Free Republic

Some environmentalists see atomic energy as the answer to global warming. In theory, the March 11, 2011, disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant should have bolstered environmentalistsÂ’ opposition to new nuclear-energy projects. But in the wake of the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, some of the worldÂ’s leading Greens have done just the opposite: they have come out in favor of nuclear power. Perhaps the most prominent convert is British activist and journalist George Monbiot, who even cites the disaster as one reason for his change of heart. Just ten days after Fukushima, in a column for the Guardian,...

Enrico Fermi This week marks the 70th anniversary of a turning point in human history.It was on December 2, 1942, that Enrico Fermi ordered the control rods pulled from the nuclear reactor he had built under the west stands of the University of Chicago’s Stagg Field stadium, thereby initiating the first artificial sustained-fission reaction in human history. A cryptic message flashed the electrifying news back to Washington. “The Italian navigator has landed in the new world.”The consequences of Fermi’s success were profound. Within two and a half years, the Manhattan Project advanced to build both uranium-isotope-separation and plutonium-manufacturing facilities on...

In a SPIEGEL interview, Olli Heinonen, the former deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, offers his first assessment of his 27 years at the global nuclear watchdog. He addresses Iran's nuclear program, his concerns about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and mistakes made in Fukushima. SPIEGEL: Mr. Heinonen, if you consider your time as the United Nations' atomic "watchdog," do you look back in anger? Or did you succeed in making the world safer from nuclear bombs? Heinonen: There are quite a few things I'm proud of. While I was at the International Atomic Energy...

When I wrote this expose on nuclear-powered laptops in 2005, it was nothing but a juvenile April Fool's joke. It was a prank that most people "got" right off the bat, but it also naturally suckered in a few of the gullible into thinking the dawn of portable nuclear power had arrived. Gag or no, I've remained obsessed with the idea of personal nuclear power ever since. The realist in me understands that it's probably the worst idea ever, what with the radioactivity, hazardous waste, and Iran to think about. But I remain deeply intrigued with the idea. Now comes...

January 26, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/January/09-nsd-064.html Former Oak Ridge Complex Employee Pleads Guilty to Unlawful Disclosure of Restricted Atomic Energy Data WASHINGTON – Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, a resident of Harriman, Tenn., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, to count one of an indictment charging him with unlawful disclosure of Restricted Data under the Atomic Energy Act, in violation of 42 U.S.C., Section 2274(b). The guilty plea was announced today by Matthew G. Olsen, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and James R. Dedrick, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of...

House Democrats are bypassing renewal of the offshore oil drilling ban by including the entire Pelosi “drill nothing” energy bill in a draft of a Continuing Resolution. HUMAN EVENTS obtained a copy of the most recent House draft CR this morning. The Pelosi bill, HR 6899, fails to open more than a miniscule part of the available offshore drilling areas and -- even worse -- it establishes permanent bans on development of most other domestic energy sources (natural gas, oil shale, etc.) and does nothing to develop nuclear power. It passed the House earlier this month and is now languishing...

House Democrats are bypassing renewal of the offshore oil drilling ban by including the entire Pelosi “drill nothing” energy bill in a draft of a Continuing Resolution. HUMAN EVENTS obtained a copy of the most recent House draft CR this morning. The Pelosi bill, HR 6899, fails to open more than a miniscule part of the available offshore drilling areas and -- even worse -- it establishes permanent bans on development of most other domestic energy sources (natural gas, oil shale, etc.) and does nothing to develop nuclear power. It passed the House earlier this month and is now languishing...

America's premier trade body has projected that the Indo-US nuclear deal could revitalise the US nuclear industry and support 2.5 lakh high-tech jobs in the country, much higher than the estimate of the Bush Administration. Lobbying lawmakers to approve the 123 Agreement before the close of the 110th Congress, the world's largest business federation, the US Chamber of Commerce, says that if American companies are allowed to compete in India, even modestly, it could support 2.5 lakh high-tech jobs. "If US companies are allowed to compete, a modest share of that business could support 250,000 high-tech American jobs," R Bruce...

McCain hits Biden in Ohio today: I am going to put in place the priorities and policies that will create jobs in Ohio. One important way that we are going to create jobs here is with the development of additional nuclear plants and through investments in clean coal technology. Not only will investment in our energy infrastructure create millions of new jobs across the country, it will help lead our nation toward the important goal of energy independence. My opponent is against the expansion of nuclear power. His running mate here in Ohio recently said that they weren’t supporting clean...

ANKARA (AFP) - Police detained 40 protesters Tuesday in a demonstration against government plans to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant, a day before the tender process was to open, activists said. Several dozen members of environmental groups, among them Greenpeace, demonstrated outside the energy ministry in central Ankara, brandishing banners that read "No to nuclear." Some of the protesters, dressed in black overalls and their faces painted white, lay on the ground posing as corpses. Police officers detained about 40 people on the grounds that the demonstration was unauthorized, Greenpeace said. Overriding strong opposition from environmentalists, the energy ministry...

How long Uranium can supply nuclear power is effected by the kinds of nuclear reactors that are used and the sources of Uranium that are used and

 Washington, DC—Nevada Senator Harry Reid delivered the following statement today at a hearing before the Commerce Committee regarding the safety and security dangers associated with the proposal to ship 77,000 tons of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain.  Both Reid and fellow Nevada Senator John Ensign spoke about the Department of Energy's unpreparedness to begin a massive nuclear waste shipping campaign.  Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery: "I want to thank Chairman Inouye, Senator Hutchison, and the members of the Committee for scheduling this important hearing.  It has been a long time since the Senate has looked closely at plans...

here may be a workable way to solve most of America's energy problems, end dependence on foreign oil and dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions with little pain. Remarkably, while proposals for renewed offshore oil drilling, new atomic power plants, expanded carbon trading and other proposed tactics abound in this year's presidential campaign, no one mentions the single most promising technique.This may be because its name contains the word "reactor." Combined with the fact that it depends on a sophisticated form of nuclear technology, that appears to make the notion of power plants using the Integral Fast Reactor anathema to today's...

WASHINGTON: The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve the Indo-US nuclear deal that would allow the US to provide nuclear materials to India. While there was bi-partisan support for the Bill, a considerable number of Democrats voted against the Bill moved by party colleague Howard Berman, an opponent of the measure who was persuaded to change his line. While 120 Democrats voted for the Bill, 107 Democrats voted against. Of the Republicans, 178 voted for and 10 voted against. The deal still faces major obstacles in the Senate. The accord reverses three decades of US policy by shipping atomic...

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Russia will help Venezuela develop nuclear energy — a move likely to raise U.S. concerns over increasingly close cooperation between Caracas and Moscow.

There is a joke of no known authorship that says, “No good deed shall go unpunished.” So, alas, it has been with nuclear power. The gift was given to the world by the storied Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, which wrote and promoted legislation that gave the public unique access to the licensing procedure for new nuclear plants. The idea was that this openness would encourage the public to take a greater interest in nuclear science and the civilian uses of nuclear. No other licensing procedure was so open or, as it turned out, so subject to distortion and abuse....

TMI-Alert Inc. sharply disagrees with the results of a recent poll paid for and released by Exelon on the relicensing of Three Mile Island. At issue are the questions that were not asked. The poll also failed to note that a majority of the folks who actually testified before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were against extending the license of TMI-1. When the community held a nonbinding referendum on May 18, 1982, more than 67 percent of the voters in Cumberland, Dauphin and Lebanon County opposed the restart of Three Mile Island. TMI and the NRC ignored the results. How many...

The following legislation has been introduced in the US Senate today by Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Harry Reid: 110TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION To amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to provide for thorium fuel cycle nuclear power generation. > Thorium Energy owns property in Lemhi Pass, Idaho, where it is generally believed that the largest veins of thorium-rich minerals in the world are located. Analysis of the deposits shows them to be either the highest grade or in the top tier of the highest grade known anywhere on Earth.

The presidential candidates claim to see America’s energy future, but their competing visions have a certain vintage quality. They’ve revived that classic debate: the hard path versus the soft path. The soft path, as Amory Lovins defined it in the 1970s, is energy conservation and power from the sun, wind and plants — the technologies that Senator Barack Obama emphasizes in his plan to reduce greenhouse emissions. Senator John McCain is more enthusiastic about building nuclear power plants, the quintessential hard path. As a rule, it’s not a good idea to revive anything from the 1970s. But this debate is...

Rockwall man boasts of nuclear reactor, but no arrest made Thursday, January 10, 2008 By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News A 22-year-old Rockwall man's Internet boasts that he had made a mini-nuclear reactor in his garage resulted in a visit recently by federal authorities. Representatives with the FBI and the Texas Department of State Health Services' Radiation Control Program took away the man's science equipment on Friday – but not because he was doing anything dangerous or illegal. Rather, the man's parents, with whom he is living, asked that the equipment be removed, officials said. The man, who...