Sunday, February 20, 2011

40th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs

The ANS Nuclear Cafe is hosting the 40th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers. Dan Yurman did a wonderful job of putting this week's Carnival together. Of course, I might be just saying that because a post from Yes Vermont Yankee is the first one in the line-up.

NRC. The first group of posts shows NRC being treated like a soccer ball (deservedly). Yes Vermont Yankee criticizes their relicensing process, Next Big Future points out how badly behind they are in processing new applications, and CoolHandNuke asks why they "redacted" (i.e., hid) the scientific analysis of Yucca Mountain in their recently released report. Idaho Samizdat blogs about the three states that are suing NRC. These states object to having nuclear fuel stored on-site at their power plants. (Vermont is one of the states, of course. No surprise there.) The Samizdat post quotes a precedent: a similar suit in California. Outcome: Dry casks okay, lawsuit failed.

Tactics, Ads and Thugs. PopAtomic encourages us to learn tactics from nuclear opponents, and Nuke Power Talk notes an editorial in the Washington Post that writes about clean energy without bashing nuclear. NEI Nuclear Notes describes its recent advertising section in USA Today. Nuclear Fissionary gives a blow-by-blow (literally) account of Greenpeace activists in Spain beating up guards at a nuclear plant. Wait. I meant to say: Greenpeace thugs in Spain beating up guards. They knew the guards wouldn't fire on them. The guards had to show restraint, the thugs didn't.

The Fuel Cycle and Business Models. Nuclear Town Hall, Nuclear Green, Canadian Energy Issues, and Brave New Climate take on various aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, including thorium reactors, fuel rod issues, plutonium and more. In contrast to these rival techniques and public controversies, Atomic Insights describes a successful business model...low on innovation, high on profits. Oops. That's the oil and gas model. Guess we won't be able to clone that one in nuclear!

In other news, the Renaissance keeps expanding, as ANS Nuclear Cafe announces the formation of a new section in India, and Areva North America reports the results of a study showing increased support for nuclear energy.

From heartening news on surveys and reprocessing, to outright brawls in Spain, the Carnival has everything. You'll smile, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you may want to punch somebody, you may want to kiss somebody. Who said being pro-nuclear is un-emotional? Come to the Carnival and have some fun!


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