Politics of Nuclear Energy

  • “Chernobyl” – 25 years as a profitable brand

    Twenty-five years ago today, the operators at unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power station violated enough procedures and by-passed enough safety systems to cause their water-cooled, graphite-moderated reactor to suffer a nuclear power excursion large enough to cause a steam explosion. The force of that steam explosion was strong enough to lift the lid…

  • Fear of Radiation is Killing People and Endangering the Planet Too

    This is a guest post by Ted Rockwell. He wrote it in 1998, but the information and opinions remain valid today. The words between the lines below are Ted’s. Begin guest post FEAR OF RADIATION IS KILLING PEOPLE AND ENDANGERING THE PLANET TOO Theodore Rockwell MPR Associates, Inc., U.S.A. ABSTRACT We are permitting tens of…

  • Is Mark Hertsgaard a nuclear skeptic or a nuclear “crank”?

    Mark Hertsgaard, the author of Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, appeared on Democracy Now on Friday, April 15, 2011. He made several important statements that lead me to believe that he might be one of the next influential environmental writers to be swayed by evidence to become a nuclear energy supporter….

  • Twitter conversation about energy sources and free market

    On April 8, 2011, Alan Nogee, Director of Climate & Energy Strategy and Policy for the UCS posted the following on Twitter. Cato’s Jerry Taylor takes #nuclear power 2 the free market woodshed. Ouch! Forbes. He repeated that tweet with a better link and called Taylor’s opinion piece a “must read”. The article that Alan…

  • Misunderstanding the “questioning attitude” that infuses nuclear culture

    The US House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on April 6, 2011 billed as “The U.S. Government Response to the Nuclear Power Plant Incident in Japan”. During the hearing, Dr. Edwin Lyman of the UCS and some of his allies in Congress made a point of discussing some internal emails from regulators at…

  • Go Nuclear – Message from Murray Miles

    A few days ago, I published the text of a speech given by Murray Miles to The Keese School of Continuing Education. At the time I published that speech, I had not been able to contact Mr. Miles to obtain his permission. Since that time, I have made contact and begun what I hope will…

  • Successful Alternatives to Fossil Fuel

    The New York Times published a story titled Certainties of 1970s Energy Crisis Have Fallen Away that caused me to fire up my keyboard to send a note back to the author. Following my personal mantra of “reduce, reuse, and recycle”, I thought I would share that note with you. Ms. Galbraith: Your article titled…