During the 2010 State of the Union Address, President Obama took the handcuffs off of the nuclear industry revival when he said:
But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country.
On January 31, 2010, I gathered a large group of active bloggers and nuclear industry professionals to find out what they thought of the statement and its impact on the deployment of new nuclear power plants. My guests were:
Kelly Taylor, a 24 year nuclear industry professional and frequent Atomic Show guest.
Meredith Angwin, a physical chemist and small businessperson who has recently started publishing a blog titled Yes, Vermont Yankee.
Robert Margolis, a 24 year nuclear engineer who has supported reactors on 3 continents and is currently working in Florida.
In addition to the State of the Union statement, we discussed the increase in the loan guarantee program, and the formation of the blue ribbon commission about used nuclear fuel policy.
We also spent quite a bit of time talking about Vermont Yankee and the incredibly tiny quantity of tritium that has people demanding a full investigation and possibly a plant shutdown because someone found 0.000000029 curies/liter of tritium, an amount that would have a mass of just 0.0000000000029 grams distributed in 1000 grams of water.
This is the largest panel yet invited to an Atomic Show, but I think that the guests did a fine job of taking turns and sharing information. It was a lot of fun to produce.
“But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country.”
On January 21, 2010, I caught up with Forrest Rudin and TJ Trapp of Hyperion Power Generation. Forrest is Hyperion’s Chief of Staff; TJ is the Vice President of Engineering. They were on the road meeting with various stakeholders to explain more about their product.
They took the time out of their schedule to provide some details on the current state of the design of the Hyperion Power Module. We were able to delve into some significant detail on the fuel, the coolant system, the reactivity control system, the coolant temperatures, and the steam conditions. We talked a bit about the target markets, the licensing strategy, and the potential for a more instrumented prototype that will enable the company to demonstrate its safety and operating concepts.
This episode has a high geek factor warning, but I think that most of you will learn a lot and enjoy the experience. Your feedback is always welcome.
John Wheeler, the host of This Week in Nuclear and I got together for a chat about recent developments in nuclear energy. We also talked a bit about a very old, completely decommissioned reactor called BONUS on the west coast of Puerto Rico.
Topics discussed during our chat include the development of South Korea as a formidable competitor in the world power industry, the almost criminal decision to follow through on an old agreement to shut down the Ignalina nuclear plant in Lithuania, the use of a nuclear powered ship to provide clean water as part of its contribution to the Haiti earthquake relief effort, and some of the political maneuvering that is going on in relation to the President’s budget for fiscal year 2011.
In addition, we talked for a bit about the letter to Dr. John Holdren, the President’s Science Advisor. This letter, signed by a distinguished group of accomplished leaders, engineers and scientists describes the importance of nuclear energy as a tool for solving many of the world’s most pressing problems.
