ANS Nuclear Cafe

Get to Know Nuclear

Energy-related events in Vermont continue to be a jumble of citizen activism, political maneuvering, changes to the electric power system, and an overall focus on nuclear power.

The 169th Carnival of Nuclear Energy posted over the weekend at Next Big Future.  Click here to see the latest edition of this time-honored tradition among the best pro-nuclear English-language bloggers.

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.

Realizing new technologies for the age of fusion energy

A quick note of congratulations to NASA's Mars Curiosity rover project team on the first anniversary of a daredevil landing on Mars on August 6, 2012.

In 1970, Robert O. Anderson gave David Brower $200,000 as seed money to form the virulent antinuclear group that calls itself Friends of the Earth. I learned that important piece of information while reading a book by F. William Engdahl titled A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order. Here is the passage that opened my eyes:

The 168th Carnival of Nuclear Energy has been posted at The Hiroshima Syndrome.  You can click here to see this latest edition of a long-running tradition.

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.

Breaking the used nuclear fuel logjam?

The needs of the young generation were discussed at length at this year's ANS Annual Meeting. Conversations took place at the Young Members Group meeting, student events, and most notably, the "Young Blood-Integration and Retention of the Next Generation" panel sponsored by the ANS Operations and Power Division (OPD), organized by Gale Hauck. This panel included nearly a dozen young members in academia, the U.S. national laboratories, and the private sector who shared a number of their unique experiences and needs as new faces in the nuclear field.

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The 167th Carnival of Nuclear Energy has been posted today at Yes Vermont Yankee.  You can click here to see this latest edition.

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!

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has found itself thrust into the spotlight again over the last two weeks as a series of events at and around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station have triggered a large volume of negative press, government commentary, and regulatory backlash. The embattled utility clearly has its hands full on more than one front.

Prisoner's Dilemma is a famous example of game theory. You can look at this example in quite a few ways. I especially think of this game when I am thinking about Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTRs) and advanced and non-traditional reactor development.

Make plans now to attend the American Nuclear Society's LWR Fuel Performance/ TopFuel 2013 Conference, to be held at the beautiful Westin Charlotte Hotel in the picturesque energy hub city of Charlotte, N.C., on September 15-19.

The 166th edition of the Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up right now at The Hiroshima Syndrome.  Click here to access this latest multi-faceted edition.

It's hot out! Across much of the United States, the largest heat wave of the summer has been stagnating all week.

In this post I will expand on some of the themes I've been discussing in several previous posts-concerning what's really needed to bring down nuclear's costs, allow it to grow in the future, and contribute to reductions in CO₂ emissions and air pollution.