The Quad Report

Vaclav Smil Penguin ISBN 978-0-241-45439-8   Vaclav Smil’s latest, How the World Really Works, is a summary of the case he’s been making in more than 40 books since 1976 that solving the world’s energy problems is harder, more complex, and more unpredictable than much of the breezy rhetoric from advocates of particular policies, politics, and … More Book Review: How the World Really Works, The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We’re Going

For some energy gurus, and they tend to be enthusiastic, hydrogen is the key to a carbon-free future for the world. Some businesses and institutions are, at least potentially, putting big money behind their enthusiasm. For hydrogen enthusiasts, the fundamental element (first of the periodic table of the elements), has a lot going for it. … More Elon Musk makes the case against hydrogen, as investors back H2

The U.K. has an ambitious energy policy agenda, unveiled after the Conference of the Parties-26 in Glasgow last fall, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As outlined by the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the U.K.’s path is to “net zero” greenhouse emissions from the electricity sector by 2050. The targets include 50 gigawatts … More U.K. grid may doom “net zero by 2050”

It’s time for the U.S. nuclear industry to abandon its surface excuses for poor performance and focus on the reality of the industry’s poor economic record. That’s the latest word from Steve Nesbit, outgoing president of the American Nuclear Society. Nesbit said in the ANS’s NuclearNewswire this week, “There is no ‘divine right’ behind nuclear … More ANS president Nesbit to nuclear industry: get real

Facing multiple market pressures, major independent power producer Talen Energy has put its generating assets in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The Wall Street Journal headlined the story, “Talen Energy to Hand Power-Plant Business to Bondholders.” Talen Energy Corp. subsidiary Talen Energy Supply of Woodlands, Texas, on Monday (May 9) filed for Chapter 11 protection in … More Big Independent Power Producer Files for Chapter 11

It’s no surprise to anyone covering the story for a while, but the price tag for Georgia Power’s Vogtle two-unit, 2,000-MW new nuclear plant has now surpassed $30 billion. That’s more than double the original cost estimate for a plant planned to be in operation in 2016. It now looks very likely that neither unit … More $30 billion: More up, up, and away at troubled Vogtle

By Henry Sokolski America’s outdated system for classifying the nation’s secrets threatens to hinder our preparedness for the next generation of warfare. With Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Americans have had a ringside seat at one of the most unusual of presidential shows: President Joe Biden publicly divulging some of our nation’s most protected, secret insights … More Keeping Secrets

I have not posted to The Quad Report since March 26, due to foot surgery that kept me in the hospital for several days and largely immobile for several weeks. While not fully recovered, I am able to get back to following and sharing the energy stories that I find interesting. I will do so … More Note to readers, The Quad Report is back

Did the Russian government try to hack into a U.S. nuclear power plant, Wolf Creek in Kansas, repeatedly over eight years? That’s the charge in an August federal indictment, released this week (March 25). The multitudes of attacks, from 2012 through 2018, were marginally successful, but posed no real threat to the 1,200-MW Westinghouse pressurized … More Unsealed indictment: Russian cyberattack on Kansas nuclear plant

By Victor Gilinsky Henry Sokolski Just as the terrorist attacks on 9/11 required a reexamination of how best to protect against terrorist airplane hijackings, Russia’s military assault on Ukrainian nuclear plants raises questions about the security of nuclear reactors in war zones. In the wake of 2001, the United States quickly took simple but effective measures to … More Guest Commentary: Russia, Ukraine, nuclear weapons and civilian nukes