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Atomic Insights

Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

Pressurized Water

Camp Century – Nuclear plant designed, manufactured, constructed & tested in less than 2 years

July 28, 2013 By Rod Adams

Under current rules and assumptions, anyone who claims that they can design and build a power-producing nuclear reactor in less than 10-15 years is considered to be naive or hopelessly unrealistic. However, there is no reason to believe that everyone with the technical capacity for completing the task will follow the same rules. Even in […]

Filed Under: Army Nuclear Program, Atomic history, Pressurized Water, Small Nuclear Power Plants, Smaller reactors

McSwain calculates cost of antinuclear actions at San Onofre – $13.6 billion

July 28, 2013 By Rod Adams

Dan McSwain, a business columnist and investigative reporter for U-T San Diego, has published an article titled The secret decision to kill San Onofre nuke. McSwain estimates that consumers will be required to pay least $13.6 billion in additional costs as a result of the unplanned, early retirement. I think that calculation is low because […]

Filed Under: Aging nuclear, Politics of Nuclear Energy, Pressurized Water

Steam generators are an option, not a necessity

July 18, 2013 By Rod Adams

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 […]

Filed Under: Aging nuclear, Boiling Water, Economics, Politics of Nuclear Energy, Pressurized Water

NuScale announces achievement of unlimited coping time

April 17, 2013 By Rod Adams

At the Nuclear Energy Insider SMR Conference in Columbia, S.C., Dr. Jose Reyes, a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer of NuScale Power, announced that his team had achieved an impressive design breakthrough. Two years after the Fukushima event, NuScale is introducing a safety system for our nuclear reactor that does not require DC batteries […]

Filed Under: New Nuclear, Pressurized Water, Small Nuclear Power Plants, Smaller reactors

The Weather Channel visits B&W mPower, Inc.

March 4, 2013 By Rod Adams

On February 14, 2013, my day job employer hosted a contingent from The Weather Channel who wanted to learn more about the B&W mPowerTM Reactor project. The video is quite informative and encouraging; even though there is a little poetic license taken with the story and the technical description. Though I work for B&W mPower, […]

Filed Under: New Nuclear, Pressurized Water, Small Nuclear Power Plants, Smaller reactors

Conservative groupthink afflicts US nuclear energy industry

October 5, 2012 By Rod Adams

Though I have a deep and abiding respect for the vast majority of the people I have met who work in the nuclear energy industry, it is time for me to risk losing a few friends with some brutal honesty. Decision making has become unbalanced in the “conservative” direction to a point of a dangerous […]

Filed Under: Atomic politics, Health Effects, Nuclear Cost Data, Politics of Nuclear Energy, Pressurized Water, Radiation

The History of Light Water Reactor Market Dominance – Part 2

March 13, 2009 By Rod Adams

(Like all parts in this series, the reference book is Light Water: How the Nuclear Dream Dissolved written by Irvin C. Bupp and Jean-Claude Derian and published in January 1978 by Basic Books, Inc. of New York.) One of the primary themes running through Light Water is the fact that the economic predictions associated with […]

Filed Under: Atomic history, Atomic politics, Fossil fuel competition, Pressurized Water

The History of Light Water Reactor Market Dominance – Part 1

March 12, 2009 By Rod Adams

Every once in a while, I like to curl up with a good story that has villains, well meaning good guys, international intrigue, and perhaps even a moral. Sometimes those stories have happy endings, other times they leave you hanging and waiting for the next installment. I just finished such a book – Light Water: […]

Filed Under: Army Nuclear Program, Atomic history, Boiling Water, Pressurized Water

The Atomic Show #075 – Ted Rockwell, Atomic Pioneer, tells Shippingport Atomic Power Station Story

December 20, 2007 By Rod Adams

Ted Rockwell has been there and done that when it comes to nuclear power plant design and construction. He was a key member of the team that built the Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the first solely commercial nuclear electric generating station in the world. On December 18, 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station started supplying […]

Filed Under: Atomic history, Atomic Pioneers, Podcast, Pressurized Water, Technical History Stories

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