NEI Nuclear Notes

Earlier this week, Michael Mariotte of NIRS posted a critique of public opinion polling on nuclear energy over at The Daily Kos .While I found some of his conclusions to be interesting, I thought it might be a good idea to share his piece with Ann Bisconti of Bisconti Research. After passing Mariotte's piece to Ann, she shared the following response with me: A recent discussion about public opinion on nuclear energy by Michael Mariotte, a representative of the antinuclear advocacy group, NIRS, makes some valid points but reaches the wrong conclusion.  I would like to offer a different perspective from Bisconti Research.  Our studies of public opinion on nuclear energy include nearly 100 national surveys conducted over a 29-year period.  Each survey asks 20 to 30 questions about various aspects of public opinion on nuclear energy. Some of these questions are open-ended to let us hear from the public in their own words. The result is a unique resource for examining lo...

Earlier today, an article appeared on MSNBC.com that raised a few eyebrows: The reactor with the highest risk rating is 24 miles north of New York City, in the village of Buchanan, N.Y., at the Indian Point Energy Center. There, on the east bank of the Hudson, Indian Point nuclear reactor No. 3 has the highest risk of earthquake damage in the country, according to new NRC risk estimates provided to msnbc.com. A ranking of the 104 nuclear reactors is shown at the bottom of this article, listing the NRC estimate of risk of catastrophic failure caused by earthquake. This is what reporters should do – try to ferret out information- and what reporters should not do – incorrectly present the information. The problem here is that NRC has no such ranking and no such list . Instead, the “list” is something much more tentative in nature: The objective of the GI-199 Safety/Risk Assessment was to perform a conservative, screening-level assessment to evaluate if further invest...

CASEnergy Co-Chair and former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman is making the media rounds in NYC today, with appearances scheduled on CNN , Fox Business News and MSNBC . Here she is on " Morning Joe ." Host Joe Scarborough teed up the interview with a provocative question: "I think it's asinine, what we've done over the past 30 years, where we've allowed France to fuel 80% of their economy on nuclear energy and we have fallen so far behind. Why is that?"

Not all was lost in the Lieberman Warner bill debacle; Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has publicly stated her support for nuclear energy. From MSNBC's Morning Joe on Wednesday, Scarborough :...Let me ask you, this is one that you may disagree with me on, but France, a [sic] 75% of its energy coming from nuclear power. Europe is moving in that direction and they are doing it because they believe that's the best way to cut carbon emissions. Why can't we figure out a way to safely regulate nuclear power so we could cut all those greenhouse gases overnight? Boxer : There's no question that nuclear is going to be part of the solution. The thing is, we have got to get an answer to disposing of the waste. That is a big question mark. But I went to France to see what they do and Joe, it's amazing. Because they have no other way to get energy, you are right. They rely on this. They have put the whole power of the government behind the safety question. Here, we don't do that...