NEI Nuclear Notes

And hard to catch, and tantalizingly within reach. That makes Susan G. Koman for the Cure and its annual Race for the Cure so important. But cure for what ? Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. Hard to think of a family untouched by breast cancer. When my mother died of it some years ago, the sympathy from friends came in the form of testimony – about sisters, mothers, grandmothers, nieces, daughters – the losses span the generations to cause grief whatever age you are, where ever your life has taken you. Susan G. Koman for the Cure focuses its activities in the Washi...

"Mr. President, the American people get it. The manufacturing industry gets it. Organized labor gets it. And the international community, who are committed to reducing greenhouse gasses, certainly gets it. And what do all these parties get? "It's time that President Obama and this Congress get it, and we get on with launching the nuclear renaissance in this country. We just can't get there from here without nuclear." This comes from Senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio), whose ringing support for nuclear energy came through clear as can be on the floor of the Senate. (Ohio has two units, at Davis-Besse and Perry.) While he’s an all-of-the-above energy advocate, he recognizes the unique combination of properties nuclear energy brings forth. "Don't get me wrong. I do support expanding the use of renewables like solar and wind energy. My point is that, realistically, we are not yet in a position to be able to rely upon them for base-load ...

Energy Northwest is giving nuclear energy a look-see . In a May 27 letter obtained by The Associated Press, the [Energy Northwest] consortium asked each of its 25 member public utilities and municipalities to pitch in $25,000 for further research into building one or more small reactors. Those who pay would have first rights to any power produced if a plant is built. Well, that’s pretty small-d democratic. And Energy Northwest, which had a rough ride with nuclear energy in the 80s – the article goes into all that - is indeed proceeding this time most carefully: Energy Northwest has spent the past year researching its nuclear options, including a 1,600-megawatt plant that would power more than 1 million homes, before deciding to gauge interest in a small project where 40-megawatt reactors can be added as needed. Hmm, perhaps too carefully. Although the article doesn’t say it, it looks as though the idea may be to use the smaller plants to backstop their renewable por...

We’ve turned the spotlight on some politicians who really seem to have done their homework on climate change, cap-and-trade, nuclear energy and the other topics that will be important as the climate change and energy bills work their way through Congress. We did that because, first, they deserve a little attention for doing their jobs well – we’ve spotlighted Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), but there are plenty of others who have done the home work and shared what they’ve learned. That they mostly support nuclear energy – well, surely the mark of advanced intelligence, no? And second, because all this good work can get drowned out when you run into comments like this : This whole thing strikes me [as] if it weren’t so serious as being a comedy, you know? I mean, we just went from winter to spring. In Missouri, when we go from winter to spring, that’s a good climate change. I don’t want to stop that climate change, yo...

Even with an early release, Microsoft's new search engine, Bing , has been surprisingly bug-free (save those hovering mouse concerns and itchy IE 6 trigger ) and is receiving rave reviews. Apple's Steve Wozniak is a fan . CNET's Rafe Needleman said, " the new engine won me over ." And the Motley Fool folks have even gone on to declare Bing, " the first serious threat to Google's long-dominant search franchise. " While I think it's a bit early to assess Bing's impact on Google, I can say that, as a user, I've been impressed by site's functionality. I am less than satisfied, however, with their nuclear-related search results. (Solipsism alert!) A Google search for "nuclear energy" has NEI in the first position - ahead of Wikipedia - on the search engine results page (SERP). On Bing ? NEI is #2. And a search for "nuclear power" results in even more significant position changes: NEI is second on Google and in eig...

Recently we tweeted (ugh!) about the NRC being named in American University's ISPII survey as "the best place to work in the Federal Government." Thanks to TweetDeck and Twitter user kangkang for pointing us to another job satisfaction survey (published in BusinessWeek a few weeks back): Universum 's annual poll of American college students and their top-100 ideal employers. Little surprise among the top three companies: Google , Disney and Apple . The prominence of the State Department , the FBI and NASA , however, was eye-catching. As was the DOE , unranked in 2008, coming in at #22. Some public-sector newcomers such as the Energy Dept. (No. 22) also appear to be on students' radar for the first time. Why the jump in popularity? "One thing that has helped is the message from the current Administration," says George Waldmann, director of the Employment Solutions Div. "Science and innovation is definitely a priority, and I think that has help...

We admit were puzzled by Martin Feldstein’s op-ed on cap-and-trade in the Washington Post. Feldstein is a professor of economics at Harvard University, so he knows how to count up the beans, but his piece took a peculiar slice at cap-and-trade right up top: Scientists agree that CO2 emissions around the world could lead to rising temperatures with serious long-term environmental consequences. But that is not a reason to enact a U.S. cap-and-trade system until there is a global agreement on CO2 reduction. The proposed legislation would have a trivially small effect on global warming while imposing substantial costs on all American households. So, in other words, an American effort would cut emissions “trivially small” – if no other country participated. From this premise, Feldstein spins the rest of his argument: Americans should ask themselves whether this annual tax of $1,600-plus per family is justified by the very small resulting decline in global CO2. Since the U.S. ...