Ted Rockwell – thank you for a productive life and for your friendship
On Sunday, March 31, 2013, the world lost a nuclear energy pioneer. I lost a friend and mentor. Ted Rockwell passed away in his sleep during the wee hours of the morning on Easter Sunday. He was 90...
View ArticleGalen Winsor asks – Who owns the plutonium? How much is it worth?
Galen Winsor was a hands-on nuclear expert in the fullest sense of the phrase. Before irrational radiation protection rules were imposed, he and his colleagues directly handled used fuel. Since they...
View ArticleThe first Critmass, December 2, 1942
Seventy one years ago — on December 2, 1942, at 3:25 pm — Enrico Fermi and his team achieved the first controlled, man-made, self sustaining chain reaction in a simple reactor. In recognition of that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Alvin Weinberg’s liquid fuel reactors
A nuclear pioneer’s work on safer, cheaper, inexhaustible nuclear power is still inspiring nuclear environmentalists. by Robert Hargraves Physicist Alvin Weinberg worked on the Manhattan Project and...
View ArticleAtomic Show #214 – Age of Radiance Author Craig Nelson
The Age of Radiance is good read that adds personality and details to a story I know pretty well – the history of the Atomic Age from the discovery of radiation, to the discovery of fission, to the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
NS Savannah tours May 18, 2014
Press Release Historic Ship N.S. Savannah Open for Tours May 18, 2014 in Observance of Maritime Day N.S. Savannah Association, Inc. 4/17/2014 The unique, nuclear powered ship N.S. Savannah will be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
NSSA Response to BBC Article “The Ship That Totally Failed to Change the World”
Press release N/S Savannah Association, Inc. 8/8/2014 For immediate release On July 25, 2014, BBC News Magazine published a feature piece on NS SAVANNAH entitled “The Ship That Totally Failed to...
View ArticleDisneyland 3-14 – Our Friend, The Atom
On Sunday, January 23, 1957, a large American audience gathered around their television sets to watch the weekly episode of Disneyland, a popular show created and hosted by Walt Disney in return for...
View ArticleUAMPS stepping forward to serve customers
The established nuclear energy industry has taken a wait-and-see approach to the idea of developing and deploying smaller, simpler fission power stations that can take advantage of the economy of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tour of NuScale control room and test facility
Disclosure: I have a small contract to provide NuScale with advice and energy market information. That work represents less than 5% of my income for 2014. On October 20, 2014, I had the opportunity to...
View ArticlePutting excitement back into nuclear technology development
Josh Freed, Third Way‘s clean energy vice president, has published a thoughtful, graphically enticing Brookings Essay titled Back to the Future: Advanced Nuclear Energy and the Battle Against Climate...
View ArticleThorCon – Demonstrated Molten Salt Tech Packaged With Modern Construction...
The dearth of real innovation and focused direction from the established companies in the US nuclear industry in the face of rapidly expanding demand for clean energy solutions has stimulated the...
View ArticleAtomic Show #232 – Against the Tide by RADM Dave Oliver
Though it has been more than 30 years since Admiral Rickover finally retired from his position as the head of Naval Reactors, his legacy lives on in the people he directly trained and in the people...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Integrating six decades of learning about fast reactors
John Sackett and Yoon Chang (seated at left) and Jack Spencer (standing). Florence Lee-Lowe seated at right. I learned some important new concepts yesterday from two of the leaders of the Integral...
View ArticleSad-ending story of EBR-II told by three of its pioneers
During the period between 1961 and 1994, an extraordinary machine called the Experimental Breeder Reactor 2 (EBR-II) was created and operated in the high desert of Idaho by a team of dedicated,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How would a Rockefeller crony react to Eddington’s vision of subatomic energy?
Recently an Atomic Insights reader shared a document that inspired a new line of thinking about the chronology of atomic energy development. The inspirational document was a PDF copy of a chapter...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Feeling Upbeat about Nuclear Technology’s Future
I feel better about the prospects for new nuclear technology development today (April 21) than I have for several years, based on the four conferences in four different U.S. cities I’ve attended over...
View ArticleAtomic Show #259 – David Schumacher The New Fire Movie
David Schumacher is a filmmaker who was inspired to learn more about nuclear energy at a Wired-sponsored event in 2011. That event took place soon after the Fukushima event captured widespread media...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why did the US Atomic Energy Commission kill Daniels Pile in 1947?
In January 1947, after more than a year of focused public attention and debate, the civilian U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) took control of all atomic energy matters from the Manhattan District...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Hot is Cold Fusion?
Matt Trevithick of DCVC moderates a panel with Dr. David Nagel, Prof. Robert Duncan and Dr. Thomas Schenkel The 24th International Conference on Cold Fusion (ICCF24) was held at the lovely and...
View Article