Another Blogger For Nuclear Energy

Add Robert Synnott to the growing list:

Nuclear is the way to go. Moderately clean, moderately cheap, and nowadays very safe; far more people die from the effects of a large coal power plant over its lifetime than died as a direct or indirect result of the Tchernobyl explosion . . . France is an ideal case study of good implimentation; 70% of its power is nuclear, and its never had a significant accident. Japan is similar.

(snip)

And oddly, people seem unaware of the numerous ways we are dependant on the nuclear industry . . . Most smoke alarms use Americium, a nuclear reactor byproduct. Similar byproducts are used in many other devices, including machines for measuring metal thickness accurately and other important manufacturing devices. Nuclear byproducts are often used in radiation therapy in medicine, as well as for sterilising food. Radiothermic generators are used in some implanted devices, as well as in spacecraft. A few satillites (notably the Soviet US/A heavy radar satillite) used full nuclear reactors. The list goes on . . . FUD notwithstanding, it’s the cleanest large-scale power-generation system we have today.

UPDATE: Check out News Nuclear too.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics

Comments

JediVictor said…

I could not agree more. I worked for five years at a nuclear plant and feel it is the safest source of power. It is due time that we (as a country) revitalize the use of nuclear energy as a power source.

July 26, 2005 at 10:25 AM

Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...

Fluor Invests in NuScale

You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap...

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...

NEI Nuclear Notes

Search This Blog