Author: publius

Fools! I will destroy you all!!

ASFO 2025–07–19

Once again the double standard, as no calls are heard in Italy to abolish motor cars or their fuel, after an explosion in Rome which certainly harmed more people in that country than Chernobyl did. Unwanted travel forced upon me (at considerable expense) by short–sighted legislators and other foolish people. A couple of anniversaries — hail to the glorious 20th of July!

Supplementary Show

2025–07–25 From the group of Nuclear Power Exhibition materials I acquired, A Review of Nuclear Power in the United Kingdom, adapted from a lecture delivered by Francis Tombs, chairman of the Electricity Council, to the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Technician Engineers, 31 October 1977.

ASFO 2025–07–05

Burn, baby, burn! Germany continues to exhibit climate leadership with less public transportation, more cars, and more gas–burning power stations. Where is the gas to come from? Who cares, as long as a return to nuclear is off the table? Also! The Vera Rubin Telescope, the Faraday Prize, the Non–Proliferation Treaty…

ASFO 2025–06–21

Solstice! And a lovely sunny one here in Munich, just as it ought to be. That sunniness, however, doesn’t make paving over vast tracts of land with photovoltaics any more appealing. I suggest that the European Union could be quite a bit more ambitious with their targets for nuclear energy production, and explain things I’ve been doing to get ready for Archipelacon. Owing to some technical problem, while live listeners heard the whole show, the archive cuts off during my discussion of a so–called granola advertising “100% real food ingredients and no grain fillers”, which I would say makes it more like a trail mix — containing, of course, no peanuts.

ASFO 2025–06–14

Once more with feeling — the people on this planet are crazy! And in that context, I discuss possible next steps, mine (which definitely involve one of which will be Archipelacon, and may involve turning blast into a newspaper, but I also can’t rule out a panicked trans–Atlantic flight) and other people’s. Also some very welcome news from Great Britain, ridiculously beyond any reasonable time–frame for it, but welcome.

ASFO 2025–06–07

Brighton is in Britain (Blighty if you’re feeling mean), and this weekend, so am I. In this pre–recorded message, I invite you to consider the question of whether, from the viewpoint of Sir Thomas More, we may not already be living in the post–Singularity, trans–human future. Certainly the conditions of human life have been fundamentally altered since his day!

Supplementary Show

2025–06–13 I finish up A Snapshot in Time with a brief but interesting section entitled Future, a series of questions and answers about nuclear power safety (meant to educate the public into acceptance, which may not actually work all that well), and some brief biographies of senior Westinghouse personnel. There is a glitch halfway through, owing entirely to my error and ill–preparedness.

ASFO 2025–05–31

No matter how many times I say it, it remains true : international air travel is for the birds! But at least the 6 line of the Munich subway is back in operation. Also I once again criticize the mindset that “nobody ever changed the world working 40 hours a week” — design and engineering decisions made by overworked people in understaffed offices are likely to be bad, or at best, less than good.

Supplementary Show

2025–06–03 More from A Snapshot in Time, mostly an extended description of the corporate structure of Westinghouse PWRSD. Next time we will get to some more interesting material!

ASFO 2025–05–24

Looking realistically at the present world situation may not be good for one’s health. It certainly isn’t popular. I give a bit of an after–action report from last week, and try to contrast the Canadian (CNSC) and US (NRC) systems of nuclear–energy regulation. Neither is as good as it could be, but the CNSC model probably works better in practice. And I interrogate the possibility that the Law of Unintended Consequences may be expected, occasionally, to produce unintended benefits.

Supplementary Show

2025–05–30 More of A Snapshot in Time, largely a description of the Pressurized Water Reactor Nuclear Steam Supply System, interlarded with extensive explanations from me.

ASFO 2025–05–17

Weather determined what I was doing in the time slot this week — ironically enough, considering that a key advantage of atomic power over other zero–emissions energy sources is that it is not much influenced by the weather. The skies are clear, and I was in Haltom City, as I said last week. And I missed my chance to pre–record a show.

Supplementary Show

  • 2025–05–20 PWRSD 1976 : A Snapshot in Time is a kind of yearbook from the nuclear power operation at Westinghouse. There is some fascinating material in it, including a description of an absolutely hair–raising bit of messing around with uranium in a metallurgical laboratory (not the Metallurgical Laboratory). Unfortunately, although the printing job is professional–looking, something awful seems to have happened in the galley stage, as more than once entire lines of text have disappeared.
  • 2025–05–23 Something of a mess, as I continue to read from A Snapshot in Time, but much of what I’m trying to read is tabular material.