It’s exciting and fascinating to watch the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) take shape. The NGNP is a graphite moderated, gas-cooled nuclear reactor that draws on nearly half a century of R&D and operational experience with these kinds of reactors in the civilian nuclear sector. This will be a high-temperature machine—above 700 °C at the...
Nuclear
A low carbon tax in Ontario would make worst-case nuclear overrun look cheap
A $15-per-ton tax on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from Ontario power plants would add 0.8 cents to the cost of natural gas-fired power generation. Natural gas is generally regarded as the “cleanest” fossil fuel; that is because it emits roughly 550 grams of CO2 for every kilowatt-hour it generates, whereas coal—the “dirtyest” power generation...
Extreme heat, electrical load, and political instability: the connection and the solution
Canada and the U.S. suffered through record extreme weather in 2011. Severe heat was the hallmark of the year, both in direct and thermodynamic terms (I’ll explain in a second). Canada endured record heat waves, blizzards, hurricanes, and floods. Arctic ice melted to its second-lowest-ever level; its lowest-ever level was recorded only four years...
American symbolism and its effect on nuclear proliferation: bureaucratic fantasy meets the real world
In 1976 U.S. president Gerald Ford announced that the U.S. would stop reprocessing used civilian nuclear fuel. The trigger for this decision was of course political: the announcement was on October 28, and in five days there would be a general election in which Ford was the Republican presidential candidate. But why would such...
Twenty-three (million) tons, and whaddaya get? Another day older, and still no credit
Okay, so I’m no Tennessee Ernie Ford. But that doesn’t mean I can’t lament the sheer non-recognition of Ontario’s CANDU nuclear fleet for outstanding services rendered over the past four decades to me, my fellow Ontarians, and the planet. Sticking only to the most recent decade, while the world has argued endlessly over what...
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