On the cusp of the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York where there was a collective outrage at the slow pace of decarbonization in the world, we lost another operating nuclear plant before its time as Three Mile Island Unit 1 closed after 45 years of operation. It Read more…
The facts are clear. Nuclear power is a critical part of our global low carbon electricity generation system. It provides abundant, reliable and economic low carbon electricity needed to power our energy hungry economies. Yet, as stated in the recent IEA report, Nuclear Power in a Clean Energy System, even Read more…
It has been a wonderful experience participating in the World Nuclear University (WNU) for the last 12 years. The best part has been meeting fascinating people who are interested in nuclear power in so many different countries. I am involved in two WNU programs, the WNU 3-day short course – Read more…
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…
Nuclear projects are large and large projects are hard. They are hard to organize, and they are hard to execute. We have seen what happens when we try and convince people they are easy – or that we can make them easy by shifting the risk onto the vendor/contractor – 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…