More SMR Woes: Oklo/Air-Force Cancellation
By Kennedy Maize -- December 12, 2023Another small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) has seen a major contract in jeopardy, casting more doubt on the prospects for this highly-touted technology of the future. The online news service Alaska Beacon reports that the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has revoked an August Air Force preliminary decision to install an experimental Oklo micro reactor at Eielson Air Force near Fairbanks, Alaska.
The Defense Department logistics arm refused repeated requests for details and clarification of the cancellation of the Oklo project. The chance to build a small nuclear power plant at the Alaskan location drew interest from SMR vendors Oklo, BWXT, Westinghouse, NuScale Power, and Rolls Royce, among other interested energy parties at a meeting last year.
According to the Alaska Beacon, Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp.,…
Continue ReadingAl Gore’s Tiresome Crusade: So Long, So Wrong
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 11, 2023“Today the evidence of an ecological Kristallnacht is as clear as the sound of glass shattering in Berlin. We are still reluctant to believe that our worst nightmares of a global ecological collapse could come true; much depends on how quickly we can recognize the danger. [- Al Gore, Earth in the Balance (1992)]
“Every night on the TV news is like taking a nature hike through the Book of Revelation,” Al Gore told the New York Times last year. The Times reporter noted: “The past few weeks have him even more worried than usual.” Really?
Gore’s rhetoric today is toned toward hope that new technology will save the day. “We know how to fix this,” Gore told the Times:
… Continue ReadingWe can stop the temperatures going up worldwide with as little as a three-year time lag by reaching net zero.
Canadian Climate Policy: Reasonableness Needed
By Rob Ivany -- December 7, 2023“Governments, NGOs, and rent-seeking interests often originate and perpetuate issue polarization based solely on political expediency and are adept at stifling debate and fomenting division. Acceptance of contrary opinions is greeted with enthusiasm akin to how the 5th-century Romans must have welcomed the invading Barbarian horde.”
Reasonableness. It’s imbued in our lexicon as the word for which we reach when the need arises to make an appeal for fairness, moderation, tolerance, caution, or logically deduce what outcome is or was most likely: ‘Let’s be reasonable here’. ‘I’m trying to appeal to your sense of reason’. ‘Do we believe that is the most reasonable course of action?’
As a concept, it underpins our modern society. The Age of Reason precipitated this inclusion of intellectualism into our societal fabric where rapid progress in science and philosophy permeated our views, challenging old constructs to improve the human condition.…
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