nuclear energy

Dawid Serfontein: Nuclear plants are more capital intensive than most other power plants. They last for 60 years, compared to only 25 years for wind turbines. They also produce power as much as 90% of the time, compared to much less than 30% for wind turbines. If you fund nuclear plants with the cheap loans that are currently available to Eskom, then nuclear plants will produce reliable, clean power cheaper than coal, wind, and solar. The New Generation III nuclear reactors are some of the safest machines on the planet.

Nuclear Africa is helping the world to have access to nuclear energy. This essay shows how large the African Continent is; China, Europe. India, Japan, and the United States all fit like pieces of a puzzle within the boundaries of Africa. This is how big the challenge is to establish plentiful, reliable, clean electrical energy for the people and economies of Africa.

Rebecca Terrell is a writer about nuclear energy and other topics for The New American website. In this article, she addresses nuclear terrorism: fear versus reality. There is a popular misconception that inside every nuclear power plant lies a mushroom cloud waiting to happen. Major media certainly peddles such propaganda. There are myths about risks of nuclear accidents and there is reality. In most fields of technology and science there are real problems that can cause wide spread disruption, sickness and deaths. This article summarizes myths and explains realities that are not receiving enough attention. Bruno Comby is Founder - President of Environmentalists for Nuclear - International in Houilles, France. He has written a message to his readers around the world supporting Rebecca Terrell's article. His message is given in the second half of this article.

Adelino de Santi Junior is a biologist with Nuclear Industries of Brazil: He compares nuclear power with many other energy sources. He focuses on the topic of CO2 from fossil fuels, but his arguments apply to many other issues when evaluating different energy sources. This website presents articles by people with different views about man-made global warming as long as the author is generally respectful toward people with other views. In some cases we present views by intolerant authors, only to show our audiences what is happening. Thanks for your great leadership, Adelino.

Philip Lloyd: Nuclear radiation cannot all be bad, because it is used to cure cancer. This seeming paradox lies behind most of medicine. A little can be good for you; a lot can harm. Take too much aspirin and you may die. But I, and many others with a history of heart disease, exist on a diet of around 80 mg aspirin a day. One of the problems with nuclear radiation is that we do not accurately know how small a dose might be beneficial. We know that a large dose is harmful, but we also know that a small dose is not harmful, because we get a small dose naturally.

Bloomberg BNA: New nuclear reactor technology such as NuScale Power LLC’s small modular reactors and government support for existing nuclear power plants won’t be enough to rescue the declining nuclear power industry, according to new research. “Right now, the cost of generating electricity from newly constructed nuclear plants is almost double the cost for power from a new natural gas combined-cycle plant,” “In the absence of a dramatic change in market conditions, political will, and substantial subsidies, there is virtually no chance that the United States will be able to undertake the construction of additional large LWR (light water reactor) power plants in the next several decades.”

Emily Carey, shalemart.com - Although the U.S. does not produce the greatest percentage of its own energy through nuclear power compared to other countries, it still boasts the highest percentage of worldwide nuclear power, as well as the most operating nuclear reactors. Accounting for about 30 percent of nuclear power generation worldwide, the U.S. is a solid leader in the industry.Nuclear power has become much safer throughout the years and has a proven track record. I feel that it is further along than any other alternative energy source. It has been put to commercial use for longer.

Craig Porter describes ways of safely and easily storing radioactive waste. Spent nuclear fuel that can be recycled and used in advanced nuclear reactors is worth trillions of dollars and should not be permanently disposed of in places where it can not be recovered.

America’s nuclear energy plants are a vital asset providing reliable, carbon-free electricity to tens of millions of households and businesses around the country. The ANS circulated a petition authored by a 3rd party. It is to be sent to the White House to support existing nuclear power plants. Physics Professor Emeritus, William Happer, Princeton University and Physics Professor Emeritus Howard Hayden, University of Connecticut support nuclear power but refuse to sign the petition because it improperly demonizes carbon dioxide from fossil fuels. Dr. Theodore Rockwell, in 2010, explains that the issue of CO2 from fossil fuels ranks 9th among priorities for the American public with regard to benefits of nuclear power.

Michel Gay: Cette transition énergétique n'interdit donc nullement de recourir à l'électricité pour "satisfaire les besoins en énergie des citoyens et de l'économie", si elle est produite sans émissions de gaz à effet de serre. Cette électricité peut donc être utilisée dans le transport, le chauffage (pompes à chaleur) et l'industrie pour se substituer partiellement aux énergies fossiles importées de l'étranger pour une somme de plusieurs dizaines de milliards d'euros chaque année

Kelvin Kemm, other scientists, nuclear engineers and leaders in South Africa are showing the world that plentiful electrical energy is one of the most important things for improving lives of people with less and maintaining the good life for people who already are doing well. Dr. Kemm travels the world from Russia to Vietnam to Bolivia and is leading efforts across the African Continent helping people learn about the importance of nuclear energy for the long term future.

Conrad Ladd - This widely recognized leader in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers provides an excellent overview of the contributions of Mechanical Engineers to the development of fossil fuels, coal, oil, and natural gas, and nuclear power for submarines, surface ships and commercial nuclear power plants in the United States.

In 1971, as a PhD student in ecology I joined an activist group in a church basement in Vancouver Canada and sailed on a small boat across the Pacific to protest US Hydrogen bomb testing in Alaska. We became Greenpeace.

There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth’s atmosphere over the past 100 years. If there were such a proof it would be written down for all to see. No actual proof, as it is understood in science, exists.

The increase in temperature between 1910-1940 was virtually identical to the increase between 1970-2000. Yet the IPCC does not attribute the increase from 1910-1940 to “human influence.” They are clear in their belief that human emissions impact only the increase “since the mid-20th century”.

If we wish to preserve natural biodiversity, wildlife, and human well being, we should simultaneously plan for both warming and cooling, recognizing that cooling would be the most damaging of the two trends.

Wade Allison - Radiation and Reason. A list of the pros and cons of nuclear energy is straightforward; we need it, it is safe, but people are frightened of it. But the need to replace fossil fuels with another large base-load source is widely understood and its safety has been demonstrated many times.

John Tjostem, microbiology, botany, professor emeritus of biology - Will our children and grandchildren inherit a world that has adequate food and clean energy resources to offer quality of life? Here we examine the need to find a clean and abundant energy source to replace fossil fuels. We also consider the premise that clean and cheap fuel may offer a glimmer of hope for disarming the population bomb. The debate over nuclear power will be a major focus.

Duncan Hawthorne, President and CEO of Bruce Power describes recently established agreements for long term energy supply for Canada.

South African reporter, Matthew le Cordeur, working for Channel Fin24 provides a written and video report of his visit to a Russian nuclear power station and nuclear power component manufacturing plant. Shortages of plentiful, reliable energy in certain parts of South Africa will be holding back economic development. The country is looking to Russia for a possible source of nuclear energy. Following South Africa will be other countries on the African Continent. Other leading countries' nuclear power plants are more expensive.

Small nuclear reactors offer extensive flexibility, and they run continuously, independent of day or night, rain or sunshine, wind or no wind. They also do not need a system for delivering a continuous fuel supply; deliveries two or three times a year would be sufficient. Nuclear power is the future.

Kelvin Kemm, nuclear physicist, is a dynamic leader for nuclear energy in South Africa and the African Continent. He is also a voice of science and reason in the United States.