(MP3 - 18.9.5 MB - 00:54:56 M)

Listen to Atomic Show #097 Here!

John Wheeler, Kelly Taylor and I talked about workforce development and John’s impressions from the American Nuclear Society Annual meeting, recently held in Anaheim, California. With regard to workforce development we chatted about the opportunities that the Nuclear Renaissance will bring for people that like math and science, hands on applications, working in teams, and seeing the physical products of their labors.

We also talked about the importance of the role of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the quality of the work that it does, and the cost of regulation.

As often happens on The Atomic Show, we also discussed a number of aspects of smaller reactors and how they would fit in a developing nuclear industry. We talked about how smaller plants do not have to wait in the same lines for massive forgings as large plants do, how they might be able to take advantage of assembly line techniques and how they can meet market demands in areas where 1000 MWe and larger plants simply cannot fit.

A side topic was the visionary decision by people like Donald Hintz, who recognized the value of nuclear plants that others did not want. The market consolidation that resulted has produced some strong, nuclear focused companies and helped significantly improve the reliability and productivity of the plants.

We also talked about the decision to shut down Zion Nuclear Power Plant and the possibility that it might be restored to operation. This particular topic ended with a call out for people with an interest and knowledge about the plant to contact me at rod_adams(at symbol)atomicinsights.com. I am really curious about whether or not the plants could be restored to operation at a significantly lower per megawatt cost than building a new facility. If anyone knows something or wants to get involved in the discussion, please contact me.

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Listen to Better Way (Atomic Song) here!

If there is anyone out there who is inspired to use this song as the backing track for a short video, I am open to suggestions and might even supply someone with the right set of storyboards with a enough cash to cover the costs of production with a bit to spare.

(MP3 - 20.5 MB - 00:59:24 M)

Listen to Atomic Show #096 Here!

Bonne Posma is a serial entrepreneur whose latest company is called Liquid Coal, Inc.. He has developed a concept for using the heat from high temperature reactors as a way to improve the cleanliness of well known chemical processes for converting coal - which is mostly carbon and hydrogen - into a liquid hydrocarbon. The process requires adding hydrogen to coal since it is deficient in that element compared to the hydrocarbons that exist as liquids.

The idea has been around a long time, but the traditional process burns some of the input coal to provide heat. Not only does that reduce the amount of liquid fuel produced per unit of coal mined, but it also releases vast quantities of pollutants. Bonne recognizes the value of liquid hydrocarbon as an almost irreplaceable building block of modern society and he strongly believes that processes that make it cleanly have incredible value for today and for the future.

I agree with his assessment. What do you think?

(MP3 - 12.6 MB - 00:36:32 M)

Listen to Atomic Show #095 Here!

I met Nichole Ellis last fall when she was the leader of a well run conference for young nuclear professionals. As a 30-something engineer who started her nuclear career in the early 1990s, she is something of a rarity - when she entered the field there were not too many people in the US choosing to major in nuclear engineering and planning to make a career in the field.

We spoke about the kinds of people she has worked with over the years, how she became a qualified nuclear criticality safety engineer, how she has made career choices to allow her to balance work and family responsibilities, and how her particular branch of the nuclear profession works to mentor and train its up and coming members.

One of the reasons that I am so excited by the prospects for new growth in the industry is that there are people like Nichole who are ready, willing and able to take on the responsibilities that the technology demands.

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Listen to Atomic Show #094 Here!

I got up bright and early this morning (0400) to prepare to record a conversation with two fascinating people. Hans and Mary Lou Gougar are friends who I have known since I gave a presentation about Adams Engines to their American Nuclear Society student chapter at Penn State University in 1994. They were a bit more - shall we say, mature - than some of the other students since they had already been working for several years as teachers before deciding to go back to school to earn their doctorates.

Hans’s permanent job is as a PhD engineer working on pebble bed reactor design and other advanced reactor projects at the Idaho National Laboratory. Mary Lou is a professor at Idaho State University, specializing in nuclear waste chemistry. Several months ago, Hans accepted a consultant position with PBMR Pty Ltd for a two-year stint in South Africa. As he explains it, there are only two places in the world that are actually developing pebble bed reactors, China and South Africa. As a specialist in that area, he felt a strong desire to put his knowledge to practical use.

Mary Lou is also working for PBMR Pty Ltd in a rather fascinating area of carbon isotope separation. You’ll have to listen to her explain.

In addition to enough technical talk to make even Shane smile, we spent some time talking about what it is like to live and work in South Africa. If you listen to the whole show, you will get a chance to hear Charlie (11) and Betty (9) talk about their experiences and share a couple of the new words that they have learned.

Enjoy the show! Feedback is always welcome.

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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.

(MP3 - 21.4 MB - 01:02:08 M)

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

(MP3 - 21.3 MB - 01:01:45 M)

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 #090 Here!

Mark Seall is a Brit living in Switzerland who has developed a strong interest in environmentalism and in the European activities aimed at reducing the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. Last year he started a blog titled TalkClimateChange.com and he also is a contributing blogger at Green Options.

He recently determined that he wanted to participate in the nuclear power debate that has been growing in the UK and in Europe, but upon consideration decided that he did not yet know enough to make a well reasoned comment. Instead, he set up a debate forum on Green Options that he titled Nuclear Energy “Live” Debate and invited me to play the role of the pro-nuclear “expert”. I enjoyed the experience and decided that it would be useful to invite Mark onto The Atomic Show so that he could talk about his efforts, what he learned about nuclear energy from the debate and how he now feels about its potential for good in the future.

We talked about a range of topics including risk perception, Chernobyl (who can avoid that topic in any pro or con discussion about nuclear energy), technology improvements in nuclear power, personnel training programs, and energy system marketing efforts.

Hope you enjoy the conversation.

Okay - I cannot help myself. It is time to brag just a little. Yesterday, Mark made an announcement on his blog that he was Coming Off The Nuclear Fence and stating that “However, when faced with pressing realities and faced with a choice between relieving poverty, aggravating climate change, or accepting a manageable risk it looks like nuclear is our option – for now.”

I like to think that my atomic evangelism effort has had something to do with this decision.

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Listen to Atomic Show #089 Here!

A couple of weeks ago, Andrew Feinberg of Capitol Valley interviewed one of the new heros of the pro-nuclear world, Dr. Patrick Moore. You can hear the interview and read Andrew’s thoughts at Everything Old is New Again: From “No Nukes” to “Nukes Now” with Dr. Patrick Moore.

Here is a sample quote from that blog entry:

Here at CV we spend most of our time looking at new technologies, the future, and how a rush to judgment or a poor public relations decision can doom a promising technology, service, or company to failure. We see how sensationalism, poor reporting and massive “click to complain” campaigns can generate outrage where there should be none, and amplify the shrill cries of a few to the point where they dominate the public discourse.Now, instead of looking forward, we look back to the 1960’s, when the relatively new technology of nuclear power brought a promise of unlimited, clean energy. Those days also were the height of the cold war, when the fear of atomic weapons clouded the nation’s judgment of atomic power.

I made a comment on that blog entry that resulted in Andrew thinking that I might be a “crackpot”, so I decided to invite him onto the Atomic Show so that he could see for himself that I really am kind of kooky.

We had a great chat that I think you will enjoy. It is fun to share thoughts about history with someone just about half your age. Our personal experience lenses are quite different; the mixed points of view result in a good conversation.

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Listen to Atomic Show #088 Here!

There is an assumption that underlies most of the world’s radiation protection standards called the Linear, No Threshold dose assumption. This hypothesis - which has never made it to the scientific stage of being even a theory - claims that the negative human health effects from radiation exposure can be plotted on a straight line that extends from the high dose/death regime down to a minute hazard from the very lowest possible dose.

This assumption has been used to compute something called “collective dose” where exceedingly minor doses to very large populations result in a statistical prediction that the dose will cause several deaths. If the population that is assumed to be affected is large enough, the predicted deaths can even turn into rather scary numbers in the thousands.

There is no science that backs the linear no threshold dose assumption, but it remains the basis for regulations and is used to cause excessive fear of radiation, which happens to be a natural part of our earthly environment. An old friend of mine - Jim Muckerheide - has devoted a major, sustained effort to collect and provide ready access to thousands of peer reviewed studies, journal articles and even reports from the advisory committees that supposedly influence the regulatory decision bodies. You can find them at http://www.radscihealth.org/rsh/.

Here is a blurb about the organization that Jim founded, Radiation, Science and Health, an international non-profit organization.

RSH was organized by independent individuals knowledgeable in radiation health effects science, and related radiation protection, and medical applications, public policies. They know the scientific literature, misrepresented data, and wasted public funds, that do not protect public health.

• RSH seeks to change public policy in the public interest.
• It advocates for appropriate research and policy changes.

When you visit the site, remember that it is a voluntary effort produced by scientists and engineers; they are not graphic artists or web designers. (I hope I do not offend any of the members of RSH, but their site is darned ugly. However, look past that and read some of the valuable information that they have collected and made readily available. If the RSH web site was a high school student, it might be described as having an excellent personality.)

Jim was not able to join us for this show, but I did find some extremely knowledgeable guests. Ted Rockwell is the author of one of the seminal books on radiation shielding. He was Admiral Rickover’s technical director for about a decade and was a key member of the team that built the Nautilus and the Shippingport power station. Robert Margolis is a reactor engineer with 21 years of experience in the nuclear industry; he is regularly affected by the extreme conservatism imposed by the LNT based regulations. Michael Stuart started his career as a health physics specialist who was charged with finding ways to continually lower doses. He is now a technical instructor for Dominion Resources and is an exceptional communicator.

During the show we talk about the costs imposed by the LNT assumption, the logical fallacies that it imposes, the hazards that can result from excessive fears and controls of low levels of radiation and the people who view the excessive costs as important sources of revenue. We also mention the interests of nuclear power competitors in keeping the LNT obstacles in place as a way to improve their position in the very lucrative market for commercial heat and power.

I think you will enjoy this episode.

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Listen to Atomic Show #087 Here!

Ben Kenney is studying for his PhD in chemical engineering, with a focus on solid oxide fuel cells. He expects to be finished by early summer 2008. As part of his education on energy matters, he started up theWatt Podcast several years ago and has built it into one of the most respected and frequently referenced energy discussions on the web.

Ben and I had a great time chatting about CANDU reactor technology, the future of Ontario’s electrical power supply, New Brunswick’s interest in increasing its share of the electrical power market in the Northeast US, and the future of suburbia in the face of ever increasing gasoline prices.

I promised Ben that I would invite him back, but I highly recommend that you subscribe directly to theWatt Podcast. You will enjoy his style and his guests.

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Listen to Atomic Show #086 Here!

Howard Shaffer is a retired nuclear engineer who received his initial nuclear training and experience as a member of the Nuclear Navy. He attended nuclear power school at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, served on the USS Seawolf at sea and in the shipyard during a conversion to SUBSAFE, and he spent a long an active career in the nuclear industry.

He was involved in the startup of several plants in the US and in Taiwan and often voluntarily represented his company and nuclear technology in general in discussions involving anti-nuclear activists. One of the successes of his efforts was during the licensing and start-up of the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant - the site of a lengthy anti-nuclear effort led by the Clamshell Alliance.

Many of the people on the other side of that effort are still actively pursuing their anti-nuclear goals - as Howard said during our conversation, some of them give every appearance that they will go to their graves before they give up their almost religious aversion to all things nuclear.

We had a good chat, hope you agree.

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Listen to Atomic Show #085-2 Here!

On February 29, 2008, I visited the American Nuclear Society Student Conference 2008 Career Fair and talked to a number of organizations that had booths set up to find out what kind of opportunities were available. I tried to get a reasonable selection of contractor, government agency, national laboratory and operating utilities to provide a flavor.

As I reviewed the clips, I realized that I did not talk to any of the reactor plant vendors. Oh well, I will learn from that oversight and try to do better the next time.

There are a total of eight different interviews that are spread out over two episodes. This second section includes talks with the following potential employers:

• Duke Energy
• Ameren
• US Navy Nuclear Power Program
• Dominion

If you hear a particular segment that interests you and you want to make contact with the speaker, send me an email (rod_adams(at symbol)atomicinsights.com) and I will try to help you make the direct connect. That way, you can tell them that you heard about the opportunity on The Atomic Show.

(MP3 - 13.4 MB - 00:38:46 M)

Listen to Atomic Show #085-1 Here!

On February 29, 2008, I visited the American Nuclear Society Student Conference 2008 Career Fair and talked to a number of organizations that had booths set up to find out what kind of opportunities were available. I tried to get a reasonable selection of contractor, government agency, national laboratory and operating utilities to provide a flavor.

As I reviewed the clips, I realized that I did not talk to any of the reactor plant vendors. Oh well, I will learn from that oversight and try to do better the next time.

There are a total of eight different interviews that are going to be spread out over two episodes. This first section includes talks with the following potential employers:

• US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
• Black and Veatch
• Southern California Edison
• Argonne National Laboratory

If you hear a particular segment that interests you and you want to make contact with the speaker, send me an email (rod_adams(at symbol)atomicinsights.com) and I will try to help you make the direct connect. That way, you can tell them that you heard about the opportunity on The Atomic Show.

(MP3 - 22.0 MB - 01:03:57 M)

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

(MP3 - 16.9 MB - 00:48:54 M)

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.

(MP3 - 16.5 MB - 00:47:50 M)

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.

(MP3 - 22.6 MB - 01:05:30 M)

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.

(MP3 - 23.3 MB - 01:07:38 M)

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