When Should Nuclear Power Plants Die? – Forbes

Shutting down a nuclear power plant with twenty good years left in its bones is not progressive. I would even suggest that it’s regressive. And why go into decommissioning status when they could sell electricity at about 5-cents a kWhr and fuel costs less than a cent of that? For short-term profits, of course. It’s […]

On Slow Progress and Trust

After a couple weeks that brought some very discouraging news, as well as a lot of “pseudo-news” that had nuclear supporters in full-on FUD-busting* mode, this was a refreshing article to find in my Inbox on Thursday. Nuclear progress is usually a slow-moving process, and often doesn’t seem to go anywhere at all. This is […]

Future May Be Bright For Modular Nuclear Reactors – Forbes

Small modular reactors: an excellent example of nuclear progress. “This solves one of the problems experienced by the US nuclear industry, where most reactors were custom-designed and built, reducing the impact of the learning curve and increasing the likelihood of design and construction errors.  Additionally, nearly a half-century of technological advance, in materials and electronics […]

The IPCC Report and Nuclear Energy | The Nation

Good coverage in The Nation, not exactly a right-wing rag: Liberals and the left are frequently critical of Republicans and the right for the manifest hostility to science, including of course their stubborn refusal to recognize the reality of human-caused global warming (not to mention, say, their denial of evolution). In the case of nuclear […]

Please Vote for Tom Blees – “Integral Fast Reactors Can Power The Planet”

It’s no secret that I am a fan of the Integral Fast Reactor and what I hope will soon be its commercially produced and deployed version, the PRISM (Power Reactor, Innovative Small Module). This is one of many next-generation nuclear technologies that I hope to see developed and implemented in the near future. Now there […]

The Nuclear Green Revolution – Charles Barton

Looks like I have more reading to do! Meredith Angwin, of Yes Vermont Yankee, has just called my attention to (my) fellow progressive and pro-nuclear blogger Charles Barton. I have not had a chance to peruse his site in any depth, but I will definitely do so, and I am adding him to the blogroll […]

The Breakthrough Institute – Liberals and Progressives for Nuclear

While historically conservatives have been the prominent supporters of nuclear energy, the urgency of climate change has recently compelled liberals and progressives to reconsider nuclear as the best zero-carbon source of baseload electricity for a world with rapidly rising energy demand. via The Breakthrough Institute – Liberals and Progressives for Nuclear. That would be me, […]

“Fail-Safe” – When failure does NOT mean disaster

Robert Williams, spokesman for Entergy, said the four monitors were “showing spurious signals, but they were still able to perform their safety function.” He added, “To be perfectly clear, the monitors did not fail. They did not fail; they were generating false signals.” via Radiation monitor problem not “failure’ Entergy says  : Times Argus Online. This […]

Prisoner’s Dilemma and New Types of Nuclear Reactors | ANS Nuclear Cafe

At the ANS Nuclear Cafe, Meredith Angwin writes: Hargraves finds it straightforward to be in favor of continued operation of currently operating LWR like the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant AND in favor of rapid development of LFTRs. I feel the same. via Prisoner’s Dilemma and New Types of Nuclear Reactors | ANS Nuclear Cafe. As […]

Mark Lynas’ “Nuclear 2.0:” The case for a Grand Alliance of Low Carbon | The unpublished notebooks of J. M. Korhonen

Mark Lynas’ “Nuclear 2.0:” The case for a Grand Alliance of Low Carbon | The unpublished notebooks of J. M. Korhonen.