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…
Making Deserts Bloom – Nuclear Power in the Middle East Shane and I chatted about recent announcements by Morocco, Algeria, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia that they have been talking with the International Atomic Energy Agency about developing nuclear power programs. All of the countries have indicated that they are interested in using nuclear…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
George Chapman, an entrepreneur, developer, cattle rancher and former nuclear power plant welder is building a formidable team to help him build one of the first new nuclear plants in the United States in more than a decade. The most recent of several stories about the project was written by Karen Welch Smith and published…
It was one of those weeks when Shane and I could simply not match our schedules for a talk. Just so none of you would miss your Atomic Show fix, I have obtained permission to post an interview of me conducted by Paige and Gretchen of Mommycast. I had been corresponding with them about my…
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…