Posted by Wade Allison on 19 September 2023 in Articles
Winning entries in the essay competitions held to mark SONE's 25th anniversary of its foundation on 1 June 1998. Both prizes, for those up to 38 and up to 18, attracted strong fields. Entries showed evidence of significant reading and productive imagination. All were reviewed and discussed by a small committee of SONE who were unanimous in selecting the two winners.
Posted by Wade Allison on 20 August 2023 in Newsletters
Prize Giving and AGM — House of Lords — Major Change in US Nuclear Regulations — Admiral Rickover — It should never have been allowed! — Select Committee on Science and Technology — Renewables in trouble — Copenhagen Atomics — Long life in evacuation zones — A new podcast.
Posted by Wade Allison on 25 July 2023 in Articles
An essay on ‘Energy Resources and Our Future’ by Admiral Hyman G Rickover in 1957. This is not a submission for our essay competition today because it was written more than 66 years ago. It contains many misunderstandings, but many more truths that have since been ignored and now deserve to be re-embraced. We may hope that the SONE Jubilee Competition will succeed in encouraging young people today to entertain a suitably modernised version of such a vision of the future – and then, like Rickover, follow their vision through.
Posted by Peter Havercan on 4 July 2023 in Newsletters
Approval of the Sizewell C was lawful — France confirms commitment to Nuclear Energy — Did coal bail out solar? — Battery fire killed four in NYC — Siemens Energy’s profits have tumbled — China authorises a new Thorium MSR — No babies were harmed — New platform for nuclear videos — SONE Jubilee essay competitions continue.
Posted by Neville Chamberlain on 22 June 2023 in Articles
Notes for a talk at the Reform Club, London, on 21 June 2023: Ensure that people have access to a plentiful supply of energy that is affordable, safe, secure, and reliable and which does not contribute to our carbon emissions, then there will be no need to feel guilty about not denying ourselves the benefits of energy. And no need to cheat on any environmental commitments. The only energy source that meets all of these requirements is electricity generated from nuclear energy.
Posted by Neville Chamberlain on 14 June 2023 in Articles
Of all the options, only electricity generated from nuclear energy ticks all the boxes against the required criteria. It is safe, clean, secure and reliable; managed properly it is one of the cheapest forms of electricity available to us. It emits almost zero carbon.
Posted by Wade Allison on 13 June 2023 in Articles
Since life began on Earth there have been four energy revolutions. Now we stand at the threshold of the fifth. This should maintain the environment, follow the laws of natural science, and support the socio-economic needs of society. Only nuclear energy can match these, but a new spirit of informed public engagement is needed to replace seventy years of irrational aversion.
Posted by Wade Allison on 1 June 2023 in Newsletters
Moltex Flex webinar: Quick! Join this webinar on 9 June — Daily Telegraph article disowned — A week in S Korea — Dow getting a big nuclear-based industrial act together?
Posted by Paul Spare on 31 May 2023 in Articles
It is proving difficult to persuade the public to replace their efficient and convenient gas boilers because generally, heat pumps will not have equivalent thermal performance. This is a blessing in disguise, because providing the electrical energy for the new equipment will be a massive challenge.
Posted by Wade Allison on 24 April 2023 in Newsletters
SONE Silver Jubilee: Prizes and Competition announced — The Plusses and Minuses of the Energy Beauty Pageant — “Hug pylons, not trees” — A new paper on the fear of radiation by Brookes et al — X-Energy: news of actors getting together, there and here — A second discussion with Hugo Kruger — A few older videos and other links.
Posted by Wade Allison on 23 April 2023 in Articles
To stimulate the imagination of the current generation, unfettered by the mistakes of their elders, Supporters Of Nuclear Energy (SONE) is offering two prizes, each of £1000, to mark the 25th anniversary of its foundation on 1 June 1998.
Posted by Wade Allison on 7 March 2023 in Newsletters
Sir Bernard Ingham (1932-2023) — SONE, 25 years old in June — Centenaries for the Flying Scotsman and de Broglie Waves — HALEU fuel for small or micro reactors — Head winds for financing renewables, but nuclear too — Power plant build rate required in the UK — Simple UK stats presented by Dr Tim Stone.
Posted by Wade Allison on 17 February 2023 in Newsletters
SONE escapes the clutches of the Green — Change in Whitehall — Poland, Canada, Estonia, USA — Japan supports extended reactor life times — Uranium mining and fuel milling — Enthusiasm from Korean shipping lines — MoltexFLEX — Equilibrion, a startup for hydrogen, heat and synfuels — Safety of ionising radiation — JET's impending retirement.
Posted by Wade Allison on 23 January 2023 in Newsletters
News of New Nuclear in UK — Robert Oppenheimer’s name cleared — At the Science Museum — At the Frontier Energy 2050 Summit Conference — Review of Net Zero by Chris Skidmore MP — A view on low level nuclear waste — Wind energy.
Posted by Wade Allison on 22 January 2023 in Articles
The plan to cut the combustion of fossil fuels was accepted at the 2015 Paris Conference. The instinctive reaction around the world has been to revert to “Renewables”, the sources of energy replenished intermittently by the power of the Sun. Unfortunately this power, attenuated by the huge distance that it must travel to reach the Earth, is extremely weak.
Posted by Wade Allison on 17 December 2022 in Articles
A short in-person lecture given at the Frontier Energy 2050 Summit Conference, 24 Nov 2022, organised by Frontier Energy, and sponsored by various energy interests.
