James M. Hylko
Articles By

James M. Hylko

  • Canada Moves to Rebalance Its Energy Portfolio

    Though Canada is rich in fossil fuels, nuclear power may fuel a significant portion of the nation’s future electrical generation needs, especially in provinces that have traditionally relied on hydropower and fossil fuels.

  • In Search of Perfect Power

    What do you do when your research institution is losing roughly half a million dollars annually as a result of multiple electricity outages — and electricity demand keeps rising? If you’re the Illinois Institute of Technology, you turn the challenge into a campuswide learning experience by teaming with the Galvin Electricity Initiative and other experts to design and construct a prototype Perfect Power System (PPS). Even during its implementation, the PPS promises to provide more reliable and sustainable electricity to the university at a lower cost than it had been paying.

  • Scenario training improves emergency response preparedness

    A key maxim of the military is "train like you fight, and fight like you train." The same applies to emergency response training, which should be a part of a plant’s routine operation. Don’t risk waiting until an accident occurs to test your response plan. At approximately 8:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, the Paducah […]

  • How to solve the used nuclear fuel storage problem

    A familiar argument against building new nuclear power plants in the U.S. is that there’s no long-term solution to the used nuclear fuel storage problem. This situation was created in 1977 with the indefinite suspension of programs to reprocess commercial used nuclear fuel. The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership’s announcement in February 2006 that it was reconsidering the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel represented a major shift in policy. It may even open the door to building new U.S. nuclear plants.

  • Developing the next generation of reactors

    Dozens of intrinsically safe Generation III+ reactors are expected to be deployed in the U.S. in the coming years. Today, scientists already are looking over the horizon to Generation IV reactors that will be capable of producing hydrogen and process heat as well as electricity while generating much less radioactive waste.

     

  • Safety, compliance, and then production maximizes bottom line

    When injuries or accidents occur, the employer ultimately loses on two counts: increased medical costs and employee absences. A policy of "safety, compliance, and then production" is more than just good business; it’s also good stewardship of the health and safety of employees who deserve no less.

  • Here’s to you

    TIME magazine’s selection of a Person of the Year often is unusual enough to be covered in other publications. In most years, the pick has been fairly predictable: a high-profile foreign or domestic politico playing high-stakes poker with our collective futures. In others, TIME has stretched the definition of "person"—such as in 1982 (the computer), […]