NEI Nuclear Notes

Here's another blogger , who likes what he's hearing about nuclear energy after reading a recent Wired article on the subject: In fact, nuclear is right now just about the only viable energy option for ever expanding worldwide energy demand and depleting petroleum reserves. Hopefully the Greens, Neocons, and people all around the political spectrum will come to see this reality, and according to the Wired article, a consensus seems to be forming about the great potential for investing in a Nuclear future. Regardless of alleviating geopolitical concerns (which to me seems fairly plausible-- at least to a certain extent), it's a great move for the environment and for the stability of our economy.

Click here , for a transcript of a news program hosted by Andrew Geoghegan of the ABC network in Australia that takes another look at nuclear energy. Here's a short excerpt: ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Hollywood's take on climate change may be simplistic, but it's refocused attention on the negative effects of burning fossil fuels. In the search for a clean and economically viable fuel alternative, even some environmentalists think the answer is nuclear power. PROFESSOR JAMES LOVELOCK: I admit that nuclear has a few dangers, but they're trivial compared with the dangers of just letting global warming happen. ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Many governments must now rethink energy policy in light of the Kyoto protocol and the prospect of sustained higher oil prices. It's an opportunity that has uranium producers excited. HARRY KENYON-SLANEY: We see the debate in the nuclear power industry and the interest in increasing the nuclear power usage around the world as very promising and positive,...

Renewables like wind energy are often touted as a potential source of baseload electrical generation, but what happens when even wind energy runs into community opposition ? A strong wind is blowing across Manitowoc County. Some people find it hard to believe that deriving energy from a clean, unending source could be controversial, and others can’t understand why anyone would want to build wind turbines next to their homes, or anywhere for that matter. The battle over wind energy in Manitowoc County has commenced. Opponents claim wind farms risk public safety, and have potentially adverse effects on property values and aesthetics. A group calling itself COWS, or Citizens Opposing Wind turbine Sites, is lobbying agencies like Manitowoc County Planning & Park to change the county’s wind energy ordinance and is calling for a moratorium on wind energy projects. NIMBY lives on.

Some landmark nuclear energy news from India: The country’s first indigenously designed 540-mw pressurised heavy water reactor here attained criticality today, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar said. The reactor, unit 4 of Tarapur Atomic Power Station —the flagship plant of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited — will be connected to the western grid for commercial purposes before August, Kakodkar said. With this, the total nuclear power generated in the country will be 3,310 mw, he said. NPCIL now produces 2,770 mw electricity at its plants in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat.

In the latest issue of City Journal , Peter Huber and Mark Mills try to put the numbers into perspective when it comes to the amount of energy it takes to support a typical city dweller over the course of a year: [A]n apartment dweller on the Upper West Side substitutes two tons of oil (or the equivalent in natural gas) for Chicago’s four tons of coal. The oil-tons get burned at plants like the huge oil/gas unit in Astoria, Queens. The uranium ounces get split at Indian Point in Westchester, 35 miles north of the city, as well as at the Ginna, Fitzpatrick, and Nine Mile Point units upstate, and at additional plants in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New Hampshire. Which sounds more efficient to you? And here's one columnist who's impressed by what he read.

From the Duke Power newswire . For more on Plutonium and Uranium reprocessing, click here .

A free market environmentalist weighs the costs and benefits .