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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

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

January 16, 2021 By Rod Adams 1 Comment

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 ensure that civilians were put in charge of the incredible new energy source.

The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 gave the civilian AEC far-reaching monopoly powers over all aspects of atomic energy development. In the short summary of major aspects of the law provided by one of its drafters is this high level policy statement.

Basic Policies:
a. “Improving the public welfare, increasing the standard of living, strengthening free competition among private enterprises so far as practicable, and cementing world peace.”
b. Specific provisions for encouraging research, insuring public availability of peacetime uses, and leaving basic decisions to Congress when practical applications are ready.

Miller, Byron S., “A Law is Passed: The Atomic Energy Act of 1946“, The University of Chicago Law Review, Summer 1948 Vol 14, Num 4.

Public excitement about useful atomic energy

One of the primary sources of public excitement about atomic energy was the prospect of using fission chain reactions to produce reliable heat that could supplement or even replace traditional fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. Throughout the war years, propaganda messages, rationing and other constraints on fuel use had increased public awareness of energy’s importance and had increased interest in finding alternatives and new supplies.

There was serious public interest in power producing piles. The Manhattan Project leaders shared this interest. They had begun supporting development even before the first bombs were put to use. They knew reliable energy was an important tool and they understood that the public would be well-served by using some of the infrastructure they had developed during the war.

Akron Beacon Journal Nov 22, 1946

The primary power pile project initiated by the Manhattan Project was the Daniels Pile, a helium-cooled, beryllium oxide moderated reactor designed to produce 40 MWth at a gas outlet temperature of 650 ℃. The hot helium would be piped through a boiler to produce steam for a 10-15 MWe turbine.

Farrington Daniels, the pile namesake, was the project leader and primary pile designer. He had served for about a year as the Director of the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago, the Manhattan Project organization that later became Argonne National Laboratory. Daniels was a well-respected scientist who had focused his career research efforts on technological developments that served humanity.

He had reluctantly participated in atomic weapons development because he believed that allowing the Nazis to be the first to build atomic bombs would be a grave threat to humanity. But he was inspired by the idea of giving people access to more power.

He and the people he recruited to join the power pile development project were dedicated in their belief that atomic energy was best used in service of mankind. They wanted to promptly build a demonstration plant that could show that fission chain reactions would be a useful source of power.

They had a strong basis for believing that their project would be a success. By the time they began design work, they had gained experience with more than half a dozens reactors whose heat production had been discarded as a waste product. They knew how quickly those reactors had been designed and constructed.

Daniels, who had experience in engineering equipment designed to operate at high temperatures as part of his pre-war research on nitrogen fixation processes, was confident that material challenges had available solutions.

Killing Daniels Pile

By April 1947, rumors and handwriting on the wall indicated that the AEC wasn’t interested in supporting the power piles that had been given high priority by Manhattan Project leadership.

In July 1947, just six months after the civilian AEC took over from the military, Carroll Wilson, General Manager of the AEC, informed the Power Pile Division at Oak Ridge that the AEC was no longer going to support design work for the Daniels Pile.

AEC headquarters reorganized the Power Pile Division, centralized authority for reactor design work at Argonne, and told the commercial enterprises that had supplied skilled personnel to the project on a no-cost, no-profit basis that they could either work on a military reactor project or return to their former jobs. (Daniels, O. B., Farrington Daniels: Chemist and Prophet of the Solar Age, Madison, WI, 1978. pp 231-232)

This sequence of events has been briefly described in numerous histories of the AEC, usually implying that the Daniels Pile project was a poorly-managed technical dead end.

For technical reasons, Wilson and Fisk had killed the Daniels reactor but still had not informed Daniels of the decision in so many words. Overlooking the technical difficulties in the design, Daniels could not believe that the Commission could refuse to sponsor a project which had the support of an impressive segment of American industry.

Hewlett, R. G., Duncan, F., Atomic Shield: A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Vol II, 1947-1952 p. 120.

Olive Daniels provides a different perspective on the project and the decision to kill the program. In her book about her husband’s career she devotes an entire chapter to a description of the pile’s design, the impressive array of enterprises involved, and the technical readiness to begin construction.

By September 1946, plans and experimental work were far enough advanced to enable the Division to begin work on a formal preliminary report, which was published in November, 1946.

This report described a high temperature helium-cooled pile using enriched uranium as a fuel with beryllium oxide as both moderator and structural material. Beryllium oxide had been selected because it was a high-melting point refractory as well as a good neutron moderator. The moderator served to slow down the high speed neutrons released in fission. Fuel rods were to consist of 98 percent beryllium oxide (BeO) and 2 percent uranium oxide (UO2) enriched to 50 percent with U-235. These would be placed in channels in stacked hexagonal beryllium oxide bricks. The U-235 content of the pile would be 33 pounds and the beryllium oxide over 10 tons.

Daniels, Olive B.. “Farrington Daniels: Chemist and Prophet of the Solar Age, A Biography” Madison, WI, 1978 p. 226

There are more interesting details provided. It would have used three concentric shields–a reflector made up of beryllium oxide and graphite bricks, a 10 inch thick iron container and a ten foot thick concrete wall. The preliminary design report is 147 pages long and indicates a significant level of design maturity.

O. Daniels also tells the story of how Eugene Wigner, who was in charge of research at Oak Ridge, asked F. Daniels to perform a study on using beryllium metal instead of beryllium oxide. That study delayed progress on the Pile for three months and engaged a large portion of Daniels team. After the study showed there was no advantage to using metal instead of oxide, Wigner apologized to Daniels, but the delay helped provide the basis for later claims that the project had been poorly managed.

In an oral history interview Daniels described his reaction to the project cancellation.

The Cold War was facing us and the Atomic Energy Commission decided that what we needed is more bombs, not more kilowatts. They cancelled us. They informed us, ‘You can continue your research, but you can’t build an atomic power plant for power.’ I got on the first plane to Washington and faced the Atomic Energy Commission and said, ‘Here, you can’t do this. You’ve got industry all excited about atomic power and you can’t walk out on them, and we don’t want to be known only as warmongers, we want to emphasize peacetime use. But in spite of my fervent pleas, I couldn’t make any headway and they broke the Power Pile Division up.

Daniels, Olive B.. “Farrington Daniels: Chemist and Prophet of the Solar Age, A Biography” Madison, WI, 1978 p. 232

After killing the Daniels Pile project, the AEC invested only a small portion of its budget into reactors designed to produce useful power. The vast majority of its resources during its formative years (1947-1953) were devoted to expanding the atomic arsenal, developing the ability to detect nuclear weapons explosions and testing new weapon designs. Another significant portion of the budget went towards power reactors for a specific military use – propelling submarines.

The remaining, severely constrained civilian power reactor effort was concentrated in research and development for fast flux breeder reactors at the Argonne National Laboratory. The conventional historical explanation for this focus is that atomic scientists believed that there were tightly limited supplies of fissile material in the world.

That explanation has never been completely satisfying. The information I’ve uncovered provides a fascinating and slightly disturbing alternative story.

Why did AEC place such a low priority on power production?

Interpreting historical decisions without understanding what the deciders knew at the time they made their decisions can product grave misunderstanding. It’s not fair to the actors to assume they knew then what we know now.

Here is a brief explanation of what the commissioners knew about power piles.

During the transition period before taking over, the new commissioners toured major installations, received numerous classified briefs, and read hundreds of documents.

In the winter of 1946, as part of their effort to understand the tasks they had been appointed to accomplish, all five commissioners flew to California to visit Ernest Lawrence at his Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley. At a dinner meeting associated with that visit, Dr. Lawrence told the commission what he thought they should do about power reactor development – part of their assigned mission to “insure public availability of peacetime uses.”

If you fellows are going to wait until you dream up the ideal power reactor, take it from me, you will never get around to building one. Why not use Daniels design and build a reactor now and light a few light bulbs with it? What difference does it make that it won’t be economic? The first reactor will be a Model T in any case. The thing to do is to get the lead out of your pants.

Strauss, Lewis L. “Men and Decisions” Doubleday and Company, New York, NY 1962. p. 320

That advice initially impressed the commissioners, “enthused” is the word that Strauss used in his “Men and Decisions” autobiography. Strauss then goes on to provide his version of why the initial enthusiasm dissipated.

Before us had been a report, by a scientific committee under the chairmanship of Dr. R. C. Tolman, which noted that the “Development of fission piles solely for the production of power for ordinary commercial use does not appear economically sound, nor advisable from the point of view of preserving national resources.”

Strauss, Lewis L. “Men and Decisions” Doubleday and Company, New York, NY 1962. p. 320

Strauss spends another page telling how the commissioners received advice from several other scientific sources. One stated that it would take between 30 and 50 years for atomic energy to significantly supplement the world’s power resources. Another predicted that useful atomic energy was such a dead end that it would be abandoned by the 1960s.

Here is how Strauss concluded his discussion on the early decision to put off power reactor development.

In this advisory climate, the early Commissioners [himself included] may be entitled to some sympathy for their disinclination to rush in and spend money on vastly expensive installations in the face of the dim view of the enterprise taken by their eminent advisory body.

Strauss, Lewis L. “Men and Decisions” Doubleday and Company, New York, NY 1962. p. 321

What did Tolman Committee really say?

The report produced by the scientific committee chaired by Dr. R. C. Tolman is titled “Piles of the Future Review.” It was produced following a meeting held during the period of Oct 9-11 1944. Only two copies were originally produced and the document was classified secret until being declassified on May 6, 1957.

It does not give the advice that Strauss reported that it gave.

Here is the report’s written conclusion.

The chief obstacle to the development and construction of a nucleonic power plant is lack of a directive or order to make one. It is difficult for engineers or physicists to work out the details of design for a plant which may never be constructed. In order to develop nucleonic power the government should sponsor the building of a plant to furnish power for a specific purpose. One striking difference from conventional fuel is, of course, the minute amount of fuel consumed and thus the absence of a transportation problem for fuel. The absence of smoke is a consideration in the application to the heating of large buildings or cities. (Emphasis added.)

The following are suggestions for government sponsored experiments in the use of nucleonic power.

(1) To propel naval vessels (submarines) and ships in general.

(2) To furnish light and power to army, navy or government projects or stations in locations remote from fuel supplies. (Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Dutch Harbor)

(3) Heating, light, and power for experimental towns or settlements (Matanuska Valley, Alaska)

Tolman, R. C. “Piles of the Future Review”, committee report Oct 9-11 1944, pp 12-13

Nothing in the report provides any support for the statement Strauss included as a quote in his memoir. Even in the sections that estimate known amounts of fissionable material, the report states that the estimates are “very conservative and are supposed to represent amounts actually located as being available in the mines.”

Tolman’s committee reported that there was a at least 10^14 tons of U in the earth’s crust and also includes the following quote.

Dr. Zay Jeffries has often called to our attention the fact that the estimates given above have little meaning, in the the full value of uranium and thorium have never previously been recognized. As the price offered per ton increases, it is almost certain that new and large deposits will be located.

Tolman, R. C. “Piles of the Future Review”, committee report Oct 9-11 1944, p. 4

There is no real way of knowing why Strauss reported that he and his fellow commissioners had been discouraged from power pile projects by a report that strongly supported their development. The incontrovertible fact of history is that the Daniels Pile project was cancelled, the team was broken up, and there were no lights powered by atomic energy in the United States until 1951.

From 1947-1950, any US citizen with any desire to constructively use energy stored inside atomic nuclei had to find some other form of employment. The only gainful employment available in atomic energy was associated with building bombs.

What happened to Daniels after his pile was killed?

Daniels did not quickly or easily give up his dream of using atomic energy to serve mankind. As late as 1954, he was still writing letters and talking with people who might be able to help turn his ideas into reality. He kept revising his design and engaged in correspondence with Admiral Rickover about using high temperature gas cooled reactors to directly heat Brayton cycle gas turbines.

Rickover declined to get directly involved, but he encouraged Daniels. “I expect the only really satisfactory way to develop an effort on your design would be for you to go to work on it yourself as a full-time job, possibly operating as a member of one of the interested companies or national labs.”

Rickover even provided a thoughtful, valuable technical suggestion that indicated he had carefully and favorably reviewed Daniels work.

Incidentally, I feel you are taking on a big headache when you have a helium to nitrogen heat exchanger. Such an exchanger will be large, expensive and wasteful as to temperature. I think you should face the problem of turbine contamination right from the beginning and stick to the direct cycle if you want to demonstrate the usefulness of the gas turbine approach.

Daniels, Olive B.. “Farrington Daniels: Chemist and Prophet of the Solar Age, A Biography” Madison, WI, 1978. pp 238-239 (Reproduction of a letter from Admiral Rickover to Dr. Farrington Daniels sent on Oct 1, 1954)

Unfortunately, Farrington Daniels (born on March 9, 1889) was 65 years old by the time he received Rickover’s supportive letter and constructive suggestions. Though he still had good years remaining, he might have decided that it was too late to pursue full time atomic energy development.

Being a man who was strongly motivated to empower people, “he sought solace in the sun, the poor man’s atomic power plant.” (Daniels p. 235)

In 1954 Farrington made application to the Rockefeller Foundation for support. The request went to Warren Weaver, formerly on the staff of the University of Wisconsin. It was a fairly modest request and much to Farrington’s surprise Weaver indicated that the Foundation would be more receptive to a much bigger program. Farrington got together a committee of people who were interested in photosynthesis or solar energy and drew up an application. Weaver and George Harrar of the Rockefeller Foundation came to the campus for two or three days to study the situation. They approved the proposed program. When asked why a solar laboratory was located in a place not notably sunny, the answer was, “because Farrington Daniels is there.

Shortly the Rockefeller Foundation awarded an initial grant of $250,000 for support of solar energy applications and research programs with particular emphasis on trying to help the non-industrialized developing countries.

Daniels, Olive B.. “Farrington Daniels: Chemist and Prophet of the Solar Age, A Biography” Madison, WI, 1978. pp. 308-309

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

Sharing message at #StrikeWithUs – We can use nuclear energy to address climate change

September 22, 2019 By Rod Adams 21 Comments

Climate Strike Tarpon Springs Sep 20 2019

On Friday, September 20, I took to the streets with a couple dozen other locals as part of the Student Climate Strike. I’m pleased to note that this political action seems to be part of a movement that is capturing attention and providing numerous “teachable moments.”

Like any good activist, I carefully chose my attire to send a desired message. Among my many pronuclear tee shirts, the red one with “Why Nuclear? Ask Me.” in white letters seemed to be the most appropriate.

Matched up with dark blue shorts – after all, this event was in Florida on a very late summer day – I think I looked appropriately patriotic.

When I arrived at the specified gathering place, i found a friendly, compact crowd of perhaps 20 people. They were sitting on the front steps of the Universalist Unitarian Church, which I later learned is the oldest church in Tarpon Springs.

My Son is a Reactor Operator

Quakers and Reactor Operator Mom

Some were conversing in small groups. Several were passing out fliers describing related events or affiliated groups, some were passing out signs to carry. One nice lady was asking people to sign a letter to Representative Kathy Castor, whose district is adjacent to that of Representative Gus Bilirakis, our congressman.

Her tee shirt said “Off Fossil Fuels” and the letter she wanted people to sign made a number of requests that were aimed at discouraging any fossil fuel extraction in or near the state of Florida. I told her I supported her message and her request, but asked her to explain what she thought could replace the tasks that fossil fuel performs for us.

Her quick response was to suggest that Bernie Sanders had laid out an extensive plan. That gave me the opening to ask her how she felt about the fact that Sanders had worked hard to close down a generating plant in Vermont that provided 70% of the electricity generated in Vermont without producing any climate changing gases.

That was when the really cool moment happened. She told me that she hadn’t been aware that Bernie was so actively involved in antinuclear activities and that she thought that position was wrong. She had been convinced by her son that nuclear was clean and safe. Her son is currently serving as a reactor operator on an aircraft carrier.

We agreed to keep in touch.

I then chatted for a bit with a young man with a head fully of curly red hair who shyly admitted this was his first public event as a member of Extinction Rebellion. More on him later.

Once the appointed time arrived, Rev. Murphy the minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church, invited us into his church for some initial information and sharing.

The church had just completed a renovation that lasted for six years and was stunningly beautiful in its simplicity and environmentally themed art work. Rev. Murphy was justifiably proud of the building and the effort that the congregation had invested to restore their historic structure, which, among other issues, had been damaged by a sink hole.

Newly renovated Unitarian Universalist Church

Then Rev. Murphy asked if there were any students in the room who wanted a chance to speak. There were a few, but not many.

Then he asked if anyone else had anything they wanted to say about the theme of the event – addressing climate change.

I spoke about my experience of operating a submarine with a powerful engine that ran without consuming any oxygen or producing any waste gases. There were a number of friendly faces interested in what I was saying. One gentleman with a white beard and a cap indicating he was a destroyer veteran fed me some questions that gave me the opportunity to briefly explain how the Rockefeller Foundation paid the NAS to teach the public to be afraid of radiation.

A few other audience members thanked me for sharing and for teaching them something they did not know.

Hard-headed Quakers

I could tell, though, that there were a couple of people in the front row who were visibly discomforted. After I’d talked for about 5 minutes, one of them said, “Enough, let’s move on.”

Antinuclear Quaker

The following speaker, who was wearing a shirt that said “Quakers are way cooler than you think”, described how he and his partner had met while protesting the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant. He mentioned the Clamshell Alliance, reminded the audience about TMI, Chernobyl and Fukushima, blamed a recent breast cancer death of a friend in Pennsylvania on TMI and concluded by saying nuclear is not a solution to climate change.

After the short speeches were over and we were getting ready to head to Spring Bayou to continue our strike, I tried to talk with the Quakers. They were not interested. One of their friends did engage by thanking me for my service, telling me that she respected my point of view, and telling me that I was still wrong. She said she had been starting to change her mind until Fukushima happened and released radiation that was still harming “our fish.”

A few attendees came up to me to privately thank me for what I had said. It was clear that some of them were not keen on openly stating that they were interested in learning more about nuclear. I passed out several Atomic Insights business cards.

March to the Bayou

From the church, we walked to Spring Bayou, which is a focal point in the town. We held up our signs, posed for some photos, waved to passing cars and talked with other participants. There were no noisemakers, street theater performers, or musical instruments.

Student Strike for Climate. Tarpon Springs, FL Sep 20, 2019

The march portion of the event lasted about 30 minutes.

After the event, I spoke with Reverend Murphy. He’s an interesting man who has been actively involved in the Sierra Club since the late 1960s. He remembered the “Atoms, Not Dams” campaign, the firing of David Brewer, and the transition of what had been a conservation group of wilderness lovers to a more politically active and influential national organization.

He expressed his own open-mindedness to the idea that the Club might have been wrong to oppose nuclear energy, especially in light of what we now know. He admitted that nuclear energy has turned out to be a lot safer than they thought it would be and he agreed that climate change is showing that it a necessary tool. He agreed that solar, wind and geothermal were not going to be able to do the job – at least for the foreseeable future.

He didn’t think some of his contemporary colleagues would ever change because they were too immersed in their antinuclear habits. He thought that there were a lot of open minds among younger people with environmental concerns and that Florida was a good place to be sharing the pronuclear message.

He then thanked me for what I was doing and asked me to keep it up.

I also spent quite a few minutes talking with A. J. Arestia, a young guy with a name tag indicating he was a candidate for office in the Florida legislature. He has a physics background and declared that he is one of a relatively small group of politicians that is openly and aggressively pro-nuclear. He spoke about how his opponent believes that we should be covering everything with solar panels and how he is trying to help people understand why that was an expensive fantasy that won’t solve any problems.

I’m going to see what I can do to help him craft his message so he can keep spreading his thoughts in ever more important venues.

As everyone else was dispersing, I met back up with the Extinction Rebellion guy with the curly red hair. We had a fascinating discussion about the incredible power locked up inside the atom. He asked me for my opinion about disarmament. That gave me the opportunity to describe the Megatons to Megawatts program and marvel at how few people know that 10% of US electricity for 20 years came from fissioning former Russian bomb material.

I feel pretty good about my decision to take some time from my normal retirement activities to meet with concerned citizens and share hopeful information.

In my opinion, it is terrific to see that people are concerned about their futures. The primary message from Greta Thunberg, the inspiration held up as the creator of the climate strike movement, is that we need to listen to scientists. She’s correct. They have provided the diagnosis. Now it’s time to find people who are skilled in the art of engineering solutions and those who specialize in producing vast quantities of clean, reliable and affordable energy.

It’s time to listen to the nukes. But no one will hear us if we just talk among ourselves.

Filed Under: Clean Energy, Climate change, Uncategorized

Project Dilithium – Boldly going back to a place our ancestors visited and prematurely abandoned

March 11, 2019 By Rod Adams 40 Comments

In January 2019, the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) of the U.S. Department of Defense officially informed the world that it was interested in learning more about small, mobile, nuclear generators. The SCO said it wanted to find out if there was technology available that could supply a forward operating base with abundant, emission-free electricity for […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Advanced Atomic Technologies, Army Nuclear Program, Atomic politics, Smaller reactors

Atomic Insights is hosting a summer sleepover camp

June 7, 2017 By Rod Adams

I apologize for the lack of recent articles. Since the last week in May, the headquarters of Atomic Insights has been hosting a family summer camp for three really happy and energetic children ranging in age from 2-7. During rare and short free time, I’ve been engaging on Twitter or moderating comments here, but finding […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Helping a fellow nuclear professional

November 22, 2016 By Rod Adams

I received a message from Lisa Stiles, who has been an active member of the American Nuclear Society and the North American Young Generation in Nuclear. She told me about a colleague who is in a challenging situation overseas. I volunteered to post a guest blog from her explaining the situation. Please read it, help […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Speaking in favor of nuclear at DEQ clean power plan listening session

September 23, 2015 By Rod Adams 12 Comments

Yesterday evening, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) hosted one of several clean power plan listening sessions in Roanoke. I attended the meeting. It was a true listening session; the DEQ representatives did very little talking and a lot of note taking. Each person who signed up to make a comment was given five […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

BWXT Begins Life as a Pure Play Nuclear Company

July 1, 2015 By Rod Adams

The Babcock & Wilcox Company has completed its planned separation into two companies, Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. and BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT). One of the neat things about this announcement is that BWXT will be headquartered in Lynchburg, VA. It might also mean that there is a chance that the new company will regain […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Strategic Insights hosting SMR webinar for professionals

July 1, 2015 By Rod Adams

Press release: You Are Invited to the 2015 SMR Market Outlook Web Conference Get an inside look at the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) market intelligence already being used by organizations including the International Atomic Energy Agency, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, U.S. Department of Commerce and SaskPower. What: Web Conference on the 2015 SMR Market Outlook […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Sweet Briar has been saved

June 24, 2015 By Rod Adams

Back in early May, I shared a story about giving a talk on nuclear energy to the engineering students at Sweet Briar College on the same day that the president of the school shocked the faculty and student body by announcing that the school was being closed. That story needs a follow-up. There is a […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

All cost, no benefit – EPA proposes onerous 33 year monitoring requirement for ISR mining

March 14, 2015 By Rod Adams

On Jan 26, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that will have the effect — intended or unintended — of eliminating in-situ leach (ISL) uranium mining in the US. The technology, which the EPA choses to call in-situ recovery (ISR), is the dominant technology used by operating mines. Therefore […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Is there a good source of information about effects and benefits of radiology?

January 14, 2015 By Rod Adams

Radiologyinfo.org is a valuable, informative web site developed by physicians from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and the American College of Radiology (ACR). It is well-organized and provides factual, readily understood information to people who want to know more about the benefits, possible side effects, and long term health implications of undergoing diagnostic […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Ivanpah Solar Thermal officially opens

February 15, 2014 By Rod Adams

BrightSource Energy’s 377 MWe (net at peak) Ivanpah solar thermal power station officially opened on February 13, 2014. Secretary Earnest Moniz, in a rather amusing turn of phrase, called the plant a “shining example of how the United States is becoming a world leader in solar energy.” With more than 340,000 computer controlled mirrors spread […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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