On December 27, 2013, Matt Wald published a piece in the New York Times titled New Energy Struggles on Its Way to Markets that points to the predictable consequences of having too many energy options chasing too few customers. When there is excess supply compared to demand, prices tend to fall rather dramatically. Falling prices…
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 video embedded above illustrates the kind of advertising that the natural gas industry, nuclear energy’s primary competitor, routinely uses to inform the public that it provides a valuable, reliable service. I hope you enjoy the reminder about the importance of communications and the irony of recognizing that the electric power utility company featured in…
I’ve just read a fascinating series of posts about shale gas extraction published on rbnenergy.com. Planned as a five part series, parts 1-4 have been published so far. The titles of each post start with the phrase “The Truth is Out There”. Here is the list of posts published so far: The Truth is Out…
A recent interview on Platts Energy Week makes it clear that low natural gas prices in North America are partially responsible for pushing nuclear power plants off of the grid. Natural gas prices in the US are about 1/3 of global average prices; in any other commodity market, that would be a clear indication of…
As a pronuclear advocate who majored in English as an undergraduate, I could not help but notice the frustratingly effective use of slanted language in the above video segment to damn nuclear energy with faint praise. From the very pregnant pause after President Obama says “if it’s safe…..”, to Dr. Lester’s multiply negative statement saying…
After receiving an email asking me to participate in a poll for the American Nuclear Society, I asked the following question of my Twitter followers. Would the American Natural Gas Society poll its members to find out if they should stop marketing the “low-carbon” aspect of their product? — Rod Adams (@Atomicrod) August 8, 2013…
Mark Halper recently published a piece on SmartPlanet.com titled Nuclear power cheaper than gas. He cited an article from InvestorIntel.com written by Canon Bryan titled Nuclear versus Natural Gas. That article was based on a report from a private consultancy named Energy Path Corporation. The Energy Path report is titled “Will Low Natural Gas Prices…
Author blurb: Paul Lorenzini earned his PhD in Nuclear Engineering from Oregon State University and later earned a JD. He had a distinguished career in the electric utility business and was the Chief Executive Officer for NuScale Power for its first five years. He is now retired and sharing some of his thoughts about energy…
There is no doubt that the Russian natural gas supply industry is a major interest group that expects to be a big winner in Germany’s Energiewende (energy transformation). The only news here is the concise clarity with which this Deutsche Bank analyst cheers his nation’s growing dependence on a supplier with a questionable record in…
On May 15, 2013, I had the opportunity to attend a session at the Nuclear Energy Assembly titled Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Supplying the Nuclear Energy Industry in the 21st Century. The panel discussion was moderated by John Hamre, President and CEO of Center for Strategic and International Studies. Participants included E. James Ferland, President…
I returned last night from a short vacation to Washington, DC. I am such an atomic geek that my idea of a vacation is to spend a couple of days at the Nuclear Energy Assembly (NEA) in a dim hotel conference room surrounded by a crowd of business leaders, many in dark suits who qualify…