Weekend Digest #7

A curated assortment of scrolls.

I hope all my American readers had a wonderful Turkey day. God is good and His bounty plentiful. May a million nuclear reactors bloom so that more can share in it!

Now let’s get after it, Barbarians!

Housekeeping

1. In observance of Thanksgiving, I decided not to release an episode. Next week will feature Meredith Angwin discussing the grid.

2. Why Does This Look Like a Walkman??? ICYMI this week I published a new piece on here critiquing the way advanced nuclear looks. People seemed to like it and it also stirred up a healthy debate. Check it out if you haven’t already!

News

1. How the US Lost Ground to China in the Contest for Clean Energy. This recent piece from the NYT flipped my whig. Several successive administrations have failed to secure an American hold on cobalt in Congo. China has moved in to take over just as the US is poised to become still more reliant on these minerals for its “green” energy projects. Relatedly, as reported by the Washington Free Beacon last January and the NYT recently, Hunter Biden was a party in the deals that put us in this position. Nothing hurts quite as bad as late imperial corruption feels.

2. ERCOT report says Texans face steep shortfalls in power capacity if extreme event hits this winter. The Dallas News reports more bad news from ERCOT. It was a mess at ERCOT before the February blackouts, and a worse mess now. I can’t tell if it’s that no one wants to take responsibility for anything over there or if it’s that no one can take responsibility for anything. Whatever the case, Texans, pray for a warm winter.

3. Should CA Seek Another Life Extension for Diablo Canyon? Energy sophist Ralph Cavanagh over at NRDC wrote a brief rebuttal to the recent MIT/Stanford report that argues in favor of keeping Diablo running. Cavanagh seems to think that because California says it will/can replace Diablo with renewals that it is capable and willing to. This while the state has nat gas plants running over time as it is. If anyone wants to vet Cavanagh’s track record/thinking, here’s a piece from 2000 defending California’s electricity markets just before its electricity crisis.

4. NERC Issues Grim Outlook for Bulk Power System Winter Reliability. One of my favorite energy reporters, Sonal Patel, covered a NERC report on winter reliability. Here’s what they’re worried about: “In its bulk power system (BPS) reliability assessment for the next three months—December 2021 through February 2022—NERC suggests extreme weather risks, including soaring peak demand or generator outages that exceed forecasts, ‘can be expected to cause energy emergencies’ in regions that have previously suffered cold-weather reliability debacles. Natural gas supply disruptions, meanwhile, could affect ‘infrastructure-limited’ areas, like ERCOT. And although New England, Southern California, and the Southwest have sufficient planning reserves, fuel supplies to generators in those regions may also face cold-weather vulnerabilities. New England, specifically, faces natural gas transportation constraints while Southern California and the Southwest have ‘limited natural gas storage and lack redundancy in supply infrastructure,’  NERC said.”

5. Price of China's coal future drops by 60% as nationwide daily output reaches over 12 million tons: NDRC. Global Times reports that China has pulled itself back from the brink re: coal. And thank God. I hope their winter isn’t as bleak as recent predictions and that eases the oncoming Black Cascade.

6. Will Surprising UN Findings Reignite Optimism For Nuclear Power? David de Caires Watson has a brief new piece over at The Kernel about the latest UN findings about nuclear (spoiler: it rules), but also about a nuclear vision of tomorrow. He’s got some wonderful images in there that capture how the mid-century optimism of the last century aspired for a nuclear future. And great jabs at the degrowth crowd. What struck me is that our vision of progress hasn’t changed since the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. For further elaboration on this point, it’s worth checking out Richard Barbrook’s Imaginary Futures, which despite its anti-nuclearism provides excellent insight into the future we’ve been stuck in. Non-left readers be advised: Barbrook’s a staunch Marxist.

Commentary

Inspired by David’s piece listed above, I’d like to contrast our era with the hopefulness, in the midst of a World War America had yet to enter, of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Here’s his Thanksgiving Proclamation from 1941.

I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate and set aside Thursday, the twentieth day of November, 1941, as a day to be observed in giving thanks to the Heavenly Source of our earthly blessings.

Our beloved country is free and strong. Our moral and physical defenses against the forces of threatened aggression are mounting daily in magnitude and effectiveness.

In the interest of our own future, we are sending succor at increasing pace to those peoples abroad who are bravely defending their homes and their precious liberties against annihilation.

We have not lost our faith in the spiritual dignity of man, our proud belief in the right of all people to live out their lives in freedom and with equal treatment. The love of democracy still burns brightly in our hearts.

We are grateful to the Father of us all for the innumerable daily manifestations of His beneficent mercy in affairs both public and private, for the bounties of the harvest, for opportunities to labor and to serve, and for the continuance of those homely joys and satisfactions which enrich our lives.

Let us ask the Divine Blessing on our decision and determination to protect our way of life against the forces of evil and slavery which seek in these days to encompass us.

On the day appointed for this purpose, let us reflect at our homes or places of worship on the goodness of God and, in giving thanks, let us pray for a speedy end to strife and the establishment on earth of freedom, brotherhood, and justice for enduring time.

Emphases mine.