Nuclear Matinee – James Hansen on Nuclear Power

August 9, 2013, 6:00AMANS Nuclear Cafe

James Hansen, former head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, earlier this year co-authored a study that conservatively estimated that nuclear power has saved 1.8 million lives since 1971 that otherwise would have been lost due to fossil fuel pollution and associated causes. For more information, see this post at Scientific American blogs-and this previous ANS nuclear matinée.

Nuclear Matinee – Nuclear 101 from the Switch Energy Project

August 2, 2013, 6:00AMANS Nuclear Cafe

Switch is a documentary on the worldwide future of energy directed by Harry Lynch and produced by Arcos Films, released in 2012.  Dr. Scott Tinker of the University of Texas takes viewers on a global tour of energy sites and facilities to explore the next energy transition of our civilization - the point at which energy derived from fossil fuels, versus from "everything else," switch places in terms of providing the majority of world energy.  The film posits that this enormous, colossal transition is likely to occur within 50 years.

Nuclear Matinee: Vogtle Construction Time-Lapse Video

July 26, 2013, 6:00AMANS Nuclear Cafe

A new time-lapse video shows early site preparation and containment vessel bottom head placement at the Plant Vogtle Electric Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Georgia. Two new nuclear power reactors are scheduled to begin operations at Plant Vogtle in 2017 and 2018. Along with two units under construction at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station in South Carolina, these will be the first new nuclear units built in the United States in the last three decades. Enjoy the show!

Nuclear Power: Fading Away or Powering Up?

July 10, 2013, 6:00AMANS Nuclear Cafe

Richard K. Lester, head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was interviewed on National Public Radio's "Here & Now" program on Monday, July 8.  In this 15-minute segment, Lester gives his views on what's happening in nuclear energy now in the United States and worldwide. Are we at the end of nuclear power? Or at the beginning?