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Russian Gold? or U.S. Gold Standard
No, this is not a post about the upcoming Olympic Games, although we will talk about some of the countries playing in those games. This is a different set of games and one that affects the nuclear...
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Russian Gold!
Last week I discussed why the Russians might be asking the NRC for a Design Certification of the VVER. I concluded it had little to do with the supposed “gold standard” of certification the NRC...
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Spent Fuel Pool #4 – TEPCO’s moving fuel!
I wrote about this pool a year ago when TEPCO (Nuclear Power and The Witch Hunt) made video footage available that showed that this pool was undamaged, and had the fuel within it was also intact,...
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Nuclear Quality Regulations – Time for a new look?
I’ve spent most of my career working with Nuclear Regulation. One of the most complex series of regulations you can imagine. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service probably sent people over to help the...
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NRC and Regulatory Capture
My blog last week got some interesting reactions regarding the larger picture of regulatory issues. I chose to look at quality as it is an area where significant changes in the broader context of...
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Report from ANS Utility Working Conference
I spent Sunday night through Wednesday noon at the 2012 American Nuclear Society Utility Working Conference. That’s a mouthful, so most people refer to it as the ANS-UWC. Marginally better to say, but...
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Report from ANS Utility Working Conference – Part 2
Last week, I summarized Tom Kilgore, CEO of TVA’s speech at the opening plenary. Today, I want to write about a couple of the sessions I attended. The first, title “Current State of the Industry,” was...
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American Nuclear Society’s CNST
Yes, this is another post related to things I learned at the ANS-UWC. I don’t usually dwell so long on one conference, but there was so much interesting information that I wanted to pass along. Dr....
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Letter to the Editor of the Wall Street Journal
Two weeks ago (Aug. 18), the WSJ published a Saturday essay from Dr. Richard Muller titled “The Panic Over Fukushima”. I submitted a letter to the editor. Sadly, the WSJ decided not to publish it....
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Scare Crow? Nope, this Girl has a Brain
I work with people in the nuclear energy industry. My goal is to ensure everyone I work with ends up being a better member of the industry. Smarter about how things need to be done, or why things...
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Report from 10th annual Platts Nuclear Conference
I’ve just spent an interesting two days at the 10th annual Platts Nuclear conference. Once again, I met with old friends and colleagues, as well as some new folks in the nuclear industry. We are a...
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Kill the Goose That Lays Golden Eggs
Once upon a time, a poor state named Vermont hosted a nuclear power plant called Vermont Yankee. Vermont lacked the money to do many needed things. But it wanted to spend money on luxuries, like...
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Time for DOE to Complete Its Part 810 Nuclear Export Reform
This opinion by Margaret was just posted on Nuclear TownHall. In August 2, 2013, DOE published a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNOPR) regarding revisions to 10 CFR Part 810, its...
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Global Warming or Not, Methane Is A Bad Plan
Last year at the end of January, spring was already beginning to be felt in my little corner of the world and I was writing about my spring flowers. This year the scene is quite different. As I sit and...
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RIC NRC – Part 1
I was at the NRC’s Regulatory Information Conference in Washington, DC this week. Every March, a couple thousand nuclear industry professionals, journalists, and members of the public come to the...
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A love letter to Engineers
Popular media describe engineers in two ways: 1. Bumbling white male nerds in ill-fitting garb and thick glasses with only a vague awareness of the world outside our books, computers and equations. Not...
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Of Pandora and Prometheus
The myths of Pandora and Prometheus are some of the most interesting of the Greek myths. What I didn’t realize until recently is that these two myths are related. Prometheus—whose name means...
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Yucca Mountain Follies: Let’s Rewrite The Ending, Please
Another act in the long running farcical melodrama called Yucca Mountain is unfolding this month. We have such a cast of characters that Broadway, or perhaps Monty Python’s Flying Circus, would be...
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Liar’s Poker and Other Games of Chance
According to the Urban Dictionary, Liar’s Poker is an American bar game played with one-dollar bills. Each player picks from a pile of face-down bills, and uses the eight-digit serial number on the...
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Dog Days of Summer
The phrase is used to describe those hot, sultry days in July and August. Here in the southeastern U.S., these days are typically almost unbearable with the heat and humidity. We welcome the break in...
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