Conflict in literature is a fascinating thing. Not only for the catharsis of the resolution, but for the struggle in the action, and the tension of the incitement. However people seem to be much more cognizant of the theme of a work when they choose whether they are interested in it or not. Which makes... Continue Reading →
This is where the fun stuff really happens. And by fun I mean tedious, and by happens I mean crawls along at the snails pace of provincial bureaucracy and politics. Unfortunately however, there is only one way of pushing along the progress of promoting nuclear energy into mainstream acceptance and that is by pestering every... Continue Reading →
Mining is something we all benefit from, but it's not actually that great from a practicality standpoint. Huge investments of capital are required to produce and maintain the equipment required to do the work. I mean just look at the variety of drill heads that are available for various different kinds of mining. Don't judge... Continue Reading →
Quickly, and without looking online to find the answers, which of the following is a nuclear meltdown? Most of them should be pretty easy but there is a good chance I might have tricked you, because the correct answer is none of them. I'll explain what I mean in a bit, but first I'm going... Continue Reading →
I've talked about the costs of energy before, but money is just money and they are always making more of it. But what about the costs in terms of something that is actually finite? Land usage. I've touched on it before, but never really explored what those numbers actually look like. First we need to... Continue Reading →
Sorry American Nuclear Society, I'm hopping on your coat-tails for the title. This is what I would probably consider the last of the basics of nuclear energy topics. If you've been following along with my blog so far I wold say that this is the last of the 100 level courses. So straight to it.... Continue Reading →
Variability is an inescapable factor of energy usage. It doesn't matter if your grid supplies 1, 10, 1000, or 10,000,000 people. Just today Alberta's energy usage fluctuated by almost an entire GW over the course of the day. And this is a fairly nice spring day, not too much heat required and almost no AC... Continue Reading →
Efficiency is the name of the game in society nowadays. Fuel efficiency, energy efficiency, mechanical efficiency, transmission efficiency... We hear or think about these things with impressive amounts of regularity, but what about other kinds of efficiency? How efficient we are at doing our tasks at work? How smoothly we can get the kids packed... Continue Reading →
How much more is a dollar today worth compared to a dollar tomorrow? what about a year from now? or 10? This is a huge question in the energy industry, and particular groups have very different answers to it. I wish people would stop sending messages like this, we could really use all that money...... Continue Reading →
So today I went out to see the Edmonton portion of the #StudentStrike4Climate. Aside from learning that I am not a very protesty kind of advocate, I saw a few hundred people getting together in the sun (read: slightly above freezing temperatures) and chant at the closed front doors of the Alberta Legislature. Instead of... Continue Reading →
Australia, I just want you to know before I get started that I love you and I don't mean to hurt you. You're surrounded by friends here and we just want what is best for you and all the rest of us. This is an intervention against your pointless fear. These questions were taken and... Continue Reading →
I'm sure you've seen images like this before. Something to make you feel unsafe or scared. Bright colours, visible warning signs, all things that point to those drums being filled with things that are horribly dangerous, and likely to leak out at any moment and poison the surrounding area à la The Simpsons. The reality is... actual... Continue Reading →
People don't seem to believe me when I say that Nuclear would be one of the cheapest ways to switch over to zero-carbon energy. So welcome to another rough and ready math attempt. We'll take 3 different scenarios: nuclear, solar PV and off-shore wind as these seem to be the most common grid-scale applications of... Continue Reading →
I have always been a man of seemingly conflicting interests. I'm an engineer and scientist in my core, I appreciate the ability to be productive and useful in logical and quantifiable ways. But I have also been vigorously involved in the Arts and know that unquantifiable efforts can be productive in their own right. Every... Continue Reading →
It feels like the last few articles have been kinda curmudgeonly so it's time to shift the outlook and focus on aspirational things today. Namely that everyone's favourite oil and gas whipping boy, Tailings ponds, can be cleaned up much faster than current estimates by application of nuclear power and the helping hand of a... Continue Reading →
I've been seeing another lie popping up about nuclear energy lately. People saying that Even though Nuclear Energy is low carbon, we lack the accessible supplies of Uranium to supply our power requirements for enough time to help combat climate change. ( I plan on touching on those other points in other articles.) Let's be... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4wDqSnBJ-k That is a decommissioned and cleaned F-4 Phantom fighter jet attached to a rocket sled and slammed into an 11-foot thick concrete/steel/lead wall at 500 MPH. It is also the reason that I have never felt insecure about anything bad happening to a nuclear reactor due to an external force. Whether it be a... Continue Reading →
Why are people scared of radiation? Honestly, there are too many reasons to reliably and comprehensively list. There was the threat of nuclear war, there was rampant misinformation, a lack of education... But the part that I want to talk about was the contribution made by the regulators and organizations in charge of safety. Namely,... Continue Reading →
Short post today, I'm getting ready for a presentation this upcoming Tuesday at Edmonton NerdNite So fingers crossed for me! Today I want to talk about something that most people seem to forget about when they are talking about climate models and CO2 reduction and emission targets. We don't win if we hit those targets... Continue Reading →
Okay, so we all know about CO2. And most people generally accept that we should reduce the amount of it that we dump into the atmosphere. But how can you know how much CO2 your country/province/state/tiny island is emitting into the world? Luckily for you, there is a handy dandy site just for this very... Continue Reading →
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