Fessenheim - Hollande's Campaign Promise

The administration of President Francois Hollande has confirmed plans to reduce France's dependence on nuclear energy to 50% in 2025 from the current level of 75%. This policy includes closing France's older nuclear power plant in Fessenheim, located in Alsace close to the borders with Germany and Switzerland, by the end of 2016. The first unit of the two 880 MWe pressurized water reactors entered commercial operation in 1977, followed several months later by the second unit in early 1978.  A review by the French nuclear regulator ASN in 2011 approved its suitability to operate for a further ten years subject to the completion of several safety measures. 

Davis-Besse Station - Near Misses

I picked up this card at Toledo Edison's (then the licensee) visitor center while assisting an NRC Incident Investigation Team in June 1985 sent to evaluate a loss of feedwater incident at the plant, one of the most significant events at an operating plant since the Three Mile Island accident. The Davis Besse plant is also infamous for other significant operating events: a stuck-open pilot-operated relief valve in 1977 that was a precursor to the TMI-2 accident and the 2002 discovery of a pineapple sized hole in the reactor vessel head. Discovery of the latter incident also led to criminal charges being levied against the operator First Energy Corp. and several plant employees related to withholding evidence and making false statements to the NRC related to the vessel head corrosion problem.

The Nautilus crosses the North Pole

The first nuclear submarine - the USS Nautilus - pictured in one of the Defenders of America trading cards issued by the National Biscuit Company in the late 1950s (and put in boxes of Shredded Wheat!). I worked for Vice Admiral Kenneth M. Carr, one of the crew of the Nautilus on its transpolar expedition, when he was a Commissioner and Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1986-1991. Hear Adm. Carr describe the journey on a radio broadcast from BBC World.

Yankee Rowe - one of the earliest plants

The plant, part of the Yankee Atomic Electric Co. consortium, was built near Rowe, MA, and was the first operating plant in New England. It operated from 1961 - 1992. The plant was decommissioned and the site restored, although the spent fuel remains in a storage facility at the site due to the stalemate over a waste disposal solution in the US. See what the site looks like today at http://www.yankeerowe.com

Postcards go nuclear!

Along the way of a 34 year career at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, I picked up some postcards and other ephemera on nuclear energy -- for, against and otherwise.  I started trawling eBay and other sites in earnest a few years ago for items to add to a growing collection. The items reflect the optimism, the opposition, and the ambivalence of our relation to nuclear energy.  The collection came with me to Paris when I moved here 6 months ago to take a new position with the OECD.  It's time to share!