Engineering News | Columnist | Kelvin Kemm

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Kelvin Kemm

Dr Kemm is a nuclear physicist and is the CEO of Nuclear Africa (Pty) Ltd.

Kemm is the chairperson of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation. He sits on the Board of Advisers of the Committee for A Constructive Tomorrow, based in Washington DC.

He is also a Board Member of GoNuclear Inc, and EFN: USA both based in Colorado, USA.

Exec@nuclearafrica.co.za

Giant planet ‘comes to light’

By: Kelvin Kemm 10th November 2017 There is a saying that the universe may not only be stronger than we imagine, but also stronger than we can imagine. I imagine that many unimaginable things will come to light from far out in due course. These concepts are all really ‘far out’. One has just ‘come to light’, so to speak. There is... →

We must train our young people to be realists in the world

By: Kelvin Kemm 3rd November 2017 I was recently shown perfume in a fancy plastic bottle. There was some advertising blurb that went with it, which explained that the plastic was "a material more modern than glass". Well, heck – anything is more modern than glass but, obviously, the ad was designed to explain why the company was... →

Extreme weather is not caused by climate change

By: Kelvin Kemm 27th October 2017 A few days ago, I was quite horrified to watch a fellow from the South African Weather Service (SAWS) explaining on TV that the recent large hailstorm that struck Krugersdorp and parts of Johannesburg was the result of climate change. He also claimed that the Durban floods a few days after the... →

Now the Pope weighs in against fake news

By: Kelvin Kemm 20th October 2017 Pope Francis, of the Catholic Church, is working on a document about fake news. You will be interested to know that ‘fake news’ in Latin is nuntii fallaces. The Pope says he is preparing the document for the church’s next World Day of Social Communications. He says the theme of his document will... →

The Saturn mission’s grand finale

By: Kelvin Kemm 13th October 2017 September 15, 2017, will go down in history as the date of a spectacular death that brought mixed emotions to many people. It was a death by fire, far away from home, of the Cassini spaceship. The Cassini space mission has turned out to be one of the most successful and spectacular space... →

Public education needed to counter antinuclear drive

By: Kelvin Kemm 6th October 2017 I recently spent a week in London, attending the World Nuclear Association (WNA) yearly symposium. I stayed on the bank of the Thames, about a kilometre from the conference venue and less than a kilometre from the Houses of Parliament. So, each day, I walked to the conference venue. I was lucky... →

Electricity supply as a service and as a commodity not the same

By: Kelvin Kemm 29th September 2017 This topic keeps coming up, so I am going to address it yet again. It is important, very important. When referring to an electricity supply, there is the concept of despatchable power and nondespatchable power. This means that the light comes on when you flick the switch at any time – 24/7. Or... →

Abrupt end to North Pole expedition on a yacht

By: Kelvin Kemm 22nd September 2017 I told the story of British explorer Pen Hadrow (Engineering News, September 1, 2017) setting out in two sailing ships in an attempt to sail all the way to the North Pole on open water to prove how horrible mankind has produced horrible climate change, which is melting the Arctic ice. I said I... →

It’s time to counter antinuclear propaganda

By: Kelvin Kemm 15th September 2017 Of all sources of electricity, nuclear is the safest, cleanest and cheapest. These are all easily provable assertions, yet, in the open forum of public debate about nuclear power, issues such as provable claims count for little. An unfortunate development in international public debate has been... →

Climate change is an ‘extreme green’ hoax

By: Kelvin Kemm 8th September 2017 I read yet another of those ‘we are all headed for doom’ newspaper articles about climate change in a national business newspaper. To make matters worse, it was written by a fellow who is the director of the environmental law division at a law firm. The article was peppered with the word ‘may',... →

North Pole mission nothing more than a publicity study

By: Kelvin Kemm 1st September 2017 A fellow by the name of Pen Hadrow set sail in mid-August on an Artic mission. He left from Alaska on an attempt to be the first person to sail to the North Pole. His team consists of ten men and one dog, sailing in two 50-ft sailing boats. But the boats do have engines. They left from Nome, in... →

Living entirely on renewables is in the realm of fantasy

By: Kelvin Kemm 25th August 2017 I had a discussion with someone on why there is no town in the world that runs entirely on solar and wind power. He insisted that there were such towns. I still disagree and then went to do a search. This is some of what I found. In Germany, there is a town called Feldheim that claims to run... →

Thanks, Mr Trump, for introducing the concept of fake news

18th August 2017 There is certainly one thing that US President Donald Trump has given to the world, and that is the concept of fake news. I watched, in real time, Trump’s media interaction in which he first used the term. That media interaction was scheduled to last for 20 minutes; it went on for 75 minutes.... →

There is nothing anticompetitive about companies collaborating

By: Kelvin Kemm 11th August 2017 The Competition Commission is worrying me. In fact, it has been worrying me for quite a long time. I now read that it has fined the Natal Witness newspaper because it failed to notify the commission of a merger between it and Mandla-Matla for the provision of printing services. The fine is... →

Now is the time to build a new oil refinery

By: Kelvin Kemm 4th August 2017 The more I look at large projects all over the world, the more I am convinced that they all relied on inspired leadership and a significant element of inspired risk taking. It is well known that, if you put your money into an investment, the financial return is least for the lowest risk. The... →

Desalination will ensure enough water for farming

By: Kelvin Kemm 28th July 2017 Some good news of the past few days has been that South Africa will once again be exporting maize. The reason is that we had good rains over the maize growing areas. During 2015 and 2016, South Africa imported maize because of drought conditions. This year, the national Crop Estimation Committee... →

I’m all for solar and wind energy, but only for specific situations

By: Kelvin Kemm 21st July 2017 We have just passed midwinter’s day or, more correctly in the southern hemisphere, midwinter’s night, which, for us in the south, is the longest night of the year. In the highveld, winters are rather pleasant, largely because there is no rain. In fact, there mostly are not even clouds. So, our... →

Nuclear collaboration is all that this country is looking for

By: Kelvin Kemm 14th July 2017 I spent a week in Moscow recently, attending the yearly Russian nuclear power conference and exhibition, Atomexpo 2017. As chairperson of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, or Necsa, I was invited to chair the opening session of the conference, which was attended by hundreds of people... →

SpaceX’s Mars adventure has my backing

By: Kelvin Kemm 7th July 2017 Every 26 months, a highway to Mars opens up. What happens is that the planets line up in such a way that the configuration is best for spacecraft to travel to Mars. The next window is 2020. The US National Aeronautics Space Administration has announced that it will be sending a spacecraft to Mars... →

The Internet of Energy is a fanciful dream

By: Kelvin Kemm 30th June 2017 Imagine if someone stated that there was a company losing money and asked what can be done about it. Then someone else came up with an answer and said: “Oh, that is easy; all you have to do is reduce costs until the company makes a profit.” Then everyone applauds the wise answer, and nobody... →

Thumbs up to govt’s push to support small business

By: Kelvin Kemm 23rd June 2017 There is constant talk of supporting small business. I agree; it is a good thing to do. However, this needs some thought. Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu recently introduced Operation Vula to stimulate entrepreneurs. So, let is ponder some of this. An entrepreneur is somebody who... →

A new refinery would be a sensible move for South Africa’s future

By: Kelvin Kemm 16th June 2017 When she prese Budget Vote in Parliament in May, the Minister of Energy; Mmamoloko Kubayi said that she intended to approach Cabinet with a proposal to build a new oil refinery in South Africa. I think that this is a good idea. The sooner the better. The Minister pointed out the danger of... →

Let’s not abuse competition laws simply to put more people into business

By: Kelvin Kemm 9th June 2017 The issue of free competition in business is fundamental to the free market system. Let us remind ourselves of what this means. Let us say there are four hamburger restaurants in a town. A person wanting to buy a burger will decide which one to go to. Let us say that, at this point, each burger... →

Zokwana is right – SA needs more college-educated farmers

By: Kelvin Kemm 2nd June 2017 Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Senzeni Zokwana recently said that there was a gross imbalance between the rapidly increasing population and the number of people producing food. He said: “Research shows an enormous decline in the number of South Africa’s commercial farmers since... →

We must nurture ‘dreamers’ who ‘see’ things others can’t see

By: Kelvin Kemm 26th May 2017 Thomas Edison is famous for investing the incandescent light bulb, which revolutionised the world. He invented many other things that many people do not know about. He also invented the forerunner of the modern ‘turntable’ found in discos, which, in his day, was called the phonograph. The first... →

No, we can’t run the country on solar or wind

By: Kelvin Kemm 19th May 2017 I happened to pick up a South African magazine with this glaring headline: “One solar plant powers 30 000 homes.” I then read the story. So, let us look at this. Firstly, let me say that I am not antisolar or antiwind. Contrary to claims made by others, I am not against these renewable options... →

Hats off to Noakes for standing up for scientific truth

By: Kelvin Kemm 12th May 2017 Professor Tom Noakes has won his confrontation with the professional medical body over his stance that a long projected option concerning the best ratio for fats and carbohydrates in a person’s diet is not correct. This whole Banting diet issue has been very much in the news for a while now.... →

Believe me, SA has all the water we need

By: Kelvin Kemm 5th May 2017 Winter is approaching and, for us folks in the highland areas of South Africa, such as Gauteng, Limpopo, the North West, the Free State and other provinces, this means that nights become cold. We are blessed in this country because the winter days in these areas have no clouds. This means that... →

Misgivings about ratings agencies

By: Kelvin Kemm 28th April 2017 “For all the talk of all this being such a deliberative scientific process . . . to have this decision was remarkable to me.” That was US Congresswoman Jackie Speier speaking. She went on to say that the analysis “should have been disciplined, and they should have gone back and looked at their... →

Just what is education?

By: Kelvin Kemm 21st April 2017 There is hardly a day that goes by without the word ‘education’ coming up somewhere. Everybody agrees that education is important, but what I detect is that virtually nobody asks what education actually is. That question is most important. Many people just assume that, if a person goes to... →

Chess can help improve maths, science pass rate

By: Kelvin Kemm 14th April 2017 To drive our industrial economy, South Africa needs people who can actually ‘do’ things. We need people who can think; we need people who can analyse and come to conclusions. When some company employs an individual, that company is investing in what that individual will do for the company in the... →

The mind-machine interface really counts

By: Kelvin Kemm 7th April 2017 In 1903, the Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, made the first powered aircraft flight. Their first flight’s distance was less than the wingspan of a Boeing 747. But they had done it, they had achieved powered flight. That story is well known. But what happened next? Well, five years later,... →

Plan to lift rhino horn sale moratorium spot-on

By: Kelvin Kemm 31st March 2017 In February, Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa put forward the proposal that the current moratorium on the sale of rhino horn be lifted. She also proposed that internal trade in rhino horn be permitted. I agree with the principle of the argument. In fact, a couple of years ago, I spoke... →

Nuclear build programme will bring immense benefits

By: Kelvin Kemm 24th March 2017 South Africa builds and exports Mercedes-Benz vehicles from East London. BMW cars are built in Pretoria, as are Ford cars. Other vehicle brands are also built are this country. I have toured the BMW and Ford plant several times, and I can assure you that what you see is South African workers... →

Statistical ‘sleight of hand’ abounds

By: Kelvin Kemm 17th March 2017 The statistician-general of South Africa is Dr Pali Lehohla. We have known each other for years and have engaged in many interesting discussions. Recently, when commenting on statistics in the modern world, he made the point that, with modern technology, data is now available in unprecedented... →

The myth about wind and solar energy

By: Kelvin Kemm 10th March 2017 For a long time now, I have wondered why many journalists and others believe the claim that solar and wind, as energy sources, employ more people than nuclear or other sources and that, therefore, they are good. Firstly, this is just not true, but far more important is the fact that such a trend... →

SA’s nuclear build initiative now rolling

By: Kelvin Kemm 3rd March 2017 The South African nuclear power procurement programme is now rolling. The long-awaited formal start, as far as the international community is concerned, occurred on December 14, when a request for information (RfI) was issued. What this document did was that it asked any company worldwide to... →

Electric vehicles unlikely to scale battery hurdle

By: Kelvin Kemm 24th February 2017 Much scientific work has gone into the development of electric vehicles over recent years. Huge strides have been made, but I cannot see a way past the battery problem in the case of day-to-day electric cars. This is always glossed over by the proponents of electric cars. Making the electric... →

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