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Margaret Harding The phrase is used to describe those hot, sultry days in July and August. Here in the southeastern U.S., these days are typically almost unbearable with the heat and humidity. We welcome the break in weather that comes in the fall that allows us to open the windows to enjoy fresh air. The Greeks and … Read more Dog Days of Summer
According to the Urban Dictionary, Liar’s Poker is an American bar game played with one-dollar bills. Each player picks from a pile of face-down bills, and uses the eight-digit serial number on the face of the bill (kept private) to shape a playing strategy. This is a consecutive bidding game where players “bet” on the … Read more Liar’s Poker and Other Games of Chance
Another act in the long running farcical melodrama called Yucca Mountain is unfolding this month. We have such a cast of characters that Broadway, or perhaps Monty Python’s Flying Circus, would be envious. The dastardly villain has been played well by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who has managed to include henchmen that are then disposed … Read more Yucca Mountain Follies: Let’s Rewrite The Ending, Please
The myths of Pandora and Prometheus are some of the most interesting of the Greek myths. What I didn’t realize until recently is that these two myths are related. Prometheus—whose name means “forethought” or “forward thinker”—was a Titan who helped to create humans and stole fire from Zeus and the rest of his Olympus gang … Read more Of Pandora and Prometheus
Popular media describe engineers in two ways: 1. Bumbling white male nerds in ill-fitting garb and thick glasses with only a vague awareness of the world outside our books, computers and equations. Not evil, but frequently patsies of more worldly people like James Bond. 2. Active evil-doers in cahoots with the evil scientists, helping to … Read more A love letter to Engineers
I was at the NRC’s Regulatory Information Conference in Washington, DC this week. Every March, a couple thousand nuclear industry professionals, journalists, and members of the public come to the conference center across the street from the NRC’s headquarters in Rockville to hear the NRC discuss issues that concern them. Many, if not most, of … Read more RIC NRC – Part 1
Last year at the end of January, spring was already beginning to be felt in my little corner of the world and I was writing about my spring flowers. This year the scene is quite different. As I sit and write this column, we are hunkering down for a storm of nearly epic proportions for … Read more Global Warming or Not, Methane Is A Bad Plan
This opinion by Margaret was just posted on Nuclear TownHall. In August 2, 2013, DOE published a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNOPR) regarding revisions to 10 CFR Part 810, its regulation controlling nuclear exports. The SNOPR was the culmination of years of effort by DOE and industry to modernize a regulation that was based … Read more Time for DOE to Complete Its Part 810 Nuclear Export Reform
Once upon a time, a poor state named Vermont hosted a nuclear power plant called Vermont Yankee. Vermont lacked the money to do many needed things. But it wanted to spend money on luxuries, like cleaning up a lake and generating electricity as expensively as possible. The power plant, meanwhile, lacked the state’s permission to … Read more Kill the Goose That Lays Golden Eggs
I’ve just spent an interesting two days at the 10th annual Platts Nuclear conference. Once again, I met with old friends and colleagues, as well as some new folks in the nuclear industry. We are a small industry, but there are so many interesting things going on. The conference theme was “Opportunities for Growth and … Read more Report from 10th annual Platts Nuclear Conference