tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740971876602952565.post8119979066723948777..comments2024-03-19T22:49:42.491-07:00Comments on Nuke Power Talk: Energy R&D and the Military:Gail Marcushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03389387408479728702noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740971876602952565.post-77028665993541827202013-01-12T03:31:40.723-08:002013-01-12T03:31:40.723-08:00Gail - I have some first hand knowledge of the Nav...Gail - I have some first hand knowledge of the Navy's expenditures on wind, Broussard fusion, and biofuels. My last job while on active duty was as a requirements/resource officer in OPNAV N43, the portion of the OPNAV staff charged with providing the resources for operating and maintaining the fleet. We managed the budget lines that paid for fuel, shipyards, aviation maintenance depots, and short based infrastructure.<br /><br />The energy programs that you mentioned were taken out of hide from operating funds at the specific request of political appointees. They were in no way economical and did not offer the potential for any militarily useful breakthroughs, especially compared to the energy source that the US Navy knows better than any other organization in the world - small, long lived nuclear power plants.<br /><br />I engaged in some rather heated discussions with the admiral in charge of the branch. He was a politically minded man who wanted to make friends, possibly because he had a rather black mark on his record that would have ordinarily prevented any future promotions.<br /><br />That man is now a three star admiral (he has received two promotions since I knew him) and is in charge of OPNAV N4, which means he has even broader authority to redirect resources from operations and maintenance into politically popular research efforts.<br /><br />His decision making was one of the reasons I retired from the Navy while I could have remained on active duty for at least three additional years.Rod Adamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03652375336090790205noreply@blogger.com