The nuclear industry is shifting course toward smaller-sized reactors. The logic is that they’re cheaper to build and can achieve economies of scale with standardized designs. But these reactors are also facing the same headwinds as their larger brethren.
The path forward
Climate scientists who ostensibly agree on the scale and scope of climate change are at odds over the best solution to the problem. In particular, several scientists have adamantly debated the role of nuclear energy and renewable energy.
I put together a three-part series on this issue, looking at the case for nuclear energy, profiling a scientist who says we can save the world with just renewables, and examining why the debate has become so heated.
A cooling tower at the Callaway Nuclear Power Plant in Missouri
We Need Nukes
Legislators and Energy Department officials recently made the case to support nuclear power on Capitol Hill. Climate change popped up repeatedly as a key reason why the government should restructure policies to make nuclear power more competitive.
Radiation keeps you warm
In one of the more controversial articles I've written, I report on the idea that the way we model the health effects of radiation at low levels may be wrong. This has huge implications for the nuclear energy industry, since they spend so much money trying to get radiation exposures down to zero.
Many environmental groups oppose revising this standard (and have sent me some angry letters about it).
Next Gen Nukes
The nuclear energy industry is deploying new reactor designs that they say will resolve many of the issues that plagued nuclear power in the past. In addition, many nuclear energy startups have emerged to bring even more advanced reactors to the market with the hopes of providing, cheap, reliable, carbon-free electricity.
But many are skeptical, given the nuclear industry's long history of broken promises like cost overruns, construction delays and mismanagement.
Atomkraft? Nein Danke
Both France and Germany have set ambitious clean energy goals, but they don't see eye-to-eye when it comes to nuclear energy, the largest source of carbon-free baseload electricity in both countries. However, they could leverage their respective strengths in pursuit of lower greenhouse gas emissions.
How to pronounce "Energiewende," German for "energy transition"
Peut-être que les centrales nucléaires
After spending time in France and Germany, I put together a few articles on their respective approaches to energy, particularly nuclear power. France gets most of its electricity from nuclear power plants, but the French are growing skeptical of this strategy, as old reactors demand upgrades, new reactors run over budget and renewables join the grid.
The entrance to a French nuclear research center adorned with solar panels