The International Energy Agency (IEA) plays an important role in looking at the global energy scene. Every year it publishes the World Energy Outlook (WEO) providing important information and analysis to countries to support their development of energy policy. Over the years, the focus of the WEO has been to Read more…
It’s hard to believe, but this month it is 10 years since our first blog post in May of 2009. 10 years! And what a decade it has been for the nuclear power industry. There were highs and lows, and most of all change….. In 2009, there was still optimism Read more…
We often speak about the incredible energy density of nuclear fuel; a pellet the size of the end of your finger can deliver as much energy as a ton of coal. In addition to producing a large amount of energy from a very small amount of resource, the plants themselves Read more…
“We are the healthiest, wealthiest, and longest-lived people in history. And we are increasingly afraid. This is one of the great paradoxes of our time.” As said by Daniel Gardner in his book “The Science of Fear: How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain” more than a decade ago; Read more…
If decarbonizing global energy systems is a priority; it seems obvious that all low carbon options should be considered as part of the solution. Yet, a year and a half after 21 prominent scientists disproved the Jacobson paper that claimed a 100% renewables electricity system is feasible in the USA Read more…
The world is burning – or it’s about to – so says the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its special report considering the benefit to the planet if we manage to keep the increase in temperature to 1.5 C rather than the target most often discussed of 2 Read more…
At an event a few weeks ago, a number of speakers prefaced their comments with statements like “everybody knows the future will be based on distributed generation – primarily with small scale renewables and storage to provide reliability”. While there is currently a trend towards increased use of wind and Read more…
There are more nuclear plants in the European (EU) than anywhere else. Yet a broad range of nuclear policies across the European nations is having a large impact on its future. Currently there are 127 nuclear plants in operation in the EU (plus another 5 in Switzerland). Of the 14 Read more…
Over the years, when talking about the pros and cons of various generating assets, we have talked about economics, environment and reliability – but more recently a new word has entered the energy lexicon – Resilience. As defined by Oxford, “resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness, Read more…
When thinking about 2017, it is easy to see the bankruptcy of Westinghouse and the subsequent cancellation of its Summer project in South Carolina as this year’s big issue. But as the year has drawn to a close, the continuation of its AP1000 project at Plant Vogtle in Georgia has Read more…