The Heritage Foundation has produced a factual, inspiring, visually appealing documentary titled Powering America. As the title suggests, it is focused on the United States and our energy choices, but the need for power is universal and the options are essentially the same all around the world. Here is the trailer:
Powering America Trailer from Heritage Foundation – Marketing on Vimeo.
The documentary will be broadcast several times on the Documentary Channel in the next month. I will let you know about other viewing opportunities and about ways to obtain the DVD to show to civic groups, schools, and professional societies.
Join in on the chat scheduled for March 9, 2012 from 12-1pm EST.
Cal Abel says
March 9, 2012 at 7:18 AMRod,
Thank you for finding this, unfortunately I will not be able to attend the chat and look forward to watching the video, I have my oral examinations for my qualifier… My calendar is marked for Sunday!
Bob Applebaum says
March 9, 2012 at 10:04 AMStrange bedfellows…the Heritage Foundation has spread much misinformation on global warming over the years which has severely damaged nuclear power growth opportunities in the U.S. But now that they have a pro-nuclear “documentary” (it may truly be a documentary, though historically they produce propaganda), the nuclear industry is embracing them.
Brian Mays says
March 9, 2012 at 12:41 PMStrange indeed. Greenpeace has spread much misinformation on nuclear power over the years which has severely damaged nuclear power growth opportunities in the U.S. But they have been so active in promoting the “truth” about global warming that they now have career-activist employees authoring parts of official IPCC reports. Historically they produce propaganda, but now … well, I guess some things never change. 😉
Bob probably thinks that An Inconvenient Truth was a “documentary” instead of an ego-trip by a failed politician who is still bitter about losing the 2000 election.
Rod Adams says
March 10, 2012 at 1:29 AM@Applebaum
Strange comment coming from a man who stubbornly and repeatedly argues that there is no safe dose of radiation. Do you have any idea how much that inaccurate position has damaged nuclear power growth opportunities in both the US and around the world?
The fear of even tiny doses of radiation that have no possibility of causing harm that is distinguishable from all other norm risks of simply living on planet Earth has led to an enormous level of excessive regulation, high engineering and construction costs, and timelines for new product development that stretch out far longer than the patience of any investor.
BTW – Your comment almost makes it sound like Atomic Insights speaks for the nuclear industry. I can assure you that this is a completely independent publication produced by an individual that is frequently critical of “the nuclear industry” for lousy cost management practices and ill advised marketing efforts. In fact, I often cast doubt on the notion that there is any such thing as a nuclear industry since most of the players are quite conflicted about which energy source is actually superior to all others.
Andrew Jaremko says
March 9, 2012 at 11:23 AMRod – thanks for the post. From the trailer, it looks interesting, and hopefully it’ll have its facts straight. (Some of the statements about radiation in the trailer are inadequate but that might just have happened in editing the trailer, if the editor isn’t fully technically literate.) I went to the documentary site and the topics covered are:
though presumably not in that order. It looks like they’re dealing with solid fuel pressurized water reactors as they exist now, and may not be discussing breeders and converters of any sort. Seems to me there’s another, more visionary documentary (or series) that needs to be done. Gordon McDowell at ThoriumRemix is on the right track with the Thorium Remixes but we need so much more…
Joel Riddle says
March 9, 2012 at 12:09 PMAndrew,
Gordon is going to be making a much-improved version of his Thorium Remix, which you might be aware of, thanks to nearly $24,000 that has so far been pledged to his project.
http://energyfromthorium.com/2012/02/20/support-gordon/
On the IFR front, there was a documentary from sometime in the 90’s that was on PBS. I will link it later on this afternoon (although I have yet to find time to watch it).
Bill Gates and Intellectual Ventures might be able to put together a decent documentary for their TWR (although I have doubts about the cost/benefit ratio of trying to design a plant to operate for ~60 years straight: “Set it, and Forget it”-mentality, I guess).
Andrew Jaremko says
March 9, 2012 at 7:27 PMJoel – thanks. I’m aware of Gordon’s success and will be getting in touch with him about contributing animation and other content to Thorium Remix 2012. I have good intentions and we’ll see if I can do anything useful for the show.
If you’ve seen Thorium Remix 2011, I’m in the audience at Kirk Sorensen’s Protospace presentation in Calgary and spoke with Kirk afterwards. It was a great evening.
Reese says
March 9, 2012 at 1:54 PM“Strange bedfellows.” Not at all, Mr. Applebaum. Cut it out. If Rod gets his info from Heritage or Current or Link, so what? What is the “misinformation” on “global warming” from Heritage? You turn people off coming in as such a… Richard Cranium.
Anyway,
TED Talks today 1930 on Link, “Does the World Need Nuclear Energy?” Stewart Brand and Mark Jacobson square off over the pros and cons of nuclear power.
Sunday 1700 on DOC, “Powering America” The safety of nuclear energy is examined by following men and women working in America’s nuclear power industry.
Sunday 2030 on Link, “Deutsche Welle’s in Focus ‘Fukushima Shock– Power Money and Morality'” Tilman Jens looks at the ethical consequences of our thirst for ever more energy. Replay Monday 1900.
I hope I adjusted properly for time zones, setting them to Eastern.
gallopingcamel says
March 11, 2012 at 1:31 AMI love the ACLU because they are wrong on every issue.
Thank God for the Heritage Foundation. They are right on every issue.
Who is Bob Applebaum?
Thank you Rod for the video. Thank you Joel Riddle for that Thorium link.
Joel Riddle says
March 11, 2012 at 9:01 PMNo problem, Camel. I would have thought you would have already come across the Thorium Remix kick starter campaign long ago.