NEI Nuclear Notes

Over the past number of weeks, you’ve seen us highlight nuclear carnivals at other folks’ blogs. This week we’re hosting it. For those new to the blogosphere, a carnival is when a community of bloggers recap each other’s best posts at a different site every week, month, or whenever. The purpose, of course, is to increase traffic at each other’s sites. Not only that, it gets the community more involved and definitely creates great connections. We have some deep thinkers and writers in the nuclear blogging community and the carnivals definitely show it. To start, Barry Brook at Brave New Climate set the record straight on the world nuclear renaissance : Despite what some may like you to believe, the nuclear renaissance is upon us. Don’t let anyone get away with telling you otherwise — they are badly misleading you. … How about this for some supporting statistics : 29 new reactors, totalling 26 gigawatts of electricity output (operating at high capacity factors without...

President Barack Obama has provided a regular thrill ride when it comes to nuclear energy, tamping down Yucca Mountain, inspiring commissions galore on what to do with used nuclear fuel, and suffering our parsing his every word. Well, we parse no more. Obama said this to the Czechs gathered in Prague to hear him speak – and by extension, everyone with a TV or radio. The subject was nuclear disarmament (we’ll leave it to you to decide how you feel about that), but what then to do with nuclear energy ? The basic bargain is sound: Countries with nuclear weapons will move towards disarmament, countries without nuclear weapons will not acquire them, and all countries can access peaceful nuclear energy. To strengthen the treaty, we should embrace several principles. We need more resources and authority to strengthen international inspections. We need real and immediate consequences for countries caught breaking the rules or trying to leave the treaty without cause. It gets better....

White House Chronicle's Llewellyn King interviewed NEI's Frank "Skip" Bowman for the January 11, 2008 show. Topics covered include the history of nuclear in the U.S., prospects for new reactors and used fuel management.

Over in the U.K. earlier this week, the Oxford Research Group published another anti-nuclear report, this one titled Too Hot To Handle? The Future Of Civil Nuclear Power . The report primarily focuses on nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear terrorism, including a two page blip on how nuclear power cannot contribute to reducing climate change. If the name "Oxford Research Group" sounds familiar to our readers, the reason is that we dissected another of their reports earlier this year , dismissing it as just more recycled nonsense. Well, surprise, surprise, this report offers even more of the same. What's disappointing is that a number of folks in the press couldn't be bothered to look at this report with a critical eye -- and I'm talking about the Guardian over in the U.K. So while part of me is tired of this game, we'll do it all over again for the benefit of those who haven't been paying attention. Nuclear industry critics have claimed multiple ti...