Nuclear

February 2024     From 'The Ecologist' newsletter

Nuclear power generation 'going backwards'

Nuclear power went backwards last year and shrank to below 10 percent of global electricity generation despite all the hype about a new nuclear ‘renaissance’. Meanwhile, renewables enjoyed record growth for the 22nd consecutive year and now accounts for more than 30 percent, writes Dr Jim Green.

The nuclear renaissance of the late-2000s was a bust due to the Fukushima disaster and catastrophic cost overruns with reactor projects. The latest renaissance is heading the same way - nowhere.

Dr Jim Green is the national nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth Australia and a member of the Nuclear Consulting Group.

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July 2021     From Skye Climate Action July newsletter

Modular and micro nuclear reactors

by Thomas Prentice

Nuclear power is the source of many controversies. Many people oppose its use due to accidents such as the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters. These tragic events caused many repercussions in the years that followed. One of the largest effects of these tragedies was that many countries began phasing out or scaling back the use of nuclear power. However, the rapid phase-out of nuclear power was quite detrimental overall in many countries.

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June 2021  The Economist

A firm founded by Bill Gates bets on a novel nuclear reactor

On June 2nd TerraPower, a company he founded in 2008, announced that it would build a demonstration of an exotic, high-tech nuclear power station in Wyoming. The firm’s Natrium reactor is one of a gaggle of new designs that have emerged in recent years, as engineers try to come up with cheaper, simpler nuclear power plants that can provide low-carbon electricity with fewer of the cost and safety worries that have plagued the industry in the past.

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More links to articles about small and modular reactors

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March 2021     The Economist

Nuclear power must be well regulated, not ditched

It is an essential weapon in the fight against climate change

This is a well-balanced article about the worldwide reaction to the Fukushima accident in 2011 and the exaggerated and largely unjustified fear of nuclear power generation.

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