Statement identifies advantages, makes recommendations

In spite of Japan's Fukushima nuclear crisis and negative reverberations around the world, there is some good news about nuclear-the helium-cooled High Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR).

A report by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff task force calls for sweeping regulatory change, but also acknowledges that information about the Fukushima accident is unavailable, unreliable, or ambiguous. What should be the response in the United States to the events in Japan?

Domestic liability laws and international issues may put limits on the country's ambitious plans to build new reactors

Help comes from positive news for getting nuclear energy out of its defensive corner

Perhaps one of the more enduring cartoons that relates to the quality of information on the Internet is the one that states, "On the Internet no one knows you are a dog." It shows a drawing of two dogs sitting in front of a computer terminal. Unfortunately, the cartoon is copyrighted material so it can't be reposted here, but you can see it here along with many variations. The point of the cartoon is that words and images on the screen can come from anywhere and anyone.Clearing up misconceptions and outright falsehoods about nuclear energy since the March 11 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami is getting more attention these days. Problems range from not mainstream journalists not understanding the technical issues to people who are publicity crazed fear mongers out to get their face on a video.

The June issue of Nuclear News has been published and is available in hard copy and electronically to American Nuclear Society members (click here-log-in required).

Colvin

On Tuesday, June 7, ANS President Joe Colvin testified about legislation pertaining to Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) before the U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee.  The committee hearing  began at 10:00 am Eastern Time. A live Webcast was available via the committee's Web site (see "Live Webcast" on the left menu).  An archive video will be available shortly after the hearing is complete.

For those of us involved in the design of nuclear reactors in the 1970s and 1980s, it was fairly common to walk into somebody's office and see a wall chart depicting the reactor that was being developed or serviced. These were foldout charts that were technically accurate. They were 3D renditions of the reactor, with cutouts showing the internals of the plant, and were made available by the magazine Nuclear Engineering International in the 1950s through the 1990s as inserts in the magazine. Now, several decades later, many of these charts were lost to the publisher due to the multitude of reorganizations and moves that have occurred.

Delays seen for new reactor projects in the Czech Republic and Romania

The hard-copy March edition of Nuclear News will soon be in the hands of American Nuclear Society members. That edition will also be available electronically to members. The edition contains the 13th Annual Reference Issue, which includes a 34-page special section on the World List of Nuclear Power Plants. The special section includes:

The Obama administration, and the Department of Energy, recently released their fiscal year 2012 budget request for nuclear related programs. The budget request is pretty favorable to nuclear, given the current pressure in Washington to cut spending.

But first EdF and Areva have to get organized at home

By  Suzanne Hobbs