NEI Nuclear Notes

Well, yes but not quite. I'll explain in a bit. Here's the story from the AP : A French train with a 25,000-horsepower engine and special wheels broke the world speed record Tuesday for conventional rail trains, reaching 357.2 mph as it zipped through the countryside to the applause of spectators. Roaring like a jet plane, with sparks flying overhead and kicking up a long trail of dust, the black-and-chrome V150 with three double-decker cars surpassed the record of 320.2 mph set in 1990 by another French train. It fell short, however, of beating the ultimate record set by Japan's magnetically levitated train, which hit 361 mph in 2003. The French TGV, or "train a grande vitesse," as the country's bullet train is called, had two engines on either side of the three double- decker cars for the record run, some 125 miles east of the capital on a new track linking Paris with Strasbourg. Aboard the V150, the sensation was comparable to that of an airplane at takeo...

At the end of last week, we linked to a number of bloggers who took issue with the decision of the High Court in London to scuttle the U.K. government's energy review that called for an increase in new nuclear build. Yesterday, James Lovelock, the father of the Gaia Theory, joined the chorus condemning Greenpeace, who filed the lawsuit, and continues to work to block the progress of the industry globally : What an incredible mistake Greenpeace made when it took the government to court in an attempt to delay the building of new nuclear power stations. By so doing it increases the burden of carbon dioxide (C02) the Earth has to bear; nuclear is the only large-scale energy source that is emissions free. Why don’t we wake up and emulate the French, who make almost all their electricity from nuclear energy? French trains are legendary, especially the TGV. One of these bound for Marseilles was standing at the Gare de Lyon; it seemed like any other train except that it was double decked...