We really love the art work of PopAtomic Studios…. Thier effort is “a series of artistic experiments in my community to see if I can shift perception of atomic energy using only art and and creative input from some amazing artist friends!”
PopAtomic.org
Their mix of art and science is just fun. And check out their growing lists of artistic experiments here.
We would like to spotlight a post from the blog “Into the Breach” about recent presentation by Jacques Besanainou, CEO of AREVA North America.
The blog’s author Kendall Miller writes:
“Reviving the nuclear power industry is key to true energy security. When France faced the problem of energy security they decided to go nuclear as fast as they could…
AREVA is making major investments in the US nuclear industry. They are building a fabrication facility for large steel components at Newport News. They are building an enrichment facility in Idaho. And they are building a Mixed-Oxide fuel plant in South Carolina. When they started doing these things they found that the pool of nuclear-qualified suppliers has dried up over the years. Now they are having vendor fairs in order to attract new vendors into the nuclear industry supply chain.
Nuclear power is CO2-free, power secure, and creates jobs, jobs, and more jobs.”
Read the post, “Jacques Besnainou at the Richland ANS” for the whole story.
This speech has been getting noticed ever since literally the moment it occurred, being tweeted and covered by various press…but the TED folks just put the video up.
Here is a key quote (with bolding being from us):
“So let’s look at this fourth factor — this is going to be a key one — and this is the amount of CO2 put out per each unit of energy. And so the question is, can you actually get that to zero? If you burn coal, no. If you burn natural gas, no. Almost every way we make electricity today, except for the emerging renewables and nuclear, puts out CO2. And so, what we’re going to have to do at a global scale, is create a new system. And so, we need energy miracles.
Now, when I use the term miracle, I don’t mean something that’s impossible. The microprocessor is a miracle. The personal computer is a miracle. The internet and it’s services are a miracle. So, the people here have participated in the creation of many miracles.”
By Jarret Adams
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) told a packed audience Feb. 23 at conference held by The New Republic that he was working with a group of leading senators and the Obama administration on renewed push for a climate bill.
“We’re on a short track here in terms of piecing together legislation we intend to roll out,” Kerry told the conference. While he acknowledged that his optimism about the legislation was “contrary to conventional wisdom” and added that all of the approaches are on the table.
read more…
From Energy Secretary Chu’s Facebook Page:
Here’s a chart showing the International Energy Agency’s estimate of the combination of technologies that will be needed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the United States – and put the world on a sustainable energy path.
As you’ll see, we need nuclear power as part of a comprehensive solution: investing in energy efficiency, wind, solar, geothermal, carbon capture, energy storage, electric vehicles, and more. In doing so, we are sparking a new industrial revolution that will create millions of new jobs here in the United States and lay the foundation for America’s long-term economic prosperity.
CNN has posted online two juxtaposed opinion pieces that argue nuclear energy issues.
In the first op-ed, “Nuclear Power’s Time has come,” CNN interviews author and environmentalist, Stewart Brand, on his support of nuclear energy.
Looking for a surefire way to cut greenhouse gases, Brand said the alternative to burning coal became clear: “We already had a very good supplier of …electricity. It worked like mad and was as clean as it could be — and that was nuclear.”
Brand concludes: “Look, you’re not going to cure greenhouse gases with nuclear, but curing greenhouse gases without nuclear is approximately impossible.”
In the contrasting opinion piece, Mark Z. Jacobson, a Stanford University professor, discusses why “Nuclear Power is Too Risky.”
Jacobson writes on how the planet can be powered by renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal alone, saying “If our nation wants to reduce global warming, air pollution and energy instability, we should invest only in the best energy options. Nuclear energy isn’t one of them.”
Both pieces debate the current issues concerning nuclear energy. We’ll let you compare the “nuclear argument” yourself.
Let us know what you think.
There are two items to highlight from the Washington Post today. First, here is this quote from an op ed piece we like a lot:
“The merits of nuclear power have been debated for years. Such power has drawbacks, not least the waste that reactors produce and that the government cannot decide where to store. But given that nuclear power produces essentially no carbon emissions, it’s an appealing option for consistent and relatively clean electricity generation….the president is right to signal that he will unfreeze the regulatory process, which, in concert with public discomfort, has stymied the industry for decades. And there is a reasonable argument that nuclear should get this federal push. Though nuclear may well be more cost-efficient than its critics allege, huge upfront construction costs scare off investors. If loan guarantees for the first batch of new plants help demonstrate that reactors can be built without the delays and cost overruns that have characterized some nuclear projects, capital will come to nuclear without as much governmental support in the future and without taxpayers actually spending much.”
And in a separate section of the WashPost site, blogger Ezra Klein posts this chart, explaining in part why the Administration is supporting Nuclear over other dirtier electiricity generation technologies…
AREVA, which launched its new global website this month, will host its first Video Chat, live February 24 at 9:30 am (EST) on areva.com. The topic of discussion: “Is nuclear power a sustainable energy source?”
Betrand Barré, the Scientific Advisor for AREVA and Professor Emeritus at the French National Institute for Nuclear Sciences and Technology, will respond directly to your questions on this issue.
You will be able to participate in the dialogue and ask your questions directly on areva.com.
By Katherine Berezowskyj
President Obama’s recent support for nuclear energy has ignited a genuine discussion on the issue. No longer can nuclear energy’s benefits be ignored or scare tactics employed to shut down discussion, the American media is getting behind the facts.
From the Boston Herald:
“Absent nuclear power, any clean-energy policy is largely decorative since the more talked about elements – wind, solar – can only supply power at the margins. Nuclear plants generate 20 percent of U.S. power now and 70 percent of the power considered to come from clean sources.”
On Feb. 13, the Discovery Channel aired an episode of “The Green Room,”
hosted by John Holden which provided a great look at AREVA’s La Hague
facility and the process of recycling used nuclear fuel.
Check out the clip below that features AREVA Executive V.P. Alan Hanson
as he walks through the key facts about recycling and the facility
itself.
