News

According to radiation standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week, exposure over the next 10,000 years to neighbors of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal facility in Nevada will be limited to 15 millirem a year—a little less than that from a single chest X-ray.   The Department of Energy’s proposed […]

Current U.S. tax credits for renewable energy, including wind and solar energy, are set to expire on Dec. 31, 2008. Last week, both U.S. congressional houses passed versions of a bill that would extend these credits, but the House’s version of what has been called “the year’s most important tax package” prompted criticism from the […]

Nuclear energy giant Électricité de France (EDF) on Wednesday clinched a deal to acquire British Energy plc—a privatized UK company that provides almost 20% of Britain’s electricity—for £12.5 billion ($23.18 billion).   On Thursday, the majority French state-owned company bought a 26% stake in British Energy through its subsidiary Lake Acquisitions as part of its […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) last week announced a solicitation for up to $8 billion in federal loan guarantees for coal-powered projects that employ advanced technologies to reduce or sequester emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases.   This marks the third round of solicitations for the DOE’s Loan Guarantee Program. The DOE said […]

RWE npower has urged the UK government to address pitfalls in carbon capture and storage (CCS) regulation and policy that could prompt delays to vital investments. The company, which revealed it was close to completing a UK CCS facility, was responding to the government’s CCS consultation that closed last week.   RWE npower, which supplies […]

All 12.6 million allowances offered at the first U.S. carbon dioxide emissions auction sold on Sept. 25, 2008. The permits were bought by 59 participants from energy, financial, and environmental sectors at a clearing price of $3.07 per allowance, states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) said Monday.   RGGI said on its […]

New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. on Thursday submitted a combined construction and operating license (COL) application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), selecting GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s next-generation ESBWR reactor design.   Entergy, the nation’s second-largest nuclear plant operator, is seeking to reserve the option to build a potential new reactor at its River Bend […]

A majority of supporters of John McCain and Barack Obama largely agree on how to deal with both the country’s energy needs and the problem of climate change, a new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll shows.   WorldPublicOpinion.org, an international research project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, surveyed 1,174 Americans […]

Charlton Heston’s legacy will surely rest on his iconic performance as Moses in The Ten Commandments and his unwavering support of the Second Amendment. I had the privilege of watching a classic Heston performance at the 2000 National Rifle Association convention in Charlotte, N.C., when he raised a handmade Brooks flintlock above his head and […]

The 1940s and 50s are considered the golden age of science fiction literature. After my kids saw the movie, I, Robot, a few years ago, they were surprised to learn that Isaac Asimov—a giant of the genre with more than 500 books to his credit—had written a series of nine short stories with the same […]