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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

Atomic Show #288 – Per Peterson, CNO, Kairos Power

January 25, 2021 By Rod Adams 9 Comments

Kairos Power Is developing a truly new nuclear fission power technology. Their KP-FHR (Kairos Power – Fluoride Salt Cooled, High Temperature Reactor) combines the solid fuel form usually associated with gas-cooled reactors with the fluoride molten salt often associated with fluid-fuel reactors. For Atomic Show #288, my guest was Dr. Per Peterson, Kairos Power’s chief […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Molten salt cooled, Pebble Bed Reactors, Podcast

Kenneth Pitzer blamed AEC advisors for slow power reactor development

January 18, 2021 By Rod Adams 2 Comments

During the Atomic Energy Commission’s (AEC) earliest years, the General Advisory Committee was sometimes viewed as a source of discouraging, delaying advice. Made up of selected members of the scientific establishment, the group habitually sought more studies and inserted costly delays aimed at making the perfect next step instead of taking steps that were good […]

Filed Under: Atomic history

Why did the US Atomic Energy Commission kill Daniels Pile in 1947?

January 16, 2021 By Rod Adams 2 Comments

In January 1947, after more than a year of focused public attention and debate, the civilian U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) took control of all atomic energy matters from the Manhattan District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This takeover was a major victory for the atomic scientists and others who worked diligently to […]

Filed Under: Atomic history, Atomic Pioneers, Gas Cooled Reactors, Uncategorized

How did an oil shale investor hamstring his atomic energy competition? (Ancient but impactful smoking gun)

January 14, 2021 By Rod Adams 7 Comments

During the contentious effort that resulted in passage of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, Sen Eugene D. Milliken (R-CO) played an important role in establishing an attempted US government monopoly over all atomic energy information. During the House-Senate conference committee to resolve differences between versions of the bill passed by the two legislative bodies, […]

Filed Under: Atomic history, Fossil fuel competition, Smoking Gun

Improved atomic energy offers a pathway that Princeton’s Net Zero America failed to acknowledge

December 23, 2020 By Rod Adams 14 Comments

Princeton’s Net Zero America: Potential Pathways, Infrastructure and Impacts charts five challenging, tortuous, investment-intensive paths to “net-zero” by 2050. A presentation that contains 345 slides of text, colorful graphs and wide area maps provides details about the selected scenarios. The Princeton research team promises peer-reviewed journal articles in the near future. According to sponsor organization promotional materials, the slide deck […]

Filed Under: Clean Energy, Climate change, decarbonization, Nuclear Performance

Adams Engines™: Design Concepts

December 18, 2020 By Rod Adams 17 Comments

In the spring of 1991, I began contemplating ways to combine the benefits of gas turbine power plants with the incredible advantages of nuclear fuels like uranium, plutonium and thorium. That effort has continued sporadically for many years with many interesting impacts on my life. It was impetus for a small modular reactor start-up company […]

Filed Under: Adams Engines

Will heavy nitrogen become a widely used fission reactor coolant?

November 17, 2020 By Rod Adams 43 Comments

Heavy nitrogen has the potential to become as important to the future of atomic fission power system development as heavy water has been up until now. That’s a bold statement, so let me explain why I believe it’s true. Are any nitrogen cooled reactors being used today? One nuclear fission power system – the US […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies

Is there a conspiracy against nuclear energy?

November 14, 2020 By Rod Adams 50 Comments

I have been accused of being a conspiracy theorist for pointing out the blindlingly obvious fact that nuclear energy competes for markets against fossil fuels. There is abundant evidence showing how hydrocarbon interests have worked to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about nuclear power. Since the stories are spread over the 80 year period since […]

Filed Under: Fossil fuel competition

Atomic Show #287 – Darren Gale, VP Commercial Operations, X-Energy talks about Xe-100

November 12, 2020 By Rod Adams 2 Comments

X-Energy is the lead recipient for one of two industry groups selected to receive $80 M in Department of Energy (DOE) funding as part of a public-private partnership program to demonstrate advanced nuclear power plants on an aggressive time table. Its primary partner in the endeavor is Energy Northwest, which currently owns and operates the […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Gas Cooled Reactors, Graphite Moderated Reactors, New Nuclear, Pebble Bed Reactors, Podcast, Small Nuclear Power Plants

Open Letter to Interim Storage Partners and Holtec – please find better locations for your CISF projects ASAP

November 7, 2020 By Rod Adams 21 Comments

Dear Holtec and Interim Storage Partners: Both of you are actively pursuing permission from the US Nuclear Regulatory to build consolidated interim storage facilities in an area of southwest Texas and southeast New Mexico that seemed well suited for the purpose at the time that you began the process. Times have changed since then. One […]

Filed Under: Atomic politics, Fossil fuel competition, Nuclear Waste

Atomic Show #286 – Chris Wright, CEO Liberty Oilfield Services

November 6, 2020 By Rod Adams

Chris Wright is the CEO of Liberty Oilfield Services, which recently became the second largest US company performing the work of drilling and completing oil and gas wells in shale formations. He is a leader in the field of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal well drilling, having been involved in the revolutionary technology development since the […]

Filed Under: Fossil fuel competition, Fossil fuel cooperation, Natural Gas, Podcast

Atomic Show #285 – MMR at Illinois

November 3, 2020 By Rod Adams 6 Comments

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a stretch goal of completing its next research and test reactor by the end of 2025. It has assembled a team that includes several other major universities, national labs, and industrial partners. It has selected the MMRTM, a product that is being developed by USNC (Ultra Safe Nuclear […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Atomic education, New Nuclear, Podcast

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