NEI Nuclear Notes

One of the main drivers behind the passage of the 2005 Energy Policy Act was the inclusion of incentives (investment protection, production tax credits and the like) electric utilities said were necessary to spur the building of new baseload generating capacity like coal and nuclear. If the activity since the bill was signed into law this past August is any indication, the law is working exactly as intended. Accounting for the announcements made by Duke Energy and Constellation Energy last week, there are now 10 distinct projects underway investigating the possibility of new nuclear build. But the incentives in EPACT 2005 are only part of the story. Another piece of the puzzle is the incredible volatility we're seeing around the world in natural gas markets. As our President and CEO Skip Bowman put it last week in a speech in Savannah, Georgia : Even before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, oil and natural gas prices were increasing and our energy supply and delivery infrastructure a...

U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair continues to kick up dust in his home country over the issue of new nuclear build. Looking ahead to this week's inaugural meeting of the Gleneagles Dialogue between the G8 and the emerging industrial nations of China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico, Blair sounded the warning again over the consequences of global warming in the pages of the Guardian : That's why Tuesday's meeting matters. It will focus on what is needed to make the transition to a low carbon economy. We need to see how the existing energy technologies we have such as wind, solar and - yes - nuclear, together with new technologies such as fuel cells and carbon capture and storage, can generate the low carbon power the world needs. UPDATE : Some other thoughts from U.K.-based blogs Anglesey Energy and Deed . Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Environment , Energy , Politics , Technology , Economics , United Kingdom , Tony Blair

On Thursday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Edward (Ward) Sproat , the Bush administration's choice to head the Department of Energy's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management . The hearing will take place at 2:30 p.m. in 366 Dirksen. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Energy , Yucca Mountain

It doesn't look like German Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel is going to back down on her campaign promise to overturn that nation's planned phaseout of nuclear energy by 2020 . For our previous posts on what's happening in the German nuclear business, click here . Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Environment , Energy , Politics , Economics , Electricity Germany

Meet Synthstuff and Bacon's Rebellion . Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Energy , Electricity , Environment

David Amerine is the new senior vice president of Parsons’ infrastructure and technology group. Amerine comes to Parsons from CH2M Hill’s nuclear business group, where he was executive vice president and deputy general manager. William Barnet III is the newest member of Duke Energy's board of directors. He was elected to a seat on Oct. 25 and will serve on the board's audit and nuclear oversight committees. Barnet is the may of Spartanburg, S.C., and the chairman, president and chief executive officer of the Barnet Co. Inc., a real estate and investment firm. Canada’s Natural Resources Department has proposed Robert Van Adel for reappointment as president and chief executive officer of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. Van Adel has held the position since February 2001. The department will refer the proposal to a parliamentary committee for review. Van Adel is an NEI board member. David Miller has been elected president and chief operating officer of Strathmore Minerals Corp...

The author of Something Clever is a female high school student from Seattle, Washington who has been accepted at Boston University . She just found out that she's been asked to apply for the school's Trustee Scholar program that would qualify her for full tuition and room and board for all four years. Wow, that's a heck of an opportunity. But to win the scholarship, she going to have to write a 600-word essay. And here's topic#1: Boston University Trustee Scholars are encouraged to develop well-informed and well-reasoned views of important political, social, and artistic issues. We try to select students who have a sense of how to present persuasive arguments in support of their views. With that in mind, write an essay of no more than 600 words responding to one of the following statements: 1. Electricity generation via nuclear power produces no greenhouse gases, but does produce a small volume of very dangerous radioactive waste. What a coincidence! Now, if our young...

Green Car Congress is taking a detailed look at the design of the Westinghouse AP-1000 reactor , the reactor that Duke Energy intends to use for its upcoming COL application for a twin-reactor nuclear power plant somewhere in its current service area. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Environment , Energy , Politics , Technology , Economics , Duke Power , Westinghouse , AP-1000

New survey results in Ontario conclude that a vast majority - 74 percent - of Toronto residents support nuclear power. This comes on the heels of an Ontario poll with similar results earlier this week. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Environment , Energy , Politics , Technology , Economics , Canada , Ontario , Public Opinion

In an op-ed in the Indy Star this week, Lefteri Tsoukalas - head of the nuclear engineering department at Purdue University - condemns ABC News for "cynically exploiting people's instinctive fear of nuclear energy by misrepresenting both the threat from, and the nature of, research reactors such as the one for which I am responsible at Purdue University." ABC sent college students who were working as journalism interns to a number of university reactor facilities, including the one at Purdue. The idea was to see whether they could get into the facilities and assess security measures. The interns had no trouble gaining access because we welcome visitors to the reactor. In fact, our Web site and printed literature invite the public to schedule tours, which are conducted by staff trained in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's security measures. The ABC interns saw what any visitor would see. If they had identified themselves as investigative journalists, they would hav...

From the wire : Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) today announced that it intends to apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a combined construction and operating license (COL). This is the first step in a multi-phase process that could ultimately lead to the development and deployment of its first nuclear power plant in more than 30 years. Sites under consideration include the company's Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Southern Maryland and the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in upstate New York. Final site selection is expected by early next year. "With this announcement, Constellation Energy confirms its position as one of the leaders in bringing new nuclear power in this country one step closer to reality," said Michael J. Wallace, executive vice president for Constellation Energy. "Our decision to file with the NRC at this time is consistent with our disciplined value-driven approach to nuclear power, and our recently announced partnership with ...

After reading Stewart Brand's Environmental Heresies , Richard Sprague wrote this about the environmental movement: Today's Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and others are so anti-Republican that they are turning off mainstream people who are otherwise sympathetic to what's happening to the earth. Smart environmental organizations are already working to show their appeal to progressives on the right as well as the center-left. Sounds like another strike against the " No Solutions Gang ." UPDATE : Click here for more from Pat Cleary. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Energy , Electricity , Environment , Stewart Brand

This morning on NPR , Rachel Martin took a look at the energy situation in Germany (Real Player or Windows Media required), where the country is caught between its obligations to cut CO2 emissions under the Kyoto protocols, a plan to close nuclear power stations, and growing fears concerning overdependence on natural gas supplied from Russia. For our previous posts on Germany's dillema, click here , here and here . UPDATE : More from Reuters . Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Environment , Energy , Politics , Economics , Electricity Germany

From Forbes.com : A sale of shares in state-owned Aeroports de Paris will go ahead but there are no plans to offer a stake in nuclear energy group Areva by 2007, Dominique Villepin, the prime minister, announced at a news conference... On Areva, the prime minister said: 'In a sector as strategic as the provision of fission materials, the enrichment and treatment of nuclear waste, state control must provide the necessary guarantees to our citizens as well as to our foreign clients. 'We understand that under these conditions, regarding Areva, the opening up to private capital is not one of the projects of my government,' he said. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Energy , AREVA , France

This week, our continuing series on the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Annual Energy Review (AER) looks at natural gas and coal. Natural Gas The AER does a great job showing how energy is produced and used with informative flow diagrams. Here is a flow diagram for natural gas . Please note that all figures are in trillions of cubic feet: For definitions of the processes listed in this diagram, click here . Natural gas is a very versatile fuel, and is consumed in a variety of ways: Residential – 22%, Commercial – 13%, Industrial – 38%, Transportation – 3% and Electric Power – 24%. Only 15% of natural gas consumed in the U.S. is imported, compared with 65% of oil . 85% of the natural gas imported to the U.S. comes from Canada. But while natural gas is a versatile fuel, it could also be argued that America has become overreliant on its use. Since 1992, the electric industry has built over 270,000 megawatts of new natural gas-fired generating capacity. In so doing, we place...

A majority of Ontarians support commercial nuclear power , according to a recent survey. Although 60% of those surveyed said they prefer hydroelectric power, 54% responded that they back nuclear energy as part of the mix. "The theme you see here is that the public understands that despite their preference, they can't rely on hydro alone -- at least at this stage in the game," said Leger Marketing associate vice-president Craig Worden. "It's like a recipe and there needs to be a mix. They support nuclear being an ingredient in that mix." The poll comes after Bruce Power's announcement last week that it plans to restart its Bruce A 1 and 2 reactors in Kincardine, Ont., which have been idle since 1997. The restart plan depends on a $3.6 billion deal between Bruce Power and the province of Ontario. The plan also includes refurbishment of two other Bruce A reactors over the next decade at the Kincardine site, about 150 miles northwest of Toronto. Technorati t...

Just off the wire : Duke Power confirmed today it is preparing a combined construction and operating license (COL) application for new nuclear generation. The application is for two Westinghouse Advanced Passive 1000 (AP1000) reactors at a site to be named following the conclusion of its current site selection study. Pursuit of the COL application, which is expected to be submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission within the next 24-30 months, is part of the company's long-term generation planning process, and will allow Duke Power to keep new nuclear generation as an option for meeting its customers' future energy needs. "Our employees have proven that nuclear generation can provide safe, reliable and cost-effective electricity for our customers," said Brew Barron, Duke Power chief nuclear officer. "Preparing this application provides us the option to continue using a diverse fuel mix in the future." Duke Power's selection of the Westinghouse A...

In a comment to a post below, Paul Gunter of the extremist antinuclear organization NIRS , completely mischaracterized the reasons behind and the effects of shutting down plants prior to a hurricane. A very knowledgeable colleague of mine, Howard Shaffer, who spent many years working as a systems engineer and who has tangled with Gunter previously, sent me this explanation: If the grid is lost suddenly, a plant will scram and go on to the diesel generators, as designed and tested. Emergancy Core Cooling is not needed, since there is no leak. This feature is by design choice. It is possible to design nuclear power plants, even the large ones, to have a loss of the grid, and keep running to restart the grid. This makes for a more complicated and expensive design, since when the grid is lost, and the plant is at full load, and the plant is to keep running, the 4.5 million horsepower must go somewhere for a few seconds until reactor power is cut back. A design like this is not optimum in ...

I’ve spent the vast majority of my career in the nuclear industry working in waste and used fuel management. First, I interned at DOE’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management as an undergraduate, then I spent a summer in France modeling breeder reactor cores, next I worked on waste management issues at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board , for my master’s thesis I modeled gas evolution from Hanford N-Reactor fuel in sealed canisters, and I worked for seven years in Dominion’s nuclear spent fuel group. In that time, I’ve witnessed many DOE proposals for repository design and function: a “hot” versus a “cold” repository; wet fuel transfer versus dry fuel transfer versus no fuel transfer; standard canister design versus standard canister design criteria versus “let the utilities decide what to ship it in"; and on and on. All of these proposals are technically feasible and also have pros and cons. So, I read with great interest today DOE’s announcement that it has ...

George Monbiot did some number crunching when it comes to the U.K. and new nuclear build. Tim Worstall checked his work and found it wanting. For some related work from my colleague David Bradish, click here and here . Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Environment , Energy , Electricity , Carbon Emissions

Meet Jennifer Marohasy . UPDATE : Be sure to visit Bullet Holed Messenger too. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Energy , Electricity , Environment , Stewart Brand , Biotechnology , Sustainable Development

Over at NAM Blog , Pat Cleary has some advice for the " No Solutions Gang ": If the Outer Continental Shelf were opened to exploration, it's a start. It has has 420 trillion cubic feet of recoverable resources and 77 billion barrels of oil. That's enough natural gas to heat more than 100 million homes for 60 years and enough oil to fuel almost 85 million cars for 35 years. As the saying goes, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." The environmental movement in this country has not led, -- in fact, they've been obstructionist -- haven't followed. Time to get out of the way. This post is all part of Pat's efforts with NAM Blog's Energy Week . Check it out. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Energy , Electricity , Environment , Natural Gas , Oil

From today's Houston Chronicle : BP named political heavyweight James Baker as chairman of an independent panel to review safety lapses at the troubled oil giant. Baker, a former secretary of state and Treasury secretary, vowed Monday to lead a panel that would delve into the company's corporate culture and issue a public report within a year. "You are going to see an aggressive and complete and thorough investigation," Baker said. "And we're going to let the chips fall where they may." With 22 deaths since 1995, BP leads the refining industry in fatalities over the past decade, including a refinery worker killed in May at BP's Cherry Point refinery in Whatcom County and 15 people killed in an explosion at the company's Texas City, Texas, refinery in March. That explosion injured 170 people and set off widespread concern that company managers have a lax attitude toward safety. Creation of the panel was urged two months ago by the U.S. Chemical Sa...

Hurricane Wilma has left 6 million Florida residents without power , and forced Florida Power and Light to shut down reactors at St. Lucie and Turkey Point as the hurricane approached : FPL shut the 839-megawatt unit 2 at the St. Lucie nuclear power station and both 693 MW units at the Turkey Point nuclear power station as Wilma approached the Florida coast. Nuclear power plants are robust structures built to sustain hurricane-force winds and other natural disasters but the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires the operators to shut the plants in advance of hurricane-force winds. Officials at FPL said it was still too early to conduct a full assessment but initial reports showed the storm did not damage any of the company's power plants. The 2,205 MW Turkey Point station is located in Florida City, in Miami-Dade County, about 25 miles south of Miami. The 1,678 MW St Lucie station is located on Hutchinson Island, in St Lucie County, about 120 miles north of Miami. There are two ...

Here's our friend Pat Cleary : With energy prices soaring and everyone starting to realize what 30 years of poor decisions on energy (and being held hostage by a small band of radical environmentalists) have wrought, the time has finally come for some common-sense (and environmentally responsible) exploration of heretofore off-limits sites. The Wall Street Journal editorial we cite below noted that the recent energy bill that passed was aimed at what it called, "the real problem: government barriers to supply." As was evident from the " Blog Row " on Capitol Hill last week, Members of Congress are realizing that they need to speed the permitting process and streamline the regulatory process if we have any hope of increasing the supply of energy. We need efficiency, sure, but we need more supply. So watch this space in the days ahead for some action steps, when you can weigh in with your Senators and Members of Congress and urge them to do something about the su...

The Industrial Market Trends is taking a look at nuclear energy, and his outlook is pretty positive. Here's a short excerpt from Part II of his analysis : Populations are growing at a staggering rate worldwide. Energy consumption is expected to grow to insane levels—globally—within just a few decades. Alternative energy sources, as they currently exist, simply will not meet this demand. Coal would work, which leads us back to the pollution problem and that little matter of global warming. Nuclear seems our only way out with current technologies: enormous power generation potential, competitive plant costs, cheaper energy for the masses, and great profit levels for the 'big, bad, corporations.' Hey, everyone wins. To read Part I, click here . And look forward to Part III sometime in the near future. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Energy , Electricity , Environment

Meet Bhaub Korwin . Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Energy , Electricity , Environment

A couple of days back, I mentioned that the message board attached to the " Loose Nukes " special report on abcnews.com had suddenly disappeared . So I sent an email to the network's Web operation, and I've just gotten the following response: Hello Eric, Thank you for contacting us. We are aware of the problem and are working on correcting it. We appreciate your patience and understanding. In the meantime, please check out our other features associated with the report: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/LooseNukes/ Thanks for logging on to ABCNews.com . Regards, Melanie ABCNews.com http://abcnews.go.com/ So, they seem to be suggesting it's just a technical malfunction. I'll be asking some more questions. Stay tuned. UPDATE : Here's the abcnews.com response that just arrived: Hello Eric, Thank you for contacting us. Unfortunately, we are unable to divulge the circumstances of the message board's current status. Please be patient, as we are working d...

The furor over the ABC News series, " Loose Nukes on Main Street ," has settled down to a low roar, but there are still a few loose ends I'd like to tie up before the end of the week. As I mentioned a few days ago, we got a phone call from Beth Daly, head of communications for the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) concerning our post on the connections between POGO, the Carnegie Corporation and ABC News. Simply put, I thought it was too cute that a Carnegie grant recipient like POGO just magically cooperated on this story with ABC News that was being investigated, in part, by 10 Carnegie Fellows. To refresh your memories, here's the original post from POGO's blog that piqued my interest: ABC News is scheduled to run an investigative series next week about nuclear security and safety at home and abroad. The series, which POGO consulted on, will in theory run on a variety of ABC News programs, such as 20/20, Nightline, Good Morning America, and World News To...

In a visit today with Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns expressed confidence that the U.S. Congress would pass legislation by early next year on implementation of a civilian nuclear energy between the two countries - before President Bush visits India in early 2006. The agreement was signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the U.S. in July. Under the deal, India has to separate civil and military nuclear facilities and open its civilian nuclear reactors to the [International Atomic Energy Agency] for inspection in return for transfer of U.S. nuclear technology and fuel. Saran too sounded confident about making the nuclear deal a reality and said: "India and the US are becoming partners in a global non-proliferation regime." Burns arrived here late Thursday on a two-day visit to finalise a timetable to implement the India-US civil nuclear energy deal that entails changes in US laws and guidelines of the influe...

Instead of closing the nuclear power plant in the northern town of Kozloduy, the Bulgarian government will build a new plant in the northern town of Belene. Bulgarians want to kill two birds with one stone - to remain a leading energy exporter in south-eastern Europe and not raise the price of electricity on the interior market. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Environment , Energy , Politics , Technology , Economics , Bulgaria

There has been a lot of chatter in the last few days about the issue of commercial nuclear energy in the United Kingdom (click here and here for past posts). Here are some of the highlights. Prospect magazine provides in-depth background information and a balanced breakdown of the advantages and disadvantages of each energy source: Within its five-year life span, this government is going to have to make sure that some difficult and potentially unpopular long-term infrastructure decisions are made. The trickiest of these relate to power generation. In the muscular days of the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), the minister of power (remember Manny Shinwell?) could instruct the board to do what he wanted. That all changed with privatisation in 1989-90. The CEGB vanished, and the role of government changed to that of facilitator and regulator. Yet were the lights went out, the government would be blamed, even though it can no longer order the building of power stations. Tony ...

Three more communities are lobbying for a new nuclear power plant. According to this article in the Charlotte Observer , Three South Carolina counties want Duke Power to build a new nuclear plant and bring jobs and tax revenues. These communities reflect the growing trend revealed by a recent survey that showed 76% of people living within 10 miles of an existing nuclear power plant are willing to have a new reactor built near them. I believe that there is no more powerful a rebuttal to antinuclear extremists’ rhetoric than this; that people most knowledgeable of daily operations, and who presumably have been most at risk, stand up and support nuclear power.

His consulting firm, Greenspirit Strategies , has started its own blog . For now, they seem to simply be reprinting Moore's opinion pieces , but I'm sure we'll start seeing more original content soon enough. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Energy , Environment

Meet Mums in Science . Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Energy , Electricity , Environment

Bill Prebil has been named vice president of regional operations for Ameren Corp. Prebil worked for Central Illinois Light Co. before Ameren acquired it in 2003. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) has appointed Brian McGee as vice president, nuclear laboratories at Chalk River. He will replace Paul Fehrenbach, who will become AECL vice president and special adviser. Both changes are effective Nov. 21. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission have named Gordon Hunegs and Leonard Cline senior resident inspectors at the James A. FitzPatrick nuclear power plant and Nine Mile Point , respectively. Hunegs has been with the NRC since 1986, while Cline joined the agency in 1999. Each U.S. commercial nuclear power plant has at least two NRC resident inspectors. Edison International has named Barbara Mathews first chief governance officer and corporate secretary for Edison International and Southern California Edison. Mathews currently is vice president and associate general counsel for both ...

The Vietnam Institute of Energy has submitted to the government a pre-feasability study on building a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in its central region. The plant, which would be the first in the central region, is scheduled to become operational between 2017 and 2020. Vietnam's energy demand is estimated at 230 billion kwh in 2020, of which 165 billion kwh will be met by domestic primary sources like fossil fuel, some 5 billion kwh by renewable sources, 20 billion kwh by imports, and 40 billion kwh by nuclear energy and thermoelectricity generated from plants using imported coal. ... "We're building a legal corridor for nuclear energy development. Besides, we'll hold more international seminars on the issue. A seminar on nuclear energy's safety and economic aspects will be held in the first quarter of next year," [an official] said, adding that Vietnam will organize more nuclear energy exhibitions in 2006 to gain stronger public acceptance of the ener...

A little more than a month ago, NEI's President and CEO, Skip Bowman, addressed Town Hall LA on why " America Needs Nuclear Energy Now ." Just recently, I came across a clipping from the Oct. 11 issue of Platts Electric Power Daily (subscription required) that ought to bring that notion home to California ratepayers: Sempra Generation's proposed 1,450-MW coal-fired Granite Fox project in Northern Nevada will find a market regardless of California's global greenhouse gas policy that could limit electric sales into the state, according to a Sempra representative addressing a California Energy Commission public hearing on October 7. (snip) [A] "greenhouse adder" of an initial $8/ton of CO2 emissions for an electric generating unit now required of utilities in California would raise the price of energy sold by Granite Fox from $3 to $4/MWh, depending on the plant's duty cycle because the company would have to mitigate one-half of the plant's CO2 em...

Meet Gandalf 23 : I've often said that we need more nuclear reactors in this country. Yes, I work in the oil industry, and yes, that would hurt the oil industry, but so what? We need cleaner power. We need power that is not dependent upon islamafacists and unstable dictatorships. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Energy , Electricity , Environment

The bad reviews keep coming for " Loose Nukes " and ABC News . Here's what a journalism professor from the University of Maryland had to tell their campus paper, The Diamondback : University journalism professor Chris Hanson viewed the report yesterday and discussed it with his graduate journalism ethics class. He said he would not have trusted reporters with a graduate student’s level of experience to gather the footage by themselves, and that the network should ideally have sent a nuclear expert and news producer to the reactor sites with the students. “I think they should have had the experts on security do more than just look at the tape,” Hanson said. “I’d like to feel more comfortable that the information was accurate ... You don’t know whether the footage shows what they say it shows. I think the problem is more of a general one — do we know the researchers know enough?” Sounds a lot like the sort of points we've been making for more than a few weeks now. POST...

Just got a call from Beth Daly at the Project for Government Oversight , who explained that their post from last week about the ABC series on "Loose Nukes" was a misunderstanding. As soon as they update their blog with their side of the story, I'll be happy to share it with you. UPDATE : Here's the updated post from POGO: Apparently, the Nuclear Energy Institute misunderstood us when we said "POGO consulted on” the ABC News investigative series, “Loose Nukes.” “Consulted” did not mean POGO was hired by ABC or was paid any money. In fact, we wish we could get paid for our expertise as many people do by news media outlets. But, in order to maintain an independent stance and protect our credibility, POGO does not accept money from corporations such as ABC. We also wanted to clarify that we are not an anti-nuclear organization. We have never taken a position on the merits or the drawbacks of nuclear energy. More later, if warranted. Technorati tags: Nuclear E...

In an Oct. 4 speech , Commissioner Peter Lyons of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission outlined the key opportunities and challenges facing the NRC and its " Agreement State " partnership. An agreement state (there are 32) regulates most if not all sources of radiation in that state in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act . Lyons spoke about the NRC and agreement states' mission: Addressing risks through an integrated approach that recognizes the complementary nature of safety and security requirements will meet our collective goal to enhance the control of sources in today's environment. This approach can ensure adequate control of sources to prevent both adverse health impacts and, as an additional complementary benefit, prevent potential malevolent use of radioactive sources. Lyons explained that the Energy Policy Act of 2005 "brings under the Commission's regulatory authority certain types of radioactive material ... that previously were not included u...

Meet Meme First : Oyster Creek generates about 10% of New Jersey's total electrical output (while creating zero air or water pollution), and three other nuclear reactors generate another 40%. Environmentalists want to shut all four down, immediately. To the extent that such an electricity deficit could be made up, it would probably mostly come from coal-burning plants in Pennsylvania. Such plants are notoriously dirty. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Energy , Electricity , Environment , New Jersey

Our blogging colleague Kevin McCoy of Framatome. As it turns out, Kevin was a co-principal investigator on the Purdue study on advanced nuclear fuel that I referenced yesterday . Kevin's work concentrated on thermochemistry and rod performance. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Environment , Energy , Politics , Technology , Electricity

My respect for ABC News is dropping by the hour. After doing some extra searching, I discovered that the virulently anti-nuclear Project for Government Oversight or POGO, didn't just serve as a source for interviews on the "Loose Nukes" series, it was actually hired as a consultant. My source: POGO's own blog : ABC News is scheduled to run an investigative series next week about nuclear security and safety at home and abroad. The series, which POGO consulted on, will in theory run on a variety of ABC News programs, such as 20/20 , Nightline, Good Morning America, and World News Tonight . It promises to be a comprehensive report on the many problems caused by worldwide proliferation of weapons grade nuclear materials. It's one thing to interview a biased source. But this is another thing entirely. But it gets worse. What I discovered was that POGO is currently getting a 2-year $200,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York -- the same Carnegie Cor...

After taking a relentless pounding for their reporting in their " Loose Nukes on Main Street " series, ABC News has erased the discussion forum associated with it from abcnews.com . As of right now, a visit to the forum leads to a page that says: "This forum does not exist." It was just a week ago today that we reported that other readers in the forum were discovering that some of their posts were being erased . Looks like "free speech for me, but not for thee," is the news of the day. More later, as this develops. Thanks to Joseph Talnagi at Ohio State University for the heads up. UPDATE : I can also confirm that all of the messages that I posted to the "Loose Nukes" forum have been erased. However, I have started another discussion string in John Stossel's forum asking ABC News why they erased "Loose Nukes." Feel free to join in. ANOTHER UPDATE : I've also added another discussion string in the Primetime Live discussion bo...

While some have tried to create news at Purdue University , some nuclear engineers have been spending time making some real news in the area of nuclear fuel : Purdue University nuclear engineers have developed an advanced nuclear fuel that could save millions of dollars annually by lasting longer and burning more efficiently than conventional fuels, and researchers also have created a mathematical model to further develop the technology. New findings regarding the research will be detailed in a peer-reviewed paper to be presented on Oct. 6 during the 11th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics in Avignon, France. The paper was written by Shripad Revankar, an associate professor of nuclear engineering; graduate student Ryan Latta; and Alvin A. Solomon, a professor of nuclear engineering. The research is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and focuses on developing nuclear fuels that are better at conducting heat than conventional fuels. Current nuclear f...