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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

Politics of Nuclear Energy

Nuclear advocates overwhelm a clean energy poll with a write-in candidate

January 13, 2022 By Rod Adams 8 Comments

On January 12, 2022, the New York Power Authority posted a poll on its Twitter feed. It asked people to vote for the clean energy technology they would like more of in 2022. The poll listed electric vehicles, green hydrogen, solar and geothermal.

Which #cleanenergy technology are you hoping to see more of in 2022?

— NY Power Authority (@NYPAenergy) January 12, 2022

Within a couple of hours, more than sixty users had responded to @NYPAenergy with a write-in candidate – nuclear energy. More than 98% of the tweet responses suggested nuclear as the technology they would like to see more of in 2022 – outside of the people who chose one of the four choices offered.

The reaction was impressive. It was apparently overwhelming to the NYPA – the settings were changed to prevent any more responses from people that the NYPA did not follow or respond to. It’s possible that they did not want the write-in candidate to win.

Dr. Chris Keefer, the host of the Decouple Podcast, produced a recording of the way the tweet feed grew and then shared that recording.

Now this is what you call a nuke pile. Watch for a few seconds for the epic the scroll down. Hilarious. pic.twitter.com/KtbIxeRblg

— chris keefer (@Dr_Keefer) January 12, 2022

Who knows if spontaneous actions from a disparate group of advocates will have any impact on energy policies? It is, however, one more data point indicating that the public conversation about nuclear energy is changing.

Filed Under: Atomic Advocacy, Clean Energy, Nuclear Communications, Politics of Nuclear Energy

Atomic Show #291 – Kalev Kallemets, Fermi Energia

February 24, 2021 By Rod Adams 3 Comments

Fermi Energia is an Estonian company whose mission is to provide its home country with an independent, clean, safe and affordable electricity production system by 2035. That system will be anchored by base supply from small modular nuclear reactors.

It is a lofty mission for a small company in a country whose land mass and population is roughly the size of the state of Maine and whose current electricity supply system is dependent on oil oil shale burning power plants with a small, rapidly varying portion of energy from wind turbines.

On the web page where Fermi Energia explains why it believes Estonia needs nuclear, there is a graph of its wind power generation as measured each hour during 2018 and an explanation for the mismatch between this pattern and electricity consumption.

Kalev Kallemets, born and raised in the Estonian countryside during its days as a Soviet satellite, has a keen understanding of his country’s history and its people. He has significant experience as a political leader and broad education in engineering and business.

He joined me for lively, informative and entertaining Atomic Show.

Kallemets has gathered a compact group of like-minded people; there are about a dozen members of the team. They working with numerous partners to create an fertile environment for new nuclear plant development, including a regulatory system and strong public interest and acceptance of nuclear energy.

They are leading with the benefits, but also helping people to understand the responsibilities that come with becoming a country whose power comes from atomic fission.

Fermi Energia is led by people who have a keen understanding of the value of nuclear energy and a realization that there are a wide range of technological capabilities under development. The four currently leading the evaluation process are GE-Hitachi’s BWRX-300, NuScale’s NuScale Power Module, Terrestrial Energy’s IMSR, and a high temperature gas reactor being developed by Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC).

The company knows that no matter which technological choice is made, the key to success will be the planning and development effort that must be invested to create effective projects with the kind of social license needed to support superior cost and schedule performance.

One measure of Fermi Energia’s early success is its recent social media-enabled fund raising round to provide the seed capital needed for the important planning stage. Kalev describes how the early goal for its Funderbeam campaign was doubled to €1 million after they obtained an early indication of interest in their development effort.

When that campaign was officially opened, it was completely subscribed in less than an hour. That indication of real, committed interest led the company to double its goal again before closing the finance round with what it considers to be an adequately strong balance sheet.

The successful financial raise has not changed the company’s frugal spending habits; the founders have a keen sense of corporate responsibility and personal ownership. They know they still have a long way to go before they are producing revenue from the products of the nuclear power systems they are planning to build.

During Atomic Show 291, Kalev talks about the Estonian energy supply situation, its relationships with its Baltic neighbors, the importance of Lithuanian and Poland, the still fresh memory of Soviet occupation, and the vision of a clean, safe, affordable, secure, and reliable power system anchored by modern atomic power stations.

As always, I encourage you to comment, ask questions, and engage in productive discussion. I think you will enjoy hearing Kalev talk about his company’s exciting efforts to produce a bright future for his country.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/AtomicShowFiles/atomic_20210222_291.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:42 — 58.2MB)

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Filed Under: Business of atomic energy, International nuclear, Podcast, Politics of Nuclear Energy

Atomic Show #290 – Myrto Tripathi, Voices of Nuclear

February 9, 2021 By Rod Adams

Nuclear energy professionals are credible sources of information about a powerful technology that can help address climate change and contribute to humanity’s development. Voices of Nuclear is an international non-profit group that seeks to empower nuclear supporters, both professionals in the industry and allies outside of the industry, with tools, organization and effective messages. Myrto […]

Filed Under: Atomic politics, International nuclear, Podcast, Politics of Nuclear Energy

Atomic Show #268 – Jigar and Jake

March 22, 2020 By Rod Adams 3 Comments

Oklo Power recently announced that it had filed the first non-light water reactor combined license application ever submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Their 1.5 MWe fast spectrum, passively safe reactor represents a complete paradigm shift for nuclear energy. It’s not a big, slow to build, hugely expensive project requiring complex financing structures. It’s a […]

Filed Under: New Nuclear, Podcast, Politics of Nuclear Energy, Smaller reactors

Atomic Show #265 – Atomic Optimism. Under-appreciated opportunities in sight.

February 19, 2019 By Rod Adams 7 Comments

On Sunday, Feb 17, I realized that I was feeling extraordinarily good about the future of atomic energy, the future of clean energy production, and the future prosperity of the world that my grandchildren are going to inhabit. I immediately composed and sent an invitation to some atomic colleagues to join me in a conversation. […]

Filed Under: Business of atomic energy, Podcast, Politics of Nuclear Energy

Atomic Show #260 – Pro-nuclear voices from COP23 in Bonn. Not a warm welcome

November 27, 2017 By Rod Adams 8 Comments

Eric, Kirsty and Iida provide copies of Energy for Humanity's recent report on European emissions

This episode of the Atomic Show is a conversation among five clean energy advocates who attended the COP with the goal of sharing what they know about the ways that nuclear energy can help reduce global emissions while also providing a growing amount of reliable power. With more power, more people will have a pathway […]

Filed Under: 100% WWS, Alternative energy, Atomic politics, Climate change, International nuclear, Podcast, Politics of Nuclear Energy

Self-Described Antinuclear, Pro-Renewable Former Vermont Legislator Claims “We were angels, doing God’s work.”

November 21, 2017 By Rod Adams 7 Comments

Tony Klein, a former Vermont legislator who played an important role in Vermont energy law creation during the last decade, recently gave a fascinating talk at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Vermont. Fortunately for those of us with a deep interest in energy politics, the talk was competently recorded for posterity […]

Filed Under: Tony Klein, Antinuclear activist, Politics of Nuclear Energy, Solar energy, Unreliables, Vermont Yankee, Wind energy

Logical Basis For Sec. Rick Perry’s Resiliency Pricing Rule.

October 30, 2017 By Rod Adams 18 Comments

The intense conversation Energy Secretary Rick Perry purposely initiated with his Sept. 29 letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission continues to occupy the attention of specialists. The direction was concise: implement pricing rules that protect electricity generators that meet certain requirements from being pushed into early retirement. The marching orders came with an aggressive but […]

Filed Under: Atomic politics, Business of atomic energy, Economics, Politics of Nuclear Energy

U.S. DOE to Follow Industry Lead In Setting Priorities Under Trump

August 20, 2017 By Rod Adams

R. Shane Johnson recently briefed representatives of the U.S. nuclear power industry about the the strategies and programs that the Department of Energy (DOE) is developing to implement the Trump Administration’s vision for nuclear energy. Johnson is the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy. He’s the senior career civil servant in […]

Filed Under: Atomic politics, Politics of Nuclear Energy, UWC 2017

New York’s Zero Emission Credit For Upstate Nuclear Plants Upheld

August 10, 2017 By Rod Adams

Just over a year ago, I visited Albany, New York to attend a public hearing held by the New York Public Service Commission. I joined a number of friends – new, old and formerly just virtual – who were there to find out if the NYPSC would make the important decision to give upstate nuclear […]

Filed Under: Atomic politics, Politics of Nuclear Energy

Pro nuclear movement can appear confused to left and right

July 31, 2017 By Rod Adams

Last week Ketan Joshi (@KetanJO) published a piece titled Nuclear power’s tense contradiction. Ketan is a thoughtful science and technology writer who earned a science degree (neuroscience and psychology) from Sydney University and has worked in the renewable energy industry. He is also deeply interested in politics and identifies with the left. His article is […]

Filed Under: Atomic politics, Politics of Nuclear Energy

Moon Jae-in Making Friends By Promising To Buy More Gas

July 21, 2017 By Rod Adams

During his successful campaign to become South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in promised to dramatically increase South Korea’s natural gas consumption. Within weeks of taking office, he took several concrete steps towards fulfilling that promise. He announced the near-term closure of 10 coal plants, he allowed the operating license to expire as scheduled for South Korea’s […]

Filed Under: Antinuclear activist, Atomic politics, Fossil fuel competition, International nuclear, Natural Gas, Politics of Nuclear Energy

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