New Carnival and Two New Blogs

The 143rd Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up at Hiroshima Syndrome. It includes blog posts on unexpected interactions (cool white pavements save energy...unless you consider the effect of reflected sunlight on buildings), smog in China, the status of new reactor builds, the Crystal River decision, and more.  Come to the Carnival and have some fun!

Meanwhile, I have added two new blogs to my blog roll.  One really IS a new blog:  Diary of a Nuclear Tourist. Suzy Hobbs Baker is an artist and communicator.  She founded Popatomic Studios and the Nuclear Literacy Project (NLP).  As part of NLP, she is taking a nuclear tour of Europe, and blogging about it.

Here's her post at ANS Nuclear Cafe about the Diary of a Nuclear Tourist project, and here's her post Day One, Up and Running. I welcome this new project and new blog!

I cut and pasted part of the blog banner here, because Baker is an artist and the banner is just so neat!

The second blog I have added is Nuclear Grrl--Atomic Feminist.  The subheading is "Questioning the universe one neutron at a time." I have followed NuclearGrrl on Twitter for quite a while, but somehow missed the fact that she has a blog.  Her bio reads: The musings and opines of a wickedly assertive female nuclear engineer, Buckeye, afro queen, black mamba, feminist, clinic escort, and all around spectacular human being.  Her most recent post A Snowstorm and a Pilgrim  comments on the headlines written when the snowstorm took down the power grid and Pilgrim went off-line. As she notes: CBS Local got it right but AP wrote a doomsday headline.  (None of us is surprised by AP, are we?)

Musings:

I have been thinking about my blog roll.  What are my criteria for putting a blog on the blog roll?  I think I am beginning to see how I choose blogs.  They have to be one of two things:

-  Pro-nuclear power blogs, preferably referencing actual operating plants.
Or
-  Local New England news blogs, often referencing Vermont Yankee.

I just recently realized these are my criteria, though I didn't have an explicit statement about it before.

What about blogs that I don't include? I don't have blogs that are primarily about global warming or thorium reactors.  I believe that global warming is man-made, and I hope the thorium reactor is developed.  However, so far, I don't put blogs on these subjects on my blog roll.  This may change in the future.  Currently,  I use the criteria above.

My blog list has 26 blogs. Visit the blogs and have fun!

Meeting Success Story in Chattanooga

The meeting

The NRC meeting about MOX fuel was a success story for nuclear advocates "showing up."  Many ANS members (including students) came to the meeting, wearing colorful ANS shirts.  Many students and ANS members testified. No anti-nuclear zombies showed up. Maybe the zombies knew there would be pro-nuclear people at the meeting.

The press coverage noted the pro-nuclear presence, though it was still slanted anti-nuclear, in my opinion.  But pro-nuclear people were there, and the press had to cover their statements.  Here's the Times Free Press article on the meeting.

Visibility

Great shirts for visibility!

Plus, Suzy Hobbs Baker supervised the making of some great signs.  One anti-nuclear speaker called the students "cheerleaders" and requested "solutions" instead.  Actually, of course, the students are the future, and the future solutions.

Living in the Past with the Electrician

But you can't expect your average anti-nuclear person to understand that the students are the future.  They are still talking about the electrician who used a candle at Brown's Ferry 37 years ago.

Ah well. They need something to talk about. The fact that MOX fuel has been used all over the world for 30 years is NOT what they want to talk about.  So...back to that electrician!

Showing Up.

It works. 

It has never been more important.



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Laura Scheele of ANS (ANS Nuclear Cafe blog) Steve Skutnik of University of Tennessee (Neutron Economy blog) , and Suzy Hobbs Baker (Popatomic Studios) did an immense amount of work to make this meeting a success for the nuclear side.  We owe them all a big thank-you!

Links to other blogs about this meeting can be found at my previous post  MOX and hearings in Chattanooga.

A Book I Loved: THORIUM: Energy Cheaper Than Coal by Bob Hargraves

Disclosure

First of all, let me acknowledge that I know Dr. Robert Hargraves and have worked with him on various energy projects, such as co-teaching the Energy Safari course last fall, and founding the Coalition for Energy Solutions.  In the acknowledgements at the end of THORIUM: energy cheaper than coal, Hargraves thanks me and my husband, George Angwin (among others) for editorial reviews of an earlier draft of the book.

I wanted to say this upfront, because I think this is a terrific book, and I would think the same if I didn't know Bob Hargraves at all.  This is not just a book about thorium reactors. It's a book about energy policy and energy choices.  Even if you don't care a bit about thorium, you will benefit by reading this book.

You can buy the book at Amazon: THORIUM: energy cheaper than coal.

Hargraves also has a useful website about this book: THORIUM: energy cheaper than coal.  In this website, he includes the chapter headings, giving you an idea of the sweep of this book.  A partial list of chapters:

• why we need energy (energy and prosperity)
• analysis of energy sources 
• the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor LFTR
• safety 
• sustainability 
• energy policy

Cheaper than Coal and why it matters

The idea behind this book is not fear.  It is not about doom from existing nuclear plants, or even from global warming. The title tells much of the thesis: nuclear energy can be cheaper than coal.  Why is this important?

Prosperity and birth rate,  from Hargraves

Coal was the fuel that brought the industrial revolution and made Western nations prosperous. Now that Western nations are prosperous, we are beginning to turn away from coal, at least to some extent.  However, many developing nations are following the Western path to prosperity: "We'll start with coal."  If the wealthy countries wag their fingers at the developing world about coal, they quite rightly get fingers wagged back at them: "When our people are even half as prosperous as your people, we will enjoy a conversation with you about optimum energy sources.  Until then, you rich guys, don't be such a bunch of hypocrites."

Throughout the book, Hargraves emphasizes that nuclear power (specifically LFTRs) can undercut the price of coal, or the price of cheap natural gas. Hargraves stresses that carbon taxes are not going to be a global solution to the problems of fossil fuel use. LFTRs can be inexpensive and they produce almost no greenhouse gases or air pollution. They can be a large part of the solution.  People all over the world will attempt to lift themselves out of poverty.  Hopefully, people will use nuclear energy instead of coal, and thereby make a better world for all of us.

Technologies Reviewed

Fossil or nuclear?  Are those really the choices?

For those who may say: "We don't need fossil or nuclear, we can do everything with renewables" Hargraves has a well-researched answer.  The book includes almost 100 pages of "doing the numbers" on renewables, and showing they are not a solution for a modern society's energy needs.

One feature of the Hargraves book is that he estimates costs for the different renewable technologies, and explains his estimates.  David MacKay's excellent book, Sustainable Energy--without the hot air, also analyzes renewable technologies. However, MacKay's book mainly asks whether the renewable technologies will provide enough energy for society (without using all the land for energy production). Hargraves estimates the costs, because, after all, the book is titled: THORIUM: energy cheaper than coal.  Hargraves knows that people will choose inexpensive energy to lift themselves from poverty to prosperity.  Cost matters.

Though Richard Martin's book Superfuel was all about LFTRs, the technology of LFTRs was not particularly well-expounded in that book. In THORIUM, there are over 100 pages about LFTRs. The information includes charts and illustrations, description of the different varieties of LFTR, information about the technical challenges that LFTRs have overcome, and about many of the technical challenges remaining.  I don't know anywhere else you could obtain this information so clearly and concisely. The information is out there, no doubt, in thorium forums and papers (and Hargraves references these).  But if you want a quick-course on LFTRs, not a personal-research-project on LFTRs, this is the book for you.

Hargraves also reviews other types of advanced reactors: Integral Fast Reactors, pebble beds, etc.  All sections of the book contain very helpful illustrations (and lots of them) and references. The list of references and bibliography is truly impressive.

Technology Overstated?

I can hear it.  Somebody is going to say that I have been taken in by a paper reactor.  Do I know that the LFTR will work? Do I know that the LFTR development task section of Hargraves' book (pages 227-247) lists all the necessary tasks? Do I know that all the development tasks, listed or not, will be completed?  Of course not. I don't know these things, and neither does Hargraves, and neither does anybody else. I also know that materials development work is often much harder than it looks at the beginning.  LFTR development is not certain.

Molten Salt FLIBe

However, several advanced reactor concepts are in development at this time. New types of reactors will be developed in the near future.  In my opinion, the Hargraves book makes an excellent case for expanded work on the LFTR.

My One Gripe

Early in this post, I said:

This is not just a book about thorium reactors. It's a book about energy policy and energy choices.  Even if you don't care a bit about thorium, you will benefit by reading this book.

As a matter of fact, that statement also expresses my one major problem with the book.  The sections on energy policy, renewables and costs are top-notch (as are the sections on advanced reactors).  The energy policy sections should interest every citizen and every policy maker.  But will  the average citizen or policy maker pick up a book about advanced reactors?

I think that this book consists of two fine books packed in one cover:

• a book on energy choices and energy policy 
• a book on advanced reactors, especially the LFTR  

Of course these two topics are related, but putting them in one book makes a rather thick book (470 pages). Though it is well-written and well-illustrated, I think its size alone is a bit intimidating.

I urge you to buy it.  You can read the whole thing and enjoy it. Or you can just read the sections of interest to you and use the rest as reference.

In either case, this book is a major achievement, and should be on the bookshelf of people interested in energy in general, renewable energy, nuclear energy, and advanced reactors.  In other words, it will be helpful to pretty much everybody.

Reminder: You can buy the book at Amazon: THORIUM: energy cheaper than coal.

Note: The book cover is by Suzy Hobbs Baker of Popatomic Studios.  I am on the board of directors of Baker's not-for-profit, and I love her work.

109th Carnival of Nuclear Energy at ANS Nuclear Cafe

The 109th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up at ANS Nuclear Cafe.  Dan Yurman has put together a fine carnival.  Even the blog titles are great.  Here;s a post bout the incoming NRC chair: "Questions left on the hearing room floor"?  That's Margaret Harding's blog entry.

Steve Skutnik of Neutron Economy also has some questions for incoming NRC Chairman McFarlane.  I review the recent spent-fuel storage issues, and Dan Yurman of Idaho Samizdat reviews progress (or the lack thereof) at the Vogtle build.  ANS Nuclear Cafe submits a great post by Suzanne Hobbs Baker: Sowing the Seeds of Curiosity.  This is a new look at how we talk about nuclear energy"

Meanwhile, Atomic Power Review has a guest post on water hammer.  There's been speculation about water hammer at Fukushima. former ANS president A. David Rossin wrote the guest post.  A new blog has joined the Carnival: USA Cargo, based at the Fast Flux Reactor Test Facility.  The USA Cargo post is about Mark Peters of ANS. Peters testified to Congress that America is becoming dependent on foreign research about fast-neutron reactors that can consume spent fuel. (Sigh.  A good post.  However, I wish foreign research was the only thing that Americans were becoming dependent upon.  Foreign oil, maybe?  Around here, even the coal for many of our plants comes from South America.  At what point does free trade morph into energy dependence?  Not a question I can answer.)

Come to the Carnival. New voices, new thoughts, and questions left on the hearing room floor!

Welcome to the Nuclear Literacy Project

The Nuclear Literacy Project (NLP) launched yesterday. Quoting Rod Adams great post about NLP:

The site is designed to appeal to curious people who do not have preconceived notions, but really want to learn more about nuclear energy and radiation.

When you visit the site, please make sure that you read about the NLP History, watch a few of the posted videos, scroll through the fast facts and take a quiz to test your own nuclear knowledge.

If you are already a nuclear professional and know everything you need to know about the topic, you should instead consider making a tax deductible contribution to the project.

Why This Project Is Important

I am on the Board of Directors of the organization of which this project is a part: PopAtomic Studios. In my opinion, this project is important because it will tell the story of nuclear energy in blog posts and in apps and in quizzes and in art. The founder of the project, Suzy Hobbs Baker, is a hero of mine.

She's a YOUNG hero of mine! And that is another reason this project is important. It is written in the voice and diction of youth. It is a project built by people who want a better world in the future, and will be hanging around in the future long enough to enjoy it.

I meet many anti-nuclear activists, who were "arrested at Shoreham" or have been "against nuclear power since the 70s." This is the older generation, with the older prejudices. Hey, I am a grandma myself, nothing against older people in general! But we are not the future. We can't be.

Instead of thinking about people with long gray hair and getting all depressed, I prefer to think of the nuclear literacy project with its youthful mix of programming and art and fun and facts. This Nuclear Literacy Project is exactly what the nuclear industry needs.

My Favorite Things on the Website

Kaille Metzger describing a meeting where honest questioning completely discombobulated Helen Caldicott.

The Fast Facts Quiz.

Any of the videos (except maybe Bill Gates)

The Commerce Clause, the Role of Vermont Yankee, and the Troubles with NRC Meetings

I rarely do a post which is mostly about links to other sources, but here goes. Three important articles, none written by me.

The Commerce Clause and the Shakedown Attempts: When I read the Judge's ruling, I was astounded at the directly-illegal stuff that the Vermont legislature did. As Cavan Stone noted in his guest post on the Control-H defense: what kind of legislature goes on the record with a statement with "Okay, we have to find another word for safety"?

That's all about the pre-emption part of the ruling.

Then there's the part of the ruling about the commerce clause. John McClaughry quotes from the Judge's ruling on that section. The legislature wrote letters to Entergy that could have been written by an assistant to the Godfather. It was basically a shakedown of Entergy. Read McClaughry's post: The Other Part of the Yankee Decision. Reading his post is like watching a gangster movie.

A Victory For Vermonters: The local headlines on the ruling tended to be statements like "A Stinging Defeat." In True North Reports, Guy Page explains why the Murtha Decision was a Victory for Vermonters. Workers, ratepayers and the environment all benefit. He puts Vermont Yankee in context with Vermont power needs, Vermont revenues, ISO-NE and grid stability. A very rational report.

NRC Public Meetings Need Improvement. In July, I wrote about the difficulties of getting on the agenda to speak at the NRC meeting in Brattleboro. Yesterday, at ANS Nuclear Cafe, Suzanne Hobbs Baker wrote of attending an NRC meeting in South Carolina. Her experience had many similarities to my experience in Brattleboro. The NRC has got to make some improvements about how they sign up speakers! Read How to Survive an NRC Public Meeting, and read the comments, too.

BREAKING NEWS AND A FOURTH LINK:

VOGTLE REACTORS APPROVED BY NRC TODAY!

NEI has links and videos!

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For the record: I head the Energy Education Project of the Ethan Allen Institute in Vermont, and John McClaughry is vice-president of that Institute.

Careers in Nuclear with an AA Degree and Art In Nuclear. Nuclear Science Week Special.

This is National Nuclear Science Week, and with everything else going on, it almost escaped me. Here's a taste of it: Careers and Art.

Careers: John Wheeler and the Value of A Nuclear Education

When Howard and I visited a charter high school in Massachusetts, many of the students had questions about jobs in the nuclear industry:

• What kinds of jobs are available in nuclear energy?
• What are the requirements to obtain these jobs?

John Wheeler posted about nuclear energy careers this week. I wish we had John Wheeler's blog post available when we went to the Massachusetts high school. However, Wheeler hadn't yet written his post at that time!

In Explore a Great Career In Nuclear Energy, Wheeler gives an overview of nuclear careers, especially careers that start with the new curriculum for an Associates (AA) degree in Nuclear Energy. This uniform nuclear program is available at 40 community colleges around the country. The degree is recognized at all nuclear plants in the U.S. After graduation with this degree, jobs at power plants start at around $45,000 a year. Actually, these are careers, not just jobs, with a clear path to more responsibility, education, and money.

Since two years at a community college usually costs no more than $6,000, a nuclear AA degree is probably the most cost-effective career program available. Also, these nuclear jobs cannot be outsourced to any other country, because the plants are right here.

And some nuclear plants aren't right here. There's a huge number of new builds abroad, and some of those countries are already recruiting experienced American workers. A young person with a spirit of adventure can choose a wonderful international career.

Art: Knowledge Through Art

Jobs are important, and so is art. Suzanne Hobbs Baker is founder of PopAtomic Studios, a not-for-profit enterprise whose motto is Energy--Knowledge Through Art. (I am on the Board of Directors of PopAtomic.) We carried several PopAtomic Posters at our rallies in support of Vermont Yankee.

Baker was recently chosen to give a TEDx talk, and I embed it below. Also, a hat tip to Atomic Insights and Nuclear Street. Both blogs embedded this talk before I got around to it.

For More Fun with Nuclear Science Week

I encourage you to visit:

• Nuclear Science Week website for overviews and activities
• Nuclear Clean Air Energy site for links to presentations about nuclear science and by nuclear engineers, including what it is like to be a young woman working in nuclear energy
• ANS Nuclear Cafe, with a series of posts and picture galleries of some of the Nuclear Science Week activities
• Atomic Power Review, with a Nuclear Science Week post every day this week, including a beautifully illustrated post on Russian nuclear icebreaker ships.

Tuesday Blue Ribbon: Suzy Hobbs of PopAtomic Studios

A week ago, I started a new feature on this blog. Monday Blue Ribbon, People Making a Difference to Nuclear. My idea is to honor people who are making a difference to nuclear power. It's easy enough to "cover" only the negative. I think: I admire what that person is doing. Then I don't bother to write about it.

Monday Blue Ribbon is my way of giving credit to those who inspire me. I hope this feature inspires others, and helps my readers start their week in an upbeat manner. However, for me, it really comes down to gratitude.

(Yes. I know the feature is running on Tuesday this week. That's because Monday was a holiday.)

Suzy Hobbs, Art, and Reshaping the Vision of Atomic Energy

When I first heard of PopAtomic Studios, back in February of this year, the website did not include the name of the artist. The site had strong art showing nuclear in a positive light, but no named artist. As Rod Adams noted in a February blog post about PopAtomic, this is a quote from her website at the time:

I currently live in an aggressively liberal city and have lefty leanings myself aside from this one issue. That said, the anti-nuclear sentiment in my community makes this experiment particularly challenging. If you know who I am please do not mention my personal info.......Lord knows I don’t want any trouble.

Out of the Closet and Into the Limelight

After a month or two, though, Suzy Hobbs came out of hiding, and began to acknowledge and grow PopAtomic Studios. It is still a small place, and the artists haven't given up their day jobs yet, but what a change there has been in a few months!

• There are five or six artists contributing to the Studio at any time. Several are listed on PopAtomic's Biography page. Mel Chin, conceptual artist who specializes in public installations and earthworks, is one of Suzy's mentors and will contribute to PopAtomics next exhibit. Dawn Dalto is teaching Suzy slip-casting techniques for a sculpture project involving graphite from the original Chicago Pile 1 reactor. Suzy informs me that these sculptures will be available to order next month.
• The studio has an Etsy shop on-line, with T-shirts and tote bags for sale. The shop even includes some underwear with the PopAtomic logo. This may be a product for people who want to wear a pro-nuclear logo, but not visibly. People who don't want any trouble?
• PopAtomic designs posters, ads, and logos. The most recent poster, Green Footprint, is shown below. Other posters are shown on their website.
• The studio looks forward to bigger art, including public installation art, such as Mel Chin has built. Among other things, Suzy hopes to paint some cooling towers. Her ideas for the Bellefonte Station cooling towers are shown above. These colors were inspired by Mark Rothko and Color Field painting.
• The PopAtomic studio is organizing as a not-for-profit, with a very distinguished board of advisers.
• Suzy has brought Atomic Art outreach into the schools with great success. I learned a great deal about how to get people engaged with nuclear in her blog post Art Based Nuclear Outreach Proves Successful.
• Suzy recently was invited to visit Idaho National Laboratories. This visit will undoubtedly lead to more art and more contracts in the near future.
• PopAtomic Studios has a beautiful website which is always worth exploring. For example, I just discovered the blog ChickenFist (Blue Collar Art) on the blogroll.

Suzy Hobbs as an Inspiration

I urge you all to visit the PopAtomic Etsy store and buy something, or order your next logo or website banner from PopAtomic.

However, as I wrote this, I realized that the list above felt a little like a resume. PopAtomic does this, PopAtomic does that. That's not enough. I have to answer the question: "Why does PopAtomic inspire me so much?"

Suzy Hobbs and PopAtomic inspire me because they carry the pro-nuclear message in an entirely new way, an artist's way. The bright colors themselves are part and parcel of the message.

The problem with me is that I am geeky to the core. Many of the other pro-nuclear bloggers are the same. We honestly think we can sway people with facts and numbers. Suzy Hobbs and PopAtomic Studios reminds me that it takes more than numbers to persuade people. It takes art, and it takes heart.

Thank you, Suzy Hobbs!

All images on this post are copyright to Suzy Hobbs of PopAtomic Studios, and used with permission. Contact Ms. Hobbs through PopAtomic if you seek permission to use these images.