How is nuclear energy created? How does it work? Generation of electricity from nuclear power is fundamentally similar to other kinds of traditional power generation like coal, natural gas, and oil. All of these power sources are referred to as “thermal” power sources. Oil, coal, or natural gas is burned to boil water or to…
New Electrical Generation From Wind & Solar Is 21 Times Greater Than That Expected from Watts Bar 2 (prepared by the SUN DAY Campaign, October 2016) [Editor’s Note: GreenWorld is pleased to publish this guest post by Ken Bossong, of the SUN DAY Campaign. Ken puts the startup of the first U.S. nuclear reactor in…
Source: The Waste Control Specialists Overview Our Don’t Waste America campaign focuses on preventing decades of massive and dangerous high-level radioactive waste—irradiated fuel from nuclear power reactors—transport across the United States on our rails, roads, and waterways. Such large-scale transport, which could affect 100 million Americans who live within a mile or two of…
President Trump’s Executive Order 14300 https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-14300-ordering-the-reform-the-nuclear-regulatory-commission Section 5(b) is on RADIATION STANDARDS “5(b) Adopt science-based radiation limits. In particular, the NRC shall reconsider reliance on the linear no-threshold (LNT) model for radiation exposure and the “as low as reasonably achievable” standard, which is predicated on LNT. Those models are flawed, as discussed in section 1…
There are some questions that are simply unanswerable; for example, how is it that Donald Trump’s approval rating is not zero? What defect in the U.S. educational system has resulted in some actual adults, with actual grade school, high school, and perhaps even college degrees, believing that an egomaniacal, perennially publicity desperate billionaire has anyone’s…
Back in 2008, when presidential candidate John McCain was calling for construction of 45 new reactors in the U.S. (and presidential candidate Barack Obama was calling for “safe” nuclear power), Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander outdid his colleague: he issued a call for construction of 100 new nuclear reactors. In 2008, the nuclear “renaissance” was in…
China’s government tends to be ruled by a high degree of economic realism. The national economy comes first and has largely trumped other considerations, such as the environment, human rights, democracy, global public opinion, etc. The decision to enter into the climate pact with the U.S., to the extent that China intends to honor it…
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week denied a petition filed by Oregon/Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and other groups asking for a shutdown of Washington’s Columbia reactor until it demonstrates it can meet seismic standards. The petition was based on a study that found that earthquake risks for the reactor have been greatly underestimated, as…
Nuclear Power Babcock & Wilcox, best known for designing the Three Mile Island reactors, cuts back on its Small Modular Reactor program because it can’t find investors. Because, really, who would want one? NRC respect for judicial process in action: the agency approved a new uranium mine in South Dakota even before a legal hearing…
Nuclear Power Tom Henry’s (Toledo Blade) blog: The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is pinning a lot of hopes on its upcoming Wall Street briefing tomorrow. Henry says NEI President Marvin Fertel will try to “regain some of the investor confidence it has lost in recent years.” That’s a tall order. Wall Street already has bailed…