Nuclear Energy Blogger Carnival 248

This rotating feature showcases the best and brightest of the English language pro-nuclear bloggers and authors around the world, and gives both a common focus for their presentations and a rotating platform from which to broadcast them.

Nuke Power Talk - Gail Marcus

Australia and Nuclear Power:  At Nuke Power Talk, Gail Marcus discusses the recent announcement from South Australia that they should consider the use of nuclear power domestically.  Australia has been a long time exporter of uranium, but to date they have been against using nuclear power within their own borders.  Gail contemplates some of the issues involved.

Nuclear Anniversaries for February:  Continuing with her year-long series on nuclear anniversaries, Gail's highlight this month is the first venture into the testing of light water reactor technology.  Although the design was very different from PWR's and BWR's of today, the 1950 "Zero Power Light Water Reactor" was the beginning of today's light water reactor technology.

Forbes - Jim Conca

EROI: A Tool to Predict the Best Energy Mix  --"EROI," or Energy Returned On Investment, is the ratio of energy returned to energy invested in that energy source, along its entire life cycle.  When the number is large, energy from that source is easy to get and cheap.  However, when the number is small, the energy from that source is difficult to get and expensive.  The break-even number for fueling modern society is about 7.  The working EROI for each energy source is Nuclear 75, Hydro 35, Coal 30, Closed Cycle Gas Turbine 28, Solar Thermal 9, Wind 4, Biomass 4, and Solar Photovoltaic 2.  (Rooftop solar is an exception.)  A future mix without nuclear cannot sustain modern society without a lot of fossil fuel.

Atomic Insights - Rod Adams

Energizing Visit to UC Berkeley's Nuclear Engineering Department:  On February 9, 2015, Rod Adams visited the faculty and students at University of California Berkeley.  Prof. Per Peterson invited him out to give a colloquium talk and to see some of the interesting work that his colleagues and students were doing in advanced nuclear technology.

Yes Vermont Yankee - Meredith Angwin

Opponents Claim Vermont Yankee More Dangerous Than Ever:  Opponents are holding meetings and writing letters.  They claim that Vermont Yankee is more dangerous than ever, even though there's no fuel in the reactor and the plant is off-line.  Meredith Angwin counters some of the more outrageous claims, and shares her opinion on opponents' motivations.  Efforts to keep up the "fear factor" may be a good way to keep up their "donation factor."

Northwest Clean Energy

The Forces of Light; Why Supporting Nuclear Energy is Good for the Soul:  Nuclear energy is the safest form of energy generation that the world has ever known.  In this post, John Dobken compares supporters who look at the statistics and look at the future with hope, with nuclear opponents. The opponents are good with scary catch-phrases, but they don't provide better alternatives for reliable generation.  Dobken ends the post with a review of the new nuclear technologies being designed, and the new companies that are designing them.

Washington State, Boeing, and Small Modular Reactors:  The Washington state legislature is considering bills to support the development of SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) in the state.  In this post, Meredith Angwin riffs on a post at Atomic Insights: What Aircraft Manufacturers Can Teach the Nuclear Industry.   She notes that Boeing is in Washington state and Washington would be a great place for developing SMRs.

Next Big Future - Brian Wang

Japanese Regulator Approves Takahama Restart, and Russia Inks Egyptian Memorandum of Understanding:  The NRA has approved the restart of two units at the Takahama NPP in Japan.  Also, Russian concerns have signed an MOU with Egypt to build a nuclear power station at Dabaa.

US DOE to help China, Canada with MSR:  Mark Halper reports at Fortune that the US Dep't. of Energy has plans to sign a ten-year collaborative agreement with China to ensure that at least one molten salt reactor gets built within the next decade.  A separate DOE deal focuses on a Canadian private firm.

China leverages reserves to finance infrastructure, including nuclear exports:  China is leveraging its enormous $4 trillion of reserves to finance high-speed rail, factories, property development... and the export of its indigenous nuclear energy.  China is offering to "fill the world's infrastructure gap."

That's it for this week's Carnival.  Thanks to all of our contributors for some great entries this week!