Atomic Show #309 – Matt Huber, Geography of Energy

Atomic Show #309 – Matt Huber, Geography of Energy

Matt Huber is a professor of geography at Syracuse University. He writes about energy, economies and the way that energy sources have influenced modern societies and economies. One of his first books was Lifeblood: Oil, Freedom, and the Forces of Capital (2013) which is very briefly described as follows: Looking beyond the usual culprits, “Lifeblood”…

Atomic Show #307 – Mark Nelson, Managing Director Radiant Energy Group

Atomic Show #307 – Mark Nelson, Managing Director Radiant Energy Group

Mark Nelson has been traveling the world in an effort to help create a sustainable pronuclear movement. His focus includes both saving existing plants and encouraging the construction of new reactor in areas that have operating reactors, those that have shut down their nuclear plants and in countries that have never operated nuclear plants. We…

Enough with “renewables!”

Enough with “renewables!”

The American Nuclear Society posted an article entitled How a nuclear victory at COP27 started with a teen and a text reporting on the wonderful story of Ia Aanstoot. This is the 17-year old Swedish highschool student who effectively saved the day for nuclear at COP27 by alerting a WhatsApp chat group with the right…

Atomic Show #293 – Robert Bryce – Journalist and Bird Watcher

Atomic Show #293 – Robert Bryce – Journalist and Bird Watcher

Robert Bryce is an admired journalist, book author, filmmaker, public speaker, Congressional witness and podcaster who has focused on energy, power and its implications for mankind’s prosperity. In his free time, he loves to watch birds. He recognizes that electricity is the lifeblood of modernity. He is saddened by knowing that there are billions of…

Nucleating our carbon-managed future

Nucleating our carbon-managed future

If you’ve studied chemistry, you’ll know that the nucleation point describes the start of a change in physical state, such as from a solid to a liquid, or liquid to gas. Water starting to crystallize into ice nucleates where the first H2O molecules reorganize as a solid. We’re seeing a similar transformation of human society—forced…

Five Myths about the Lone Star Blackout

By Meredith Angwin When we hear something terrible has happened to someone we know, we are concerned for them. We are worried.  We want to help.  And let’s face it, we are also concerned that something like that might happen to US.   Our self-concern often takes the form of a list: “All the reasons…

Preliminary lessons available to be learned from Feb 2021 extended cold spell

A large number of “hot takes” are appearing now that the cold wave that began arriving on Feb 11, 2021 has moved into areas where sub-freezing temperatures in Feb are normal. If the politically charged nature of the takes could be harnessed, the energy released would be able to keep quite a few homes supplied…

South Texas Project Unit 1 tripped at 0537 on Feb 15, 2021

South Texas Project Unit 1 tripped at 0537 on Feb 15, 2021

Update: South Texas Project Unit 1 started up during the afternoon of Feb 17. Vicki Rowland, lead for internal communications at STP Nuclear Operating Company, stated that the plant was connected to the grid at 2107 (9:07 pm central time). It began a steady ascent to 100% power. The NRC’s Power Reactor Status Report for…

Atomic Show #269 – Robert Bryce, A Question of Power

Atomic Show #269 – Robert Bryce, A Question of Power

In the modern world, countries need a reliable electricity grid to prosper. Globally, demand for electricity is growing as a result of population growth, new ways to use electricity, and the effort to spread access to electrical power to a greater portion of the world’s population. For the past four years, Robert Bryce has been…

Is America’s vaunted electricity supply system on course for rocks and shoals?

Late last week, while many observers were focused on a long weekend of religious celebrations with friends and families, there were several announcements made in the slowly developing crisis in the American electricity supply system. Operators of a number of several large power plants with the ability to produce electricity night and day, wind or…

Performance of the New England power grid during extreme cold Dec 25-Jan 8

The Independent System Operator for the New England power grid (ISO-NE) has produced a summary brief describing the challenges associated with Arctic Outbreak 2017-2018, a period of substantially below normal temperatures that lasted from Dec.25, 2017 until Jan. 8, 2018. After describing the intensity of the cold wave with a number of graphs, charts, images…