Alternative Energy / Nuclear Power

Feb 29, 2012 at 17:37 | Professor Chris Rhodes

There is much written to the effect that thorium might prove a more viable nuclear fuel, and an energy industry based upon it, than the current uranium-based process which serves…

Feb 27, 2012 at 17:15 | John Daly

The 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that effectively destroyed Tokyo Electric Power Company’s six-reactor Fukushima Daichi complex have claimed another victim, Japan’s fast breeder reactor program. Fukushima’s effect…

Feb 26, 2012 at 17:16 | John Daly

India is betting heavily on nuclear power to meet its surging energy needs. While India currently has six nuclear power plants (NPPs) with 20 reactors generating 4,780 megawatts, seven other…

Feb 26, 2012 at 16:53 | Professor Chris Rhodes

Norway holds a resource of 170,000 tonnes of thorium, which amounts to 15% of the world’s total of 1.2 million tonnes. There is far more thorium than that within the…

Feb 13, 2012 at 18:01 | John Daly

France began developing a massive nuclear energy program with minimal public debate after the first oil crisis in 1974 and continued to support nuclear power even after the 1986 Soviet…

Feb 09, 2012 at 16:47 | John Daly

Among the few "gifts" not forced upon Poland during its more than four decades as a Soviet satellite state was a nuclear power plant (NPP). But now, given the European…

Feb 01, 2012 at 17:04 | Tom Murphy

Ah, fusion. Long promised, both on Do the Math and in real life, fusion is regarded as the ultimate power source—the holy grail—the “arrival” of the human species. Talk of…

Feb 01, 2012 at 15:12 | John Daly

The good news? According to Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Albania has postponed its intention to build a nuclear power plant (NPP) in the Shkoder region near Albania’s border with…

Jan 26, 2012 at 17:25 | James Burgess

Nuclear power has been getting a hard time of late and outside observers would be well in their rights to assume that this once lauded energy source is dying out…

Jan 18, 2012 at 18:29 | John Daly

In a report certain to cause fear and loathing in the global nuclear industry, an eminent French research institute published a study in the International Journal of Cancer,…

Jan 16, 2012 at 18:00 | John Daly

Like many energy poor countries with rapidly rising economies, India’s government sees the development of a nuclear power industry as a potential godsend to meeting soaring demands for electricity. 

Jan 05, 2012 at 17:46 | Tom Murphy

A recent thrust on Do the Math has been to sort our renewable energy options into “abundant,” “potent,” and “niche” boxes. This is a reflection of my own mathy introduction…

Jan 05, 2012 at 17:24 | Brian Westenhaus

The third leading technology for 2012 would be fusion.  While commercial units are not in the offing for the year there is a good prospect that Eric Lerner’s Focus…

Jan 03, 2012 at 21:14 | John Daly

The implosion of the USSR in December 1991 produced massive economic “collateral damage” in its East European allies, as they simultaneously sought both to assert their new-found independence and draw…

Jan 01, 2012 at 20:47 | Llewellyn King

There have been a flurry of antinuclear events in the United States since Christmas. Presumably, those who are opposed to nuclear power want to take advantage of the news lull…

Dec 30, 2011 at 08:30 | John Daly

First, the good news. A fire aboard the Russian Federation’s Ekaterinburg nuclear submarine has apparently been extinguished. The bad news - that’s about all that is certain about…

Dec 28, 2011 at 10:10 | John Daly

Almost nothing to see here, move along. Eight months after Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s six reactor Daichi Fuskuhima complex was rocked by an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the…

Dec 26, 2011 at 11:11 | John Daly

Russian state-run Rosatom, has had a successful year, despite worldwide concerns about nuclear energy following the 11 March nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Diachi nuclear power plant. Rosatom’s massive…

Dec 22, 2011 at 20:00 | John Daly

Taiwan imports 99 percent of its energy, which is vital to its rapidly industrializing economy. The island nation’s electricity demand was recently growing at almost 5 percent per year, but…

Dec 19, 2011 at 19:32 | John Daly

South Korea currently has 21 nuclear power plants (NPPs). According to government statistics, atomic power produces about 40 percent of the country’s total electricity supply, roughly 18.5 gigawatts. South Korea’s…