96th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers
This post is the collective voice of blogs with legendary names which emerge each week to tell the story of nuclear energy.
If you want to hear the voice of the nuclear renaissance, the Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is where to find it.
Past editions have been hosted at Yes Vermont Yankee, Atomic Power Review, ANS Nuclear Cafe, Idaho Samizdat, NEI Nuclear Notes, Next Big Future, and CoolHandNuke, as well as several other popular nuclear energy blogs.
The publication of the Carnival each week is part of a commitment by the leading pro-nuclear bloggers in North America that we will speak with a collective voice on the issue of the value of nuclear energy. While we each have our own points of view, we agree that the promise of peaceful uses of the atom remains viable in our own time and for the future.
If you have a pro-nuclear energy blog, and would like to host an edition of the carnival, please contact Brian Wang at Next Big Future to get on the rotation.
This is a great collaborative effort that deserves your support. Please post a Tweet, a Facebook entry, or a link on your Web site or blog to support the carnival.
This week's Carnival
Yes Vemont Yankee - Meredith Angwin
- Why Nuclear Is Regulated at the National Level
Many people in Vermont claim that Vermont should have the right to regulate nuclear safety. Yes Vermont Yankee points out that pharmaceutical drug approval, nuclear power, and airline safety are all regulated at the national level. Angwin shows that national regulation of complex technologies is a very good thing.
ANS Nuclear Cafe - Howard Shaffer
- Back to the Vermont Public Service Board: Square One - or Before!
The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant received a 20-year extension of its operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission - but also is required to be issued a renewed Certificate of Public Good (CPG) from Vermont's Public Service Board to continue operating. This blog post untangles the legal thicket for readers, reporting from a Vermont Public Service Board Pre-conference Hearing packed to the brim with lawyers, representatives, the media, and public pro- and anti-nukes.
NEI Nuclear Notes - Dave Bradish
- MIT study on managing renewables
The blog highlights MIT's latest report on whether a large-scale penetration of renewables can be managed in the US. The report is a sobering read for renewable advocates. There are five main areas of concern with wind and solar that emerged from the symposium and it looks like many regulations and systems will have to change in order to accommodate renewables. There are many more interesting stats on this issue at NEI's post so stop by.
Atomic Power Review - Will Davis
- The AEC on Public Attitudes toward Nuclear Energy
This blog presents a document that everyone involved in communicating with the public about nuclear energy will want to read; Appendix III of the obscure WASH-1250 report. This document gives a history of public sentiment toward nuclear energy from the early days through 1973, and helps explain the early activities of anti-nuclear organizations as well.
Neutron Economy - Steve Skutnik
- Looking Back One Year Later
The blog reflects on the aftermath of the Great Tohoku Earthquake and its aftermath, an event which sparked Skutnik and his colleagues to start their blog in an attempt to convey accurate information about nuclear technology to the general public free of the sensationalism which prevailed around the time of the Fukushima crisis.
Idaho Samizdat - Dan Yurman
- Talking Fukushima One Year On
A panel convened by the American Nuclear Society reports no one has died from radiation exposure at Fukushima and that the health effects from radiation exposure are too small to measure. Also, the panel questioned the technical basis for the NRC's call for a 50 mile evacuation zone around the Fukushima reactor complex.
Deregulate the Atom - Rick Maltease
A one year retrospective on why the Fukushima Nuclear event unfairly dominated the news media.
Next Big Future - Brian Wang
The World Nuclear Association has an update of the nuclear reactors that are starting (or restarting after complete overhauls) from 2012 through 2017. There are 46 reactors that are scheduled to start from 2012 to 2014.
Kevin Jianjun Tu is a senior associate in the Carnegie Energy and Climate Program, where he leads Carnegie's work on China's energy and climate policies. He also worked in China 1995-2001 in large China natural gas and petroleum companies. His analysis is that China should go slow on approving new nuclear reactors.
China's 2020 nuclear target is widely expected to fall to 60 to 70 gigawatts (GW), while China's nuclear advocacy groups are still actively lobbying the government to set the 2020 nuclear target as high as 80 GW.
- Nuclear Inspiration - Suzy Hobbs Baker
"Modern physics is a field that is as complex as it is beautiful." The blog interviews nuclear engineering Ph.D. candidate Kallie Metzger, whose passion for science also inspires beautiful works of art - and a marvelous nuclear-inspired art exhibit. Examples are displayed online.
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