The Nuclear Option
Nuclear energy divides atoms, and it divides people: its supporters and detractors hold passionate views. Still, many think we need ALL forms of carbon-free energy to slow the climate disaster. Will “advanced nuclear” reactors prove to be significantly cheaper and safer than old models?
Climate One · Climate One from The Commonwealth Club
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Show Notes
Fourteen years after receiving its permit, the nation’s first new nuclear reactors in decades just fired up in Georgia. Massive, traditional nuclear reactors like this have faced so many cost overruns and construction delays that the investment market for them all but vanished. Despite a handful of recent technical breakthroughs in fusion power, its promise of virtually limitless power remains just a promise. But could a new wave of small, modular fission reactors bring new carbon-free power onto the market faster and cheaper (and safer?) than traditional nuclear plants in time to help the world decarbonize?
Guests:
Melissa Lott, Senior Research Scholar and the Senior Director of Research at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University
Jacopo Buongiorno, TEPCO Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT
Allison MacFarlane, Director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia; Former Chair, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/nuclear-option
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