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Listen to Atomic Show #098 Here!

I was recently offered the opportunity to read a review copy of Profit from the Peak by Brian Hicks and Chris Nelder. The book, despite its attention grabbing title, is really a thoughtful work that digs deeply into the challenges that the world faces in the near future in providing the plentiful energy that has made the modern economy possible.

The authors and I agree on many of the symptoms of trouble and even on the diagnosis that the people on the earth are running headlong off of a cliff if they do not take action to change direction. When it comes to the prescription for the cure, however, we have a rather substantial difference in perspective.

Chris Nelder agreed to come on the show and discuss his book, his analysis of the energy situation and his prescription.

Chris is a former software engineer and technical writer who developed a deep interest in energy topics. I am a former nuclear submarine engineer officer who also has developed a deep and wide interest in energy topics.

I think you will enjoy the discussion.

(MP3 - 21.3 MB - 00:23:16 M)

Listen to Atomic Show #093 Here!

During my 27 years of association with atomic technology, I have engaged in a number of conversations with people on the topic of “why don’t people like us?” There is little doubt that choosing to be a nuke is NOT the way to gain immense popularity; there are few technologies that have inspired so much visceral dislike despite having some very useful properties.

Within the nuclear field and number of theories have been offered, some not well thought through. Here are some of the more common completions to sentences in water cooler conversations that start with “People do not like nuclear power because”:

• the media has misinformed them.
• the bomb scares them.
• Ralph Nader and the environmentalists have scared them.
• they do not want to take the time to learn the necessary math and science to allow them to understand.

I think all of the above are weak answers that need to be overcome, but it will take some concerted effort. One of the ways that I have been working on the list is to engage in conversations with influencers in the media, with a lot of focus on “the new media” of podcasts, blogs and other on-line publications.

For more than 2 years, I have had a running, intermittent conversation going with Adam Curry, the host of one of the most popular podcasts on the web. In the past week, the conversation has expanded with responses by a number of other listeners who have comments and questions about the technology. One of Adam’s thoughts is that nuclear power or atomic fission needs a new “brand”.

Since Adam has a big show to run that covers a lot of topics, there simply is not enough time available on his show for me to properly respond to all of the commentary, so I figured I would put together an old fashioned “answer show”. That way, any audience members that we share who want to focus a little more on the specifics of the fission discussion can get my thoughts and perhaps even get motivated to submit some of their own comments to Adam.

As a dedicated nuke who believes deep down that the world needs more fission and needs it now, I cannot allow a comment like “the media does not like us” without working to change the equation.

Link to previous episodes of The Daily Source Code. Warning - Adam’s show is aimed at adults and his demographic base tends to be educated males between the ages of 24 and 50. If you get embarrassed by “four letter words” or casual discussions with adult themes, you might not want to listen.

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Listen to Atomic Show #092 Here!

Chuck DeVore is a California State Assemblyman representing the 70th Assembly District. Among a number of other issues, he has recognized that the state desperately needs more energy and believes that it is past time to overturn the state’s de facto ban on new nuclear power plants.

He is an eloquent speaker with a good grasp of the technical details of why nuclear power plants should be built in California to serve the current and growing needs of the state’s large population base.

You can find out more about Chuck by visiting his personal web site at ChuckDeVore.com

To learn more about his efforts regarding power and energy, visit his web site titled PowerForCalifornia.com

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Listen to Atomic Show #091 Here!

This show truly demonstrates the individual power and freedom provided to the world by the Internet. While we talked via Skype video conferencing (without additional charges above our internet connection fees) Alexandra was in Kiev, Ukraine celebrating the Orthodox Easter holiday while I was in Annapolis, Maryland on drizzly Sunday afternoon. Disregarding the two hard drops of our Skype connection, it sounds like we are in the same room or at least in the same town talking over a very clean phone line.

I recently “met” Alexandra online through the introduction of a mutual friend. She is a young woman who was a four year old in Belarus at the time that the operators of the Chernobyl power plant decided to perform an undocumented test procedure and ignored all warning signs to the point where they blew up the reactor.

Alexandra, like many of her contemporaries, has an enlarged thyroid and a few other medical problems that she attributes to the effects of the materials released during the subsequent fire, but instead of becoming a bitter victim, she chose to become an inquisitive journalist and fact seeker.

We talked about a number of different topics including the accident, energy supplies in Eastern Europe, the Ignalina reactor in Lithuania, Sweden’s current plans regarding its nuclear future, Russia’s recently announced plan to build a large power station in Kaliningrad for the electricity export market, and the business practices that she observed as a translator working for Gazprom.

Alexandra is a fascinating person, an experienced print, radio and television journalist, a linguist (she speaks excellent English, Russian, Swedish, Belarusian, and can get by in Polish, German, French and Japanese), and a world citizen with a questioning attitude.

Please listen carefully to this interview and share it with your friends. I am sure you will not be disappointed and may even be energized - like I am - to find out that there are people like Alexandra in the business of informing the world about what they know and what they can find out.

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Listen to Atomic Show #084 Here!

Please forgive the background noises. Just think of having a conversation in a coffee shop.

For this show, John Wheeler (This Week In Nuclear), Kelly Taylor, Michael Stuart and I talked about coal versus nuclear generation, CO2 capture challenges, Michael’s birthday present of a zero gravity experience, space nuclear power (a natural progression from the zero gravity discussion), storage systems that might enable renewable energy to flourish, hydrogen production, battery technology, and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Here are some links to sources for some of the discussion.

The Space Show interview with Dr. James Dewar, author of To The End of the Solar System: The Story of the Nuclear Rocket

Senator Harry Reid’s testimony about Yucca Mountain and nuclear power

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Listen to Atomic Show #083 Here!

John Wheeler, Lisa Stiles and I talked about our passion for nuclear technologies. We also talked about job opportunities in the nuclear business, the need for large infrastructure investments in electricity generation and delivery, the competition between nuclear and LNG projects, and the fact that we need large new sources of energy in order to maintain our current prosperity.

We also touched on the fact that maintaining our own prosperity is simply not enough when there are so many people who have no access at all to the quantities of energy consumed by the average American.

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Listen to Atomic Show #082 Here!

You are going to enjoy this show! Jill Buck is an energetic community leader with a vision for a cleaner world and she has been working for a number of years to make that vision a reality. As the founder of the Go Green Initiative she is having a measurable effect on the lives of thousands of school children in more than 30 states and 10 countries outside the US. By some measures, it is the world’s largest environmental education organization. Here is what her organization believes:

• People care about protecting children’s health and safety through environmental stewardship.
• People will do the right thing when given trustworthy information, expert training and simple tools.
• People appreciate a program like the Go Green Initiative, which provides a framework for success, many options and the freedom to choose the options that work best for them.
• People want a panoramic, three-dimensional approach to environmental education, which will equip young people with the skills necessary to manage the environmental impact inherent in all activities.

I found Jill’s organization because her blog had an entry that caught the attention of my Google alert on “new nuclear power plants”. Here is the entry that caught my attention:

Electricity: While I saw many remaining coal-fired electricity plants, I saw numerous nuclear power plants as I peered out the tour bus window. Coal is abundant and inexpensive in China, but contributes to poor air quality. More nuclear power plants will create a clean energy source that will fuel China’s growing economy without depleting natural resources, or creating air pollution. According to Chinese sources, in Nov. 2007, the State Council approved the National Medium- and Long-term Nuclear Development Plan (2005-2020) submitted by National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The plan sets clear goals for nuclear power development as follows: by 2020, the installed capacity of nuclear power will reach 40 million kilowatts and the capacity under construction in 2020 will reach 18 million kilowatts. The percentage of electricity generated by nuclear power will increase from less than 2% today to 4% in 2020, with the annual amount of electricity reaching 260-280 billion kilowatts.

I decided right then that I needed to try to get Jill on as a guest of The Atomic Show.

During our chat we spent a lot of time talking about her trip to China and about the overall benefits that a renewed focus on nuclear power development could bring to the US and to the world. I think you are going to like this show.

You might even end up doing what I did after learning more about Go Green Initiative - visit the organization’s donation page and provide a few dollars to support its mission.

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Listen to Atomic Show #081 Here!

Virtual round table discussion with four guests whose total nuclear experience is more than 100 years.
John Wheeler - host of This Week in Nuclear Podcast
Kirk Sorensen - publisher of Energy from Thorium
Kelly Taylor - work at home mom and 20+ year veteran of the nuclear power industry
Robert Margolis - reactor engineer and 20+ year veteran of the nuclear power industry

During the discussion, we covered a variety of topics including the move back to gas for new electric power plants, the pressure against coal, an economic analysis from an independent group on the cost of shutting down Indian Point Nuclear Station, and ways to improve the speed to market for new nuclear power plants.

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Listen to Atomic Show #080 Here!

Charles Ferguson, Fellow for Science and Technology - Council on Foreign Relations paid a visit to The Atomic Show. We engaged in a wide ranging discussion. We started with some of Charles’s impressions of the views of Indian colleagues following his recent visit to the world’s largest democracy. Other topics included Japan’s Monju reactor, highly enriched uranium, using special nuclear material for small reactors, long term protection of distributed reactors, commerce in HEU and plutonium, South African views on HEU, Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Plowshares and probably a lot more.

Hope you enjoy.

Here are some links that you might find useful after listening to the show:

Plowshare Project video from Atomic Energy Commission

Executive Summary: Plowshare Program

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Listen to Atomic Show #077 Here!

Robert Bryce, the Managing Editor of Energy Tribune is an energy journalist who likes to do math. I like this guy A LOT.

A November 2007 article titled Guru or Fakir? Amory Lovins is America’s favorite green energy advocate. Does his rhetoric match reality? really caught my eye. In about 400 words, Robert discusses a number of different predictions that Mr. Lovins has made during his 30+ years as an energy writer and prescriber of energy solutions and traces how each of those predictions or prescriptions has turned out.

We also discussed ethanol and its history as an important farm program and provider of profits for ADM - while not making much impact on America’s thirst for fossil fuel.

As we talked, I tried to gradually slip in my theory that there is a reason that Lovins and biofuels are often supported by well heeled environmental groups - each of them are actually quite beneficial to the interests of established fossil fuel suppliers.

Though he has supported a number of oil alternatives during his career, including coal, natural gas, wind, solar, biomass and, most famously, conservation, Lovins has consistently opposed nuclear power. By doing so, he has fought against the only technology that has ever taken significant markets away from coal, oil and natural gas.

Biofuel consumption also does not hurt the fossil fuel suppliers - it is an energy intensive business itself and generally only produces a modest amount of excess energy compared to the amount needed to produce it.

I think you will enjoy the interview. If you do, you might also want to read some or all of the books that Robert has written about energy:

• Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas, America’s Superstate (Hardcover)
• Pipe Dreams: Greed Ego and the Death of Enron

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Listen to Atomic Show #076 Here!

On New Year’s Eve morning, John Wheeler, Kelly Taylor and I got together for a chat about the nuclear industry’s prospects for 2008. We agreed that the year would be an interesting one for nuclear power, with additional license applications, more attention from discussions during the US Presidential campaign, and increasing opportunities for employment for people who want to work in a safe, clean, challenging, high tech environment.

We all agreed that the industry is one where errors are not overlooked, where talented young people can find rewarding work, and where people who have left the industry during its challenging times of the late 1980s and 1990s may find new opportunities.

We made a few predictions, talked about the potential applications for smaller plants, and generally agreed that now is a great time to be a nuke.

John also posted a version of the conversation as Episode 54 - Happy Nuke Year!!.

Anyone who listens to both and can point out the difference wins a $20 iTunes gift certificate!

Hope you all have a happy healthy and prosperous Nuke Year!

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Listen to Atomic Show #074 Here!

Brian Paxton and I talked for about 50 minutes about a wide range of topics related to Africa and energy developments. Brian knows a lot about both topics and shares some valuable insights into markets, developments and attitudes.

We talked about hydropower, alternatives sources of light and heat, oil and gas, and the potential for moderately sized nuclear plants. At the very end of the interview we briefly talked about the strengthening of ties between Algeria and Russia and the implications that development has for European power markets.

Hope you enjoy the show. Sorry for the long silence.

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Listen to Atomic Show #072 Here!

Dr. Jeremy Whitlock is a second generation nuclear profession who lives with his family in Deep River, a town he describes as an Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) company town. Others have talked about Deep River as the Canadian equivalent of Los Alamos.

Jeremy was one of the first nukes to recognize that the web was a powerful communications tool, especially for people whose voice is often not heard. As a nuclear professional living in a town full of PhD’s who like to sprinkle their conversation with terms like neutron and resonance absorption region, he did not feel that the general public was well informed about the technology that he has spent his life studying.

Topics in the conversation include Energy Alberta, DUPIC, Remembrance Day, ANS Winter Meeting (Washington DC November 10-15), used fuel plans in Canada, recycling, economics, atomic energy entrepreneurs, and several others.

I hope you enjoy the conversation.

He invited me on to his show for an interview the other day - you can find the resulting discussion at The Cranky Middle Manager #105 Nuclear Leadership- Rod Adams. (Truth be told, I have been begging Wayne for months to get me on the show and he finally relented. Perhaps he was just tired of my persistence.)

Please go over and have a listen. I think you might find it useful.

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Listen to Atomic Show #066 Here!

Among nuclear advocates, it is commonly believed that “the media” is one of the reasons for the end of the first Atomic Age. If I have heard it once, I have heard it 1,000 times - “the media does not like us.”

In that view of the world, the fact that the media sensationalizes minor events and provides confusing, scary stories is one of the main reasons that people banded together to oppose new nuclear power plants.

I have a different opinion, but even so, I agree that the mainstream media has not done a good job of explaining nuclear power technology. That is not surprising; most journalists have never taken physics, math, or engineering courses. They are pretty quick studies, however, and have done a pretty fair job of repeating what they have been told.

Unfortunately, they have been talked to far more often by people that oppose nuclear power than by people who understand its intricacies and can explain them in a way that makes sense to people with liberal arts educations.

One of the really exciting things about the Internet and the tools that have been build to make use of the internet is that it is now possible for technologists to have a better chance of explaining complex subjects to a wider audience. No longer are we limited to sound bites that are distributed by enormous companies who need to please their audiences (and advertisers.) Instead we now have the power to create and distribute our own message.

Of course, as Cameron points out, the availability of new tools does not automatically change the calculus. Pro nuclear activists need to learn to use the tools effectively to communicate in a manner that reaches people and makes their message something that is worth sharing.

We also spent quite a bit of time on the topic of “following the money” to determine who is really behind the anti nuclear activist organizations.

Hope you enjoy the show.

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Listen to Atomic Show #052 Here!

Unless you live under a rock, you have an opinion about whether or not man’s activity is causing a coming global catastrophe. Two recent films - Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and The Great Global Warming Swindle have sparked a increasing number of heated discussions.

Shane and I wade headlong into the complex and often confusing subject and have our own kind of geeky discussion.

As you may remember, I am an atomic entrepreneur who is very interested in developing and selling atomic engines in the world market. It might appear that I have a vested interest in emphasizing the dangers of continuing to put CO2 into the atmosphere. My favorite source of power does very little of that. (I put a couple of links to a detailed studies below that attempt to show the emissions levels from a variety of energy sources including all construction, fuel production, and eventual decommissioning.)

However, I am interested in understanding and not willing to accept anyone’s “belief” system without question. Some of what is passing for climate science today has more in common with religious dogma than with facts, figures, and research. Any time people begin to be shouted down and subjected to ad hominem attacks for the simple affront of asking for data, I begin to get skeptical in reaction.

• VATTENFALL’S ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION SYSTEM -A QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE STUDY OF EMISSIONS OF GREENHOUSE GASES THROUGHOUT THE LIFE-CYCLE
• ExternE - Externalities of energy production, a study by the European Commission
• Energy subsidies and external costs

We would like to hear from you - what do you think about the controversy, its implications for near term policy changes, and its potential for significant disruption of the world’s economic power balance?

(MP3 - 19.3 MB - 56 M)

Listen to Atomic Show #051 Here!

Uranium is as common as tin and can be found in measurable quantities almost anywhere in the world. Its price often varies by several hundred percent over short periods of time, often encouraging booms, busts and much speculation.

Each kilogram of the material contains as much potential energy as 2 MILLION kilograms of oil or three MILLION kilograms of coal, but we use only a tiny portion of that potential energy in currently operating nuclear plants.

Have a listen. We hope you find our conversation interesting and thought provoking.

(MP3 - 13 MB - 38 min)

Listen to Atomic Show #043 Here!

On Wednesday, 27 December, I woke up bright and early so that I could have a chat with Professor Wade Allison, who teaches physics at Oxford University. I contacted Professor Allison because of a recent lecture that he gave to his colleagues titled “How dangerous is ionizing radiation?”

We had a great chat, even though it had to start at 4:15 am in order to allow our schedules to mesh with the five hour Atlantic time zone difference between Annapolis and Oxford.

Please have a listen to hear why Professor Allison, like many other people that are outside of the Radiation Protection industry (see, for example, Radiation, Science and Health) have determined that the linear, no threshold (LNT) model of radiation hazards has no basis in science and should be abandoned for more accurate models.

The key statement made during the conversation is that radiation safety, as it is currently practiced, is more dangerous than the radiation itself.

(MP3 - 14.3MB - 42 min)

Listen to Atomic Show #038 Here!

George Stanford earned his PhD in experimental nuclear physics from Yale University and then spent his professional career doing nuclear reactor safety research at the Argonne National Laboratory. One of his special interest was the sodium cooled fast reactor program. He worked on the Experimental Breeder Reactor II which was the technical prototype for a future reactor proposal known as the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR)

George and I talked about various fuel cycles, their perceived advantages and disadvantages, and some of the politics associated with the IFR. We talked a bit about the passive safety experiments conducted on the EBR II, pyroprocessing of fast reactor fuel, and the uranium use efficiency possible with fast reactor fuel recycling.

We also spoke a bit about the 10 MWe Toshiba 4S sodium cooled reactor, which has been proposed as an alternative electrical power generator for remote areas. The first proposed location for this reactor is Galena Alaska, a small village on the Yukon River that currently depends completely on diesel fuel and kerosene for its energy supplies.

Here are a few related links that might be useful in helping to better understand our discussion.

• Argonne National Laboratory - State of the Laboratory 1992
• Argonne National Laboratory - State of the Laboratory 1993
• Argonne National Laboratory - State of the Laboratory 1994
• DOE’s Nuclear Energy Research Programs Threaten National Security

Ruth recently wrote a rather detailed post titled The Ziggy Switkowski Report: Is Nuclear in Australia’s Futureabout the various sides of the nuclear debate in Australia. Not only did she discuss the soon to be released Report, but she also pointed readers to a new anti-nuclear web site titled energyscience.org.au.

She included a discussion about the efforts of the fossil fuel industry and its political supporters to try to blunt any optimism about the prospects that Australia’s entry into nuclear power would bring increased prosperity. According to many in that industry, efforts that encourage nuclear power or try to make the fossil fuel industry pay for its damage to the environment would be harmful for Australian businesses.