new nuclear reactors

By a 4-1 vote, the agency opens the door to $14 billion in new construction of two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on February 9 in a 4-1 vote cleared the way for its Office of New Reactors to issue a combined construction and operating license (COL) to the Southern Nuclear Operating Company...[read more]

A series of breaking news reports, followed by energetic denials, create confusion about the status of two new nuclear reactor projects Two fast moving stories caught people by surprise this week.  First, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported that a key investor in the privately-held Blue Castle nuclear reactor project was being...[read more]

Energy Sec. Chu calls for support three short-listed new reactor projects Congress will get a pair of requests for new energy loan guarantees of $9 billion each – one for nuclear energy and one for renewable energy technologies including solar and wind. The move comes as the gulf oil spill continues to spiral out of control bringing...[read more]

For most of the past thirty years, there has been little incentive to develop nuclear energy systems that release more than a tiny portion of the potential energy found in uranium. The same lack of market incentive has nearly completely kept thorium out of the energy supply market. The perception was that we were doing just fine with...[read more]

However, commercial success is still a shot in the dark Developing new nuclear reactor designs requires really long-term perspectives which only governments or foundations, like the one supported by Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, can sustain over a period of a dozen or more years. Some reactor design ideas, like those for Thorium...[read more]

On April 9, 2010, Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute paid me the compliment of responding to a post that I labeled as a "smoking gun". I gave the post that label since it provided an example of a man with evident ties to the fossil fuel industry working to discourage the use of nuclear energy. His post was published on MasterResource: a...[read more]

Firm files with NRC for an Early Site Permit which is good for 20 years The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s idea of an Early Site Permit (ESP) is that it is a stepping stone to applying for a combined construction and operating license (COL) to build a commercial nuclear reactor. However, Chicago-based Exelon (NYSE:EXC), the nation’s...[read more]

Government takes next steps in shift from fossil fuels The Italian government issued a policy statement this week identifying the  site selection criteria to locate four new nuclear reactors.  The first unit will break ground by 2013 and is expected to be in revenue service by 2020.  Reuters reports that Italy’s biggest...[read more]

Nuclear critique Amory Lovins denies that a nuclear renaissance is underway. The World Nuclear Association keeps track of actual and potential reactors world wide in order to determine future uranium demand. The list was created in 2007 and is updated every two months. A comparison of the January 29, 2007 list with the February 1,...[read more]

Leading nuclear fuels and materials science expert talks about what has to be done to get ready to build them (NucNet): NucNet Editor Mathieu Carey talks to Dame Sue Ion OBE * about the future of materials science and the emergence of China and India as global nuclear energy players. NucNet – Firstly, you have spoken very positively...[read more]

Taxpayers off the hook for cost of new plants (NucNet) The British government will not use taxpayers’ money to subsidize  the construction of new nuclear power plants, Philip Hunt, (right) minister of state at the Department of Energy and Climate Change said Jan 21. In an online question and answer session with ‘The Guardian’...[read more]

The reactor accident at Three Mile Island is often named nuclear critics as a major reason for opposition to reactors. In fact, the Three Mile Island accident established the validity of the "Defense in Depth" nuclear safety concept beyond all reasonable doubt. Despite a considerable attempt be plaintive lawyers in a Three Mile Island...[read more]

Here is an editorial written by Martin Nicholson and me, which is published in today’s edition of The Australian newspaper. This is all pretty familiar fare for regular BNC readers, but I publish here for completeness, as I like to have my media articles collected together and archived in this central web repository. I should point out...[read more]