NEI Nuclear Notes

Outside , Grist and Salon are continuing their interviews with Presidential candidates on environmental issues, and today they ran a piece on Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tx.) : What's your take on nuclear? I think nuclear is great. I think it's the safest form of energy we have. Click here for a previous post on Paul.

Dr. Gilbert Brown from South Coast Today (Mass.): Here in Massachusetts, natural gas plants account for roughly half of our electricity generation. Disruptions in the supply of natural gas would have a significant impact on electricity availability, and no plans are under way to provide an alternative source of base load power. Although there are plans to build gas turbines and wind mills, they will not eliminate the need for power plants that reliably provide large amounts of electricity. Coal is not an option due to environmental challenges. The best option is nuclear power, which produces electricity without polluting the air or emitting greenhouse gases. That's an option worth considering not only in Massachusetts but elsewhere in New England. This isn't the first time we've noted this issue in this region. Click here for more.

Details from David Akin .

From NRC : The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review a combined license (COL) application for two new reactors at the South Texas Project site near Bay City, Texas. The agency is seeking more information, however, before it establishes a complete technical review schedule for the application. This is the first COL application the agency has accepted for review. “We have what we need to open a file, or ‘docket,’ on this application, and we’ll start analyzing those pieces that have enough detail to review properly,” said Bill Borchardt, Director of the NRC’s Office of New Reactors. “We’ve also listed those areas where the applicants, NRG Energy and South Texas Project, will have to give us more detailed information.” The companies submitted the application and associated information Sept. 24. The NRC’s acceptance letter, as well as the application’s public version (minus proprietary or security-related details), will be available on the NRC Web site here: http://www.nrc.g...

In the latest in a series of announcements and newsworthy events , Dominion (NYSE: D ) seems to be steadily on track to bringing high-tech, low-emission energy to Virginia. In a press conference held at Dominion's headquarters in Richmond, Virginia yesterday, Dominion CEO Tom Farrell announced, "Dominion has taken an important step to meet Virginia's future energy needs while simultaneously protecting the environment.” And according to Dave Christian, President and Chief Nuclear Officer, "It's good news for our company, good news for Virginia, and good news for our country." Good news, indeed! Despite antinuclear predictions to the contrary on February 17, 2005, Dominion stock seems to be performing rather favorably. And, if investors are leery of new nuclear, then it certainly doesn't show up in the stock price. I'm trying to imagine what form future predictions may take... "When large parts for a new reactor are orde..." Oh, sorry. Th...

Here's a summary of U.S. nuclear plant performances last month: For October 2007, the average net capacity factor was 82.3 percent. This figure is 5.1 percentage points higher than the same one-month period in 2006. Monthly nuclear generation was 61.4 billion kilowatt-hours for October 2007, compared to 57.5 bkWh for the same one-month period in 2006. For 2007, year-to-date nuclear generation was 670.5 billion kilowatt-hours, compared to 655.4 bkWh in 2006 (2.3 percent increase) and 660.0 bkWh in the record year of 2004. As of November 28, 2007, six reactors were in refueling outages and 15 were completed for the Fall 2007 season. At the same time last year, eight reactors were in refueling outages and 23 reactors had completed outages for the Fall 2006 season. Final 2006 data showed nuclear power in the U.S. accounted for 70.8 percent of the generation from emission-free sources of energy. Hydro accounted for 25.4 percent; wind, 2.3 percent; geothermal, 1.3 percent; and solar, les...

Dang it, one expected special guest wasn't able to attend the press conference but maybe he/she will have a statement. I was looking forward to it. Regardless, my colleagues and I are pleased as punch that Dominion is maintaining a leadership position in the nuclear industry by submitting a full COL application for a third unit at the North Anna site. (Lisa's 401k watch--at last check D stock was up $0.63.) And while Dominion's CEO Tom Farrell said that getting the licenses does not obligate the company to build NAPS 3 it is clear from many of his other statements that he believes that it is likely that all of the variables will come together in such a way that it will make sense for the company and its customers to go ahead and build. For instance, he mentioned that in the next decade demand in Virginia will increase by at least 4000 MW and that the need must be supplied by a combination of conservation and efficiency, advanced technologies and reliable baseload. He also ...

Details from the AP . Of course, if you simply paid close attention to some of the action in our comment strings, you knew this was already coming. UPDATE : One added bonus of living on a lake with a nuclear reactor: 70 degree water year-round .

Prime Minister Gordon Brown will not be deterred. Click here for details from his speech earlier this week.

Kevin Smith, NAM 's director of research, is in France on a trip sponsored by NEI to visit AREVA's nuclear processing center at La Hague. Click here for more details.

Details here at the Wall Street Journal . And others are beginning to notice.

Here's a summary of what went on in the energy markets last week: Electricity peak prices decreased $3-13/MWh at all hubs except for PJM West (no trading occurred there). The holiday week and mild weather were seen as the factors in the decline in spot prices. Entergy and ERCOT decreased by more than $10/MWh with ERCOT falling to its lowest price over the last 52 weeks (Platts, see pages 1 and 3). Gas prices at the Henry Hub fell from $7.07/MMBtu to $6.96/MMBtu. NYMEX futures fell to $7.60/MMBtu from $7.89/MMBtu for December 2007 (see pages 1 and 3). Estimated nuclear plant availability rose to 92 percent last week. Two reactors finished refueling outages and no reactors were in maintenance outages (see pages 2 and 4). Uranium spot prices remained at $93/lb U3O8 according to TradeTech and UxConsulting (see pages 1 and 3). Crude oil prices fell to $93.56/barrel. EIA attributes high oil prices to a strong global oil demand growth combined with moderate supply growth and low spare pro...

Nuclear disarmament took a big step forward on Monday, when the U.S. and Russia announced a new agreement on disposition of surplus plutonium. Each country had previously agreed to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapons-grade plutonium by using it in mixed-oxide (plutonium-uranium) fuel, also known as MOX, but there were disagreements on how to do it. Monday's agreement notes that the U.S. will use the plutonium in light-water reactors, whereas Russia will use it in fast-spectrum reactors. The distinction may seem slight, but it had been a significant point of contention. The agreement clears the way for removing a significant amount of weapons-grade material. You might think that such news would meet with hearty and uniform approbation, but it did not, particularly at the Union of Concerned Scientists . This time, their "concern" is about the BN-600 and BN-800 reactors that the Russians plan to use. As reported by Newsday , Ed Lyman, nuclear weapons expert ...

Here's a summary of what went on in the energy markets last week: Electricity peak prices decreased $2-11/MWh at all hubs except for PJM West, which increased due to below normal temperatures. Mild weather contributed to the $7-10/MWh decline at the Palo Verde and SP 15 hubs (Platts, see pages 1 and 3). Gas prices at the Henry Hub rose from $6.90/MMBtu to $7.07/MMBtu. This is the first time in 21 weeks (week of June 25) the average weekly price of gas exceeded $7/MMBtu. NYMEX futures and EIA forecasts indicate gas prices will hover around $8/MMBtu for December 2007 (see pages 1 and 3). Estimated nuclear plant availability rose to 87 percent last week. Four reactors finished refueling outages and four reactors finished maintenance outages (see pages 2 and 4). Uranium spot prices were $93/lb U3O8 according to TradeTech and UxConsulting. Prices are expected to remain at or around this level over the next month. After summer, the late November to end of December time period is the slow...

It was a cold day in February, 2005, during the NRC public meeting for North Anna's Early Site Permit. One antinuclear sage in attendance had the proverbial "good news" and "bad news" for the shareholders of Dominion. The good news was that the Dominion would never build a new nuclear power plant at North Anna, the bad news was that it was going to cost the shareholders a lot of money in the process. Another antinuclear prognosticator added, "Dominion does not even know the reactor design it wants to build. Why? Because the minute they mention that they have a reactor design, Wall Street will think it's an intent to construct, and they will short your stock." And, as if these antis were descended from old Nostradamus himself, a strange thing happened today, November 20, 2007. Just take a gander at this headline: Dominion Hails Approval of Early Site Permit for North Anna Power Station And sure enough, as I write this, Dominion shares (NYSE: D )...

The International Energy Agency released its World Energy Outlook 2007 report last week (purchase required). According to the web page : The annual World Energy Outlook is the leading source for medium to long-term energy market projections and analysis and has achieved widespread international recognition. It is the flagship publication of the International Energy Agency. Last Friday I attended IEA’s Executive Director’s and Chief Economist’s presentation on the Outlook here in DC. Needless to say, their assessment of global energy to 2030 kept me tuned in as each point made was intriguing and sobering. Below are some highlights. The report analyzed three energy scenarios for the world’s demands: a reference, an alternative policy, and a 450 stabilization case. The reference scenario is what happens if the world continues down its current path of energy consumption without any “new energy-policy interventions.” By not changing our current trajectory, we can ex...

Jack Spencer of the Heritage Foundation has published a pair of papers that should make your reading list. First, read Congress Should Not Overlook Benefits of Nuclear Energy , then take a look at Competitive Nuclear Energy Investment: Avoiding Past Policy Mistakes . Thanks to Rod Adams for the pointers.

Last week, the Council on Foreign Relations sponsored an online discussion on nuclear energy and climate change between NEI's Steve Kerekes and Michael Mariotte of NIRS. To say the least, I think Steve got the better of the exchange, but I'll let our readers decide for themselves. Click here to read it right now.

Off the wire : UniStar Nuclear Energy (UNE), a joint venture between Constellation Energy and The EDF Group (EDF), has submitted an application to the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) for the potential construction of a new nuclear unit at Constellation Energy's Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Southern Maryland. While UNE has not made a final decision to build this new advanced-design reactor at Calvert Cliffs, it has submitted the CPCN to the PSC as a step toward potential construction of a non-greenhouse gas emitting, base-load, 1,600-megawatt generating facility to meet increasing energy demand in the Mid-Atlantic region, and in particular, the state of Maryland. "A third reactor at our high-performing Calvert Cliffs site offers the potential for an economic and environmentally sound means to provide additional base-load electricity to meet anticipated growth, both regionally and within the state of ...

Here's a summary of what went on in the energy markets last week: Electricity peak prices increased $2-9/MWh at the Eastern hubs and decreased $3-5/MWh at the Western hubs (see pages 1 and 3). Gas prices at the Henry Hub rose from $6.81/MMBtu to $6.90/MMBtu. Working gas in storage reached a record level for the second week in a row with 3,545 Bcf as of Friday, November 2. Factors contributing to the large volume in storage include improved supply and favorable economics. The 3,545 Bcf is 8.9 percent above the 5-year average inventory level for the report week (EIA, see pages 1 and 3). By 2011, the following amounts of new generating capacity are expected to start up: 29,000 MW of coal; 47,000 MW of natural gas; and 37,000 MW of wind (see page 5). Estimated nuclear plant availability remained at 83 percent last week. Two reactors finished refueling outages while four reactors shut down for maintenance (see pages 2 and 4). Uranium spot prices were $93 and $92/lb U3O8 according to Tra...

Rod Adams wonders why.

A report from the World Energy Congress by Reuters.

France's anti-nuclear group Sortir du Nucleaire claims the country can phase-out all of its nuclear plants in five to ten years (in French). Here is World Nuclear News' take : The pressure group's recently published 100-page report, Nucleaire: Comment en sortir? , presents a highly detailed plan of far-reaching energy saving measures that it says could enable the country that famously relies on nuclear power plants for 78% of its electricity to close them all down. It then advocates an energy efficient vision of France which uses other generation options - including fossil fuels. The group's vision of electricity generation in a nuclear-free France relies chiefly on wind power, with aims to build 11.8 GWe of terrestrial wind power and 10 GWe of maritime wind power facilities in five years, rising to 24.3 GWe and 15 GWe respectively in ten years. At present France has only 2 GWe of wind powered generation, although the report points to Germany's current example of ...

Following a press conference announcing GM's new plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, a blogger from AUTOSAVANT was able to ask GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz a couple of questions. The following exchange caught my eye: I’m sure you’re familiar with the report from the Department of Energy that stated that the existing utility grid in the U.S. could accommodate approximately 140 million plug-in hybrids right now (our reporter was dizzy from all the new iron around him - the actual number stated by the DOE in the report was 180 million). Has GM been in contact with the DOE or any of the utility companies regarding this conclusion? No, although our research gives a smaller number than the DOE report, but it’s still a pretty big number. That’s the great thing about the Volt or an EV, it runs on something that is cheap and readily available in this country, doesn’t require pumps, pipelines, you know? It’s an even better situation in other countries like France; they have nuclear power that su...

PayScale talks to Michael Flagg. He's got some interesting insights for anyone who's thinking about a career as a nuclear engineer. Also, be sure to check out Michael's blog, FutureJacked . UPDATE : More on staffing issues in the nuclear industry from Advanced Nanotechnology .

The following is a short reel that's running inside of NEI's booth at the World Energy Congress in Rome this week: As you might imagine, some folks are upset that we even showed up .

Click here for a clip from Tucker Carlson's MSNBC program that took a look at nuclear energy. There's a lot of talk, along with a short interview with CASEnergy 's Patrick Moore.

Details from World Nuclear News . For more from GE Nuclear, click here .

By now I'm sure many of you have read the disturbing news coming out of South Africa concerning the incident at Pelindaba . For a solid roundup of all the events, click here . Thankfully, the NRC is ever vigilant about plant security here in the U.S.

My friend Rod Adams has been busy attending the 2007 ANS Winter Meeting here in Washington. Click here and here for his reports.

Betsy Newmark is taking a look at the effect that moving Nevada up on the presidential primary calendar is having on policymaking and Yucca Mountain, and she doesn't like what she sees: Policy-making is about tough choices. If the choices were easy, they'd already have been made. But our system will become even more messed up when we let the political calendar determine a position on an important policy issue. I've become very sick of seeing politicians supporting ethanol subsidies simply because of Iowa's status as the first state to hold a vote for the presidential nominations. Now we're seeing the effect of pushing Nevada up.

Here's a summary of what went on in the energy markets last week: Electricity peak prices moved modestly last week (see pages 1 and 3). Total electricity consumption for 2007 is projected to average 10.7 billion kilowatthours per day, 2.1 percent above last year’s consumption (EIA STEO, see pages 2 and 5). Gas prices at the Henry Hub rose from $6.55/MMBtu to $6.81/MMBtu. Colder weather is considered the cause for increasing gas prices for the week (EIA, see pages 1 and 3). A new report from EIA stated that U.S. natural gas proved reserves increased 3 percent in 2006, rising to over 211 trillion cubic feet, the highest level since 1976. Estimated nuclear plant availability remained at 83 percent last week with three more reactors beginning refueling outages. FitzPatrick was down briefly due to algae accumulating at the plant’s cooling water intake (see pages 2 and 4). Uranium spot prices rose to $93 and $90/lb U3O8 according to TradeTech and UxConsulting. TradeTech noted that the ma...

Steven Aplin has the details.

From the AP : SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California sued the federal government on Thursday to force a decision about whether the state can impose the nation's first greenhouse gas emission standards for cars and light trucks. More than a dozen other states are poised to follow California's lead if it is granted the waiver from federal law, presenting a challenge to automakers who would have to adapt to a patchwork of regulations. The state's lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., was expected after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed last spring to take legal action. "Our future depends on us taking action on global warming right now," Schwarzenegger said during a news conference. "There's no legal basis for Washington to stand in our way." At issue is California's nearly two-year-old request for a waiver under the federal Clean Air Act allowing it to implement a 2002 state anti-polluti...

Meet James Bickford .

From The Record (Ontario, Canada): Alternative energy sources may have a role to play, but Ontarians should not expect them to replace nuclear power as the province's main source of electricity, the chief executive of Bruce Power told local Rotarians yesterday. When surveyed, most people say they prefer wind, solar or hydroelectric power over nuclear energy because they think energy from renewable sources is "free," Duncan Hawthorne said. "That's fair, except I can qualify them all with one word: 'Sometimes,' " he said. "Because sometimes the sun shines, sometimes the wind blows and sometimes the rain falls. We need energy on a stable basis." "It's not reasonable to build a developed society out of any of those three things," he said. I first heard Hawthorne speak at a Platts conference in 2005. Bruce is lucky to have him.

Details from Forbes .

Yesterday the New York Times took a look at proposals for carbon taxes . FuturePundit has some thoughts.

From the AP : BEIJING,: China will reject any agreement that calls for binding limits on carbon dioxide emissions that will replace the Kyoto Protocol, an EU official said Wednesday. Guido Sacconi, chairman of a visiting European Parliament delegation, said that was the impression he got after three days of talks in Beijing with government and environmental officials. "In the private meetings we have had, particularly with Chinese politicians, there were of course some differences of opinion," Sacconi, who heads the European Parliament's Temporary Committee on Climate Change, told a news conference. "The main difference is, unlike the European Parliament or the European Union, the Chinese believe that it will not be possible, in the agreement which follows the Kyoto Protocol, for China to accept any binding obligations — this was one difference between us."

From Energy Daily (Subscription Only): In next year's budget request, the Energy Department is planning to ask Congress for authority to take title to spent nuclear fuel stockpiled at closed U.S. nuclear plants and to reprocess it, most likely in France, sources tell The Energy Daily. DOE officials in recent years have resisted congressional pressure to move spent fuel stockpiled at U.S. reactors to regional storage facilities, saying the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) bars them from taking title to the fuel until the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada is granted a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license. Now, sources say, the department is planning to ask Congress to amend the NWPA to remove that limitation as part of its fiscal 2009 budget request to Congress, which DOE is in the early stages of preparing. However, DOE's goal is apparently to transport it for reprocessing, most likely at La Hague in France, not to move the spent fuel to regional storage facilit...

Gwyneth Cravens, author of Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy , recently took a tour of the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant : By the end of the tour it became obvious to me that the slightest incident at a nuclear plant, even if it occurs far from any reactor and poses no risk to the public, is usually given three-alarm treatment by the media, whereas the large-scale, relentless, ongoing risks from fossil fuel combustion are ignored. Our biggest reliable sources of our basic electricity supply are fossil fuel plants and nuclear plants. There is nothing speculative about the fact that as coal combustion provides half of our electricity it causes the premature deaths of more than 24,000 Americans a year in addition to hundreds of thousands of cases of lung and heart disease. Is this acceptable? Nuclear power, while providing one-fifth of our electricity and three-quarters of our emissions-free electricity, has never caused a single death to a member of the American p...

From 24 Heures : Axpo is facing having to shut down two aging nuclear reactors at Beznau, while contracts for delivery of electricity from France are up for renewal. The country will have to find 2,000 megawatts of power to replace that lost from those sources. Karrer cited these figures as justifying the need for a new nuclear power plant. However, left-wing groups, who favor more energy conservation measures, are opposed to such a project because of concerns about nuclear waste. The country currently relies on nuclear power for 39 percent of its electricity needs. Sounds a lot like Germany , doesn't it?

Details from Marketwatch .

Details from CNN .

From Life Cycle Analysis : Bringing to a dramatic close the successful POWERSHIFT 2007 conference in Washington, D.C., hundreds of youth and community members converged on a downtown branch of the financial giant Citibank yesterday. In a unique "direct action," they dumped a half-ton of coal on the doorsteps of Citibank. A delegation of coal-field residents and students went inside to denounce Citibank’s investments to their customers and employees. Out in the street, hundreds of youth began coughing violently, with a massive “die-in” surrounding the bank that shut down them down for the rest of the day. Looks like it won't be the last .

Couldn't help but shake my head when I read this paragraph from Spiegel Online : As energy companies plan several new coal-burning power plants to replace nuclear reactors, experts warn against the environmental impact. Cleaner technologies are not yet production-ready. No kidding. The equation is simple: Eliminate nuclear energy, get used to spewing more carbon. For more from our archives on Germany, where we've been writing about this very problem for a couple of years now, click here . Thanks to Brian Davey at FEASTA for the link.

Details from KSBY-TV .

Meet Mike Otto at the University of Alberta.

In a speech yesterday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Senator Hillary Clinton laid out her energy policy for her presidential campaign. Here's the passage on nuclear energy (PDF): Addressing Nuclear Power : Hillary believes that energy efficiency and renewables are better options for addressing global warming and meeting our future power needs, because of significant unresolved concerns about the cost of producing nuclear power, the safety of operating plants, waste disposal, and nuclear proliferation. Hillary opposes new subsidies for nuclear power, but believes that we need to take additional steps to deal with the problems facing nuclear power. She would strengthen the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and direct it to improve safety and security at nuclear power plants; terminate work at the flawed Yucca Mountain site and convene a panel of scientific experts to explore alternatives for disposing of nuclear waste; and continue research, with a focus on lower costs and improving safety....

Here's Jay Reding : The best analogy is the stock market: you’d be an idiot to hold all your money in one stock. Right now our portfolio is almost entirely based on oil, with a few alternative holdings. What we need is a diversified energy portfolio. Ethanol is one solution (although it’s economically inefficient, it’s politically popular). Biodiesel is one. Wind power is one. Hydroelectric power is another. But there’s one issue that could significantly impact America’s energy independence, and that’s nuclear energy. The GOP needs to get behind the policy of removing the governmental roadblocks to safe, clean nuclear energy. It’s fundamentally conservative in that it involves removing governmental barriers to private enterprise. It’s also environmentally conscious in that modern nuclear technologies produce minimal waste and product significant amounts of power. As this excellent book points out, there is a strong case that nuclear energy needs to be a key part of America’s 21st C...

From the Wall Street Journal : Entergy Corp. plans to spin off about half of its nuclear-power plants and create the nation's first stand-alone, publicly traded nuclear-energy company, underscoring how the once-shunned nuclear sector is getting a lift from increasing anxiety about other methods of making electricity. Less than a decade ago, Entergy was picking up distressed nuclear assets on the cheap. In one case, it bought a plant for little more than the value of fuel on hand. Now Entergy, a New Orleans company with utilities in four Southeastern states, estimates it will be able to take assets for which it paid about $2 billion and put them in a new company with a market value approaching $20 billion, according to Chief Executive Officer Wayne Leonard. The move puts pressure on other big nuclear operators to consider similar action. CEO John Rowe of Chicago's Exelon Corp., the biggest owner of nuclear capacity in the U.S., said: "It's something we constantly look a...

Over the course of the past several weeks, I've noticed a lot of anti-nuclear activity coming out of South Africa. Now, by way of the blog Commentary , I see that it's bled through to the national television network there . Fortunately, not everyone is buying what they're selling : More importantly though, one thing the anti-nuclear lobby in SA can never really explain is what we should be using instead of nuclear power. Because after all, this is all about choices: We still have a serious need to generate huge amounts of electricity, the only question is how we’re going to provide it. The standard alternative provided by environmental groups (and Carte Blanche) is to use wind or solar power instead, but this is like claiming you could use bamboo to build skyscrapers. Wind energy and solar power, while they have their place, are far too inefficient and unreliable to provide the continuous and reliable base-load power we need, and at best can only supplement traditional po...

Details from the AP .

Hitting the wires earlier today was an AP story out of Vermont that took a look at the debate about renewing the operating license of Vermont Yankee . It was hard not to get a little angry while reading it as the reporter, David Gram, allowed the opponents of the plant to repeat a an old saw about nuclear energy that keeps getting repeated over and over again ... [James] Moore [Vermont Public Interest Research Group] said that comparison doesn't account for something often left out of the conversation when nuclear power is described as not generating greenhouse gases: Mining and processing the uranium fuel for nuclear plants is energy-intensive, and it depends on carbon-generating fossil fuels. And even when you include those factors into the equation, the total lifecycle emissions of nuclear energy are still roughly comparable to renewables . And here's another beauty: "For the average Vermonter, little to nothing would change," said James Moore, energy advocate wi...

By now many of you have seen the panicked headlines over at the Drudge Report concerning a security incident at the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in the nation . The following is the official statement about the incident from Arizona Public Service, the operator of the plant: Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station Security personnel detected a small, suspicious device in the bed of a contract employee’s truck this morning as part of the normal security screening of all vehicles entering the site. The contractor was attempting to enter the site through the Security check-point at the beginning of the normal day shift. Although initial checks did not detect any explosive material on the small capped pipe, the contractor was denied access to the site and detained for further investigation, and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) was contacted. MCSO bomb squad tests later determined that the capped pipe was a credible explosive device. As a prudent measure, the Palo...

Our friends at Ontario Power Generation have started to post their own videos, including this basic explanation on how their CANDU reactors at Pickering generate electricity.

Here's a funny clip from late last week where CNN's Glenn Beck weighs in on the return of the musicians from the "No Nukes" era :

Get the skinny from Minnesota Public Radio . For a previous post on the state's energy situation from David Bradish, click here .

Details over at Atomic Insights .