undergraduate degree in biology, became a lawyer and then left the law to pursue…