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engineering

R-Squared Energy TV: Is Cleantech VC a Failure?

December 15, 2011 by Robert Rapier
with 156 views
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This week’s episode of R-Squared Energy TV answers the following viewer questions: Do you have any comments on Matthew Nordan’s recent 4-part response to Peter Thiel’s comments on cleantech VC as a failure? Do you retain any oil industry ties that your readers/viewers might like disclosed? What books do you recommend that choose a more... [read more]

Nukes Gone Wild

June 22, 2011 by Lou Grinzo
with 317 views
5

US nuke regulators weaken safety rules: Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation’s aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Time after time,... [read more]

The Mirage of Fail Safe Engineering

March 14, 2011 by Robert Rapier
with 843 views
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Harsh Reality: Smoke billows into the sky moments after an explosion occurred at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant.

As I have said many times, all of our energy options require trade-offs. I can’t think of any that don’t have some negative consequences and risks associated with their production and/or use. One job of the engineer is to minimize those risks down to an acceptable level. Often times, public expectation mistakenly believes that “... [read more]

Engineering Ethical Code - a Good Basis for Technical Decision Making

March 18, 2010 by Rod Adams
with 188 views
2

Sometimes I pine for the days when America's decision making bodies included more engineers. If that is too far a stretch, perhaps we can at least get back to a situation where there are more people in decision making positions who have been exposed to some of the training associated with building and manufacturing high quality products... [read more]

Overreaction to Outside Pressure Puts Vermont Yankee Safety Culture Into Question

February 26, 2010 by Rod Adams
with 141 views
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In an long delayed effort to prove to Vermont legislators that they are taking action to correct leakage of mildly radioactive water into the ground under the buildings that house Vermont Yankee, Energy as announced that they have disciplined 11 senior employees, five of whom have been removed from their positions and placed on... [read more]

Engineering Rules

July 27, 2009 by Robert Rapier
with 92 views
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Average Starting Salaries for This Year's GraduatesFrom a CNN story this week, that graphic represents a landslide. To the person who asked in the recent Q&A (OK, the "A" is still pending) what they should study in school, might I suggest you put a lot of effort into your math classes, and consider engineering of some sort? The... [read more]

CH2M Hill: Engineering big changes

May 29, 2009 by Marc Gunther
with 180 views
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You can tell by its name that CH2M Hill, an engineering, design and construction firm based outside of Denver, is not a company driven by marketing. Indeed, there’s not much that’s glamorous about CH2M Hill, except for the list of mega projects around the world that it is overseeing—the 2012 London Olympics, the expansion of the Panama... [read more]