Nuclear Energy: Blog Carnival 128 and More

The 128th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is being hosted by Atomic Power Review. Below, we provide a few excerpts:

The Hiroshima Syndrome - Leslie Corrice

Earthquake Phobia Threatens Japan's Electrical Infrastructure

The majority of the currently-idled Japanese nukes are ready to produce the electricity which would alleviate the nation's current electrical shortage. The energy supply situation in Japan is critical, but it seems the majority of the country’s news outlets and politicians don’t really care. They would rather dwell on fear concerning exaggerated assumptions of earthquake impacts on operating nukes. Will the Japanese people ever be made aware of what’s really the case? And, if they are made aware, when will they say “Enough!!” and demand rational recovery from the very real tsunami-spawned, politically-exacerbated economic disaster ravaging Japan?

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Meredith Angwin submits two posts this week; one at her own Yes Vermont Yankee site, and one at the ANS Nuclear Cafe.

ANS:  Mind the gap - Vermont's energy supply

There's a 30% gap in Vermont's "committed resources" for electricity because Vermont utilities no longer have contracts with Vermont Yankee. Angwin looks at the probable future price of gas and electricity. She concludes that it would be better for the ratepayers if that gap were still filled by Vermont Yankee.

YVY:  Federal Court Dismisses Vermont Yankee tax case

Next Big Future - Brian Wang

Updated list of new Nuclear reactors expected to start operation from 2013 through 2017

All 20 Canadian nuclear reactors are in operation.

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Paul Bowersox submits the following on behalf of the ANS Nuclear Cafe:

Update on Nuclear Waste Confidence Court Ruling


The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission will not issue new nuclear plant licenses or life extensions until it addresses issues raised by a federal appeals court concerning long-term spent nuclear fuel storage. Jim Hopf at the ANS Nuclear Cafe brings an update and perspective on the impact of the NRC licensing suspension.

_Atomic Power Review 128th Nuke Blogger Carnie

As expected, the Obama NRC continues to stonewall new US nuclear power development. But elsewhere in the world, nuclear power continues to expand:

There are 65 reactors being built around the world, and 69% of them are in the fast-growing Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Beijing's ambitious programme will increase nuclear from 2% to 5% of the country's electricity supply by 2020, and make China the world's biggest market for new nuclear equipment.

India – which lacks fossil fuel resources and has been growing so fast that its electricity supply is falling 12% short at peak hours, causing frequent blackouts – is also planning a massive expansion programme. The country hopes nuclear will account for 50% of its electricity needs by 2050, up from just 3.7% last year. _Guardian

Hitachi is investing in planned new nuclear buildup in the UK:

Japanese electronics manufacturer and engineering company Hitachi is reportedly close to closing the deal on purchasing Horizon, a nuclear reactor builder with contracts in Britain, for an amount of more than 50 billion yen (approx. $628.5 million). The German owners of Horizon, RWE and E.ON, were said by the Asahi Shimbun this weekend to be making agreements to final terms with Hitachi at this point.

Horizon is said to have plans to build 6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity in Britain, as the nation’s government looks to expand its use of the controversial energy, with new plants hopefully coming online by 2025. _JapanDailyPress

US Oak Ridge National Laboratories has debuted the Titan supercomputer, capable of 20,000 trillion operations per second. It will be used for a wide range of energy-related projects, including the design of new nuclear reactors.

Nuclear power is the future of large-scale energy on planet Earth. And while humans continue to develop controlled nuclear fusion, steady advances in safer, cleaner, scalable, reliable, affordable nuclear fission reactors will continue to take place.

The transition from a fossil fuel economy to an electrically grounded economy will continue, with nuclear power taking the central role.

One proviso: Abundant high quality, high temperature process heat from nuclear power will allow for a virtually unlimited supply of high value chemicals, fuels, polymers, lubricants, and other materials. These high value products will be produced from low cost natural gas, gas hydrates, kerogens, bitumens, coal, and biomass. They will be produced centrally, regionally, and locally, as high temperature gas cooled reactors become more scalable and transportable.

It is not just about nuclear power. It is also about the incredible number of abundances that clean, safe, scalable and widely disseminated nuclear power will facilitate.

Faux environmentalist greens of the dieoff.orgiast persuasion will continue to block all forms of reliable energy -- wherever they can. It is up to the rest of us to make sure that the human future has an abundance of reliable power and energy, despite the lefty-Luddite obstructionists.