Menu of Nuclear Options Begins to Grow

Ontario Power Generation and partners signed a commercial contract to build a GE Hitachi-designed BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR). Several other groups are also looking at the BWRX-300, which at 300 MWs, is about 1/3rd the size of a traditional 1GW reactor. This further expands the menu options for those looking at nuclear.

Ontario Power Generation, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, SNC-Lavalin, and Aecon Group signed a contract to deploy a BWRX-300 small modular reactor at OPG’s Darlington New Nuclear Project site in Clarington, Ontario. According to their announcement, this may represent the first grid-scale SMR to be built in North America, which represents an important expansion in the menu of options available to those seeking low-carbon power generation.

There are many other interested potential buyers not far behind OPG. The Tennessee Valley Authority began planning and preliminary licensing for possible deployment of a BWRX-300 at the Clinch River Site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. TVA is collaborating with OPG to advance SMR technology and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission are working together to license the two projects, according to GEH.

The OPG agreement, however, is a firm contract with a utility, an architecture engineer and a construction company to actually build the plant, rather than an LOI or MOU, and in this respect it is a milestone for the industry. In addition, Saskatchewan Power Corp. said in June it selected the BWRX-300 for possible deployment in Saskatchewan in the mid-2030s.

In addition to the GEH BWRX-300, the NuScale Voygr plant was recently added to the menu of available advanced plant options. NuScale has already received federal approval for its 50MW, maximum 12-pack reactor design and it's working to get approval for an uprated model with base units of 77MW. Together these two new designs represent a 200% increase in the number of available nuclear designs and sizes available to prospective buyers, in addition to the AP1000, with 1117 MWe, the first two of which are nearing completion at the Vogtle plant in Georgia.

Learn more at UtilityDive, GE Hitachi and 3 partners announce first commercial contract for grid-scale SMR in North America, by Stephen Singer, Jan. 30, 2023.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Capital reallocation, Carbon emissions, Climate policy, Future of Energy, History Timeline, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Politicians supporting nuclear, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

December 22, 2022

Japan plans to maximize nuclear energy again

Japan—the site of one of the worst nuclear accidents ever to occur—has reversed the decision to end use of nuclear. In a policy vote, Japan has adopted a plan to once again maximize use of nuclear to meet energy needs while reducing emissions. This is a major shift for Japan. Now the question on everyone's mind, is whether the Germans will follow suit and consider re-starting their nuclear power plants.

For many, this reversal would seem quite unbelievable. Yet, in the face of global fuel shortages, rising prices and the threats posed by climate change, facts matter.

In fact, the Fukushima tragedy has been wildly mischaracterized. An earthquake set off a tsumani, which hit the Fukushima prefecture with a 30-foot wave which killed more than 15,000 people, caused billions in damage and also wiped out power to the Daiichi power plants. The loss of power happened because of improper placement of the back-up power system and poor enforcement. This resulted in loss of coolant and a reactor melt-down, which damaged the plant. However, the actual melt-down did not cause a single death. A better interpretation is to see this performance as evidence of the incredible safety of the plant, despite such severe circumstances.

Under their new policy, not only will Japan restart as many reactors as possible but they also plan to prolong the operating lives of againg plants and begin the process of developing next-generation reactors for building more nuclear capacity. Apparently, before Fukushima, Japan's 54 nuclear reactors provided 30% of the nation's power. Now, there are just 10 plants operating, 27 that have applied for restarts and 17 that have passed safety checks. Yet there are almost 20 that will likely need to be retired.

UPDATE Feb 2023: According to Kyodod News, Japan's Cabinet formally adopted the planned policy (as described above) to allow for "the operation of nuclear reactors beyond their current 60-year limit alongside the building of new units to replace aging ones as part of efforts to cut carbon emissions while ensuring adequate national energy supply."

Additionally, the Japanese government plans to raise about 20 trillion yen ($152 billion) through the issuance of green transformation bonds to boost investment in decarbonization projects, as it estimates public and private investment of over 150 trillion yen will be necessary over the next 10 years.

Read more at the AP, "Japan adopts plan to maximize nuclear energy, in major shift," by Mari Yamaguchi, December 22, 2022 and Kyodo News, "Japan formally adopts policy of using nuclear reactors beyond 60 yrs," February 10, 2023.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Climate policy, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, Government support, History Timeline, History-making, International support for nuclear, LINKS, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Politicians supporting nuclear, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

November 23, 2022

Giving Thanks & Getting

anksgiving isn't typically a time for making investment decisions . . . but it should be.

Americans give thanks in many ways, notably through the national holiday we call "Thanksgiving." We celebrate the abundance of the land we inherited centuries ago by feasting on turkey and other delicious indigenous foods, which sustained our existence as pilgrims. The holiday of Thanksgiving has survived generations of tumult, crisis and even war relatively unchanged. But we've arrived at a point at which we must recognize that humanity's current path—dumping fossil fuel waste into the atmosphere that is rapidly heating our climate—is disrupting those same ecosystems which have long supported us. Thus, it might be time to consider celebrating Thanksgiving both by honoring the bounties of nature that we have enjoyed and by working to save the ecosystems that have always supported human life and reverse the damage that we are doing by investing in climate solutions.

Given how large the climate problem is, the personal actions we might take, such as turning down the heat or even buying an electric car, will not make sufficient difference. Sadly, scientists tell us that the whole world must reduce emissions by a matter of gigatons in rapid fashion and we are running out of time to act, so our modest personal actions won't make enough difference. We must seek to find things that we can do which provide greater leverage. It turns out, investing in innovation is one of the ways that small individual actions can accumulate to make a big difference.

Why innovation? We know that climate change is caused by humanity's use of fossil fuels. While we want to stop burning of coal, oil, petroleum and natural gas, at the same time, no one wants to have to go without reliable sources of electricity, heat or transportation. Thus, the dilemma we face is that clean renewables like wind and solar don't provide a direct, reliable replacement for the widely available sources of fossil fuel energy.

What we need are better clean energy alternatives. We are forced to burn these dirty, carbon-emitting fuels to have comfortable, warm, well-furnished homes and functioning societies because we don't have better options available. We don't want intermittent lights, intermittent refridgeration, intermittent heart monitors or even intermittent Youtube videos. This is what makes addressing climate change so challenging for Americans: we're not willing to go cold turkey on the quality of life that we have enjoyed as a result of the abundance of fossil fuels. This is why we desperately need better options!

Investing in innovative ventures can accelerate their success in commercializing better energy alternatives. We have very few clean energy options and they all have significant downsides—such as intermittency—and there simply is nothing that is a runaway winner in terms of competing with natural gas or petroleum fuels. Which is why it is time for investors to step up and invest in those ventures innovating to create these improved technologies. These may be risky investments but if they can produce a broader set of clean energy options that enable us to maintain our lifestyles while reducing emissions, they will be very successful investments.

This is what Nucleation Capital is doing. Providing an investment vehicle that allows more investors to invest in some of the most exciting, most competitive clean energy alternatives coming out of the advanced nuclear sector. For many, investing in solar or wind power is appealing because they think "renewable" energy is what's needed. In fact, wind and solar power will always be intermittent—and that will never compete directly with fossil fuels. What's needed to replace fossil fuels is clean, reliable, dense energy and many energy experts see next-gen nuclear as our best option.

Nuclear energy may not yet be as popular as renewables but what's popular doesn't necessarily translate into great investment returns. Even winning consensus investments don't beat winning contrarian investments. Which is why, for those looking for impactful investments that are off the beaten path and which, by their nature, can produce extraordinary returns, nothing can beat nuclear energy innovation, which we believe will be the black swan of clean energy.

The advanced nuclear sector is the most under-appreciated clean energy sector that is innovating as fast as conceivably possible. This sector, more than any other, holds out tremendous promise for a technological solution to our climate dilemma, yet these innovators need access to more capital. Next-generation nuclear innovators are solving safety, scalability, cost, construction time and all the other issues we have long associated with traditional nuclear and making it into the energy source of our future. They are, for example, developing reactor designs that won't require water cooling or siting next to bodies of water. Innovators are also working to solve other problems that have held back the growth of nuclear, namely closing the fuel cyle and providing safe, permanent waste storage, among other things.

So, if you'd like to do more than just give thanks with your turkey, consider allocating some of your discretionary investment capital to a fund investing in the innovations that would allow us to end our dependence on fossil fuels. We expect that, over the next decade, the nations of the world will begin deploying any number of advanced designs to power cities, factories, campuses, ships, industry and homes without emissions, thereby maintaining energy security and grid reliability without needing fossil fuels. We'll even use nuclear to generate synthetic hydrocarbons (for where liquid fuels are still needed) and power carbon drawdown so can begin to reverse global warming.

Yes, investing in advanced nuclear is high risk. Yet it only poses the risk of losing your money (so allocate accordingly). Not solving climate change, however, risks losing everything we hold dear. Our propery, our children, our traditions. Which is why more investors are considering allocating a portion of their investible capital to investments that can meaningfully reduce demand for fossil fuels. Whether they can invest a lot or little doesn't matter so much: they will still get the satisfaction of knowing that they are using their money to make a difference in the final years that we have to rescue our future.

* The "Th" image above is the period table symbol for the element Thorium, and comes curtesy of the Thorium Energy Alliance, which advocates for the use of thorium along with uranium as a fuel for nuclear energy.

November 21, 2022

Diablo Canyon in line for $1.1B in DOE’s CNC funding

$1.1 billion in funding from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act's $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit program has been conditionally awarded by the DOE to PG&E for use in relicensing and extending the life of Diablo Canyon, whose two reactors had been slated for retirement in 2024 and 2025.

As such, these funds will be used exactly as intended by the Federal Government's Civil Nuclear Credit program, to support “safe and reliable” carbon-free nuclear energy facilities, preserve some 1,500 high-paying jobs and reduce carbon emissions, the DOE said.

Diablo Canyon, a 2,240 MW nuclear power plant applied for the funding soon after the California Legislature voted to allow the plant to continue operating as the best way to prevent worsening grid instability, blackouts and increasing carbon emissions from expanded use of natural gas. PG&E's application, which won the support of California's governor, Gavin Newsom and his staff, passed through the first round of vetting done by the DOE on applications received. Unfortunately, Michigan's already closed Palisades plant, despite support from Governor Gretchen Whitmer, did not receive conditional approval for funding.

“This is a critical step toward ensuring that our domestic nuclear fleet will continue providing reliable and affordable power to Americans as the nation’s largest source of clean electricity,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

Patti Poppe, CEO of PG&E, said in a news release that the federal decision is “another very positive step forward to extend the operating life of Diablo Canyon Power Plant to ensure electrical reliability for all Californians.”

Nuclear power provides 50% of the carbon-free electricity in the U.S., but shifting energy markets and other economic factors have resulted in the early closures of 13 commercial reactors, DOE said. The plant shutdowns have led to an increase in carbon emissions, poorer air quality and the loss of thousands of high-paying jobs, the agency said.

The first Civil Nuclear Credit award cycle set as its priority reactors facing the “most imminent threat of closure,” DOE said. Applications are limited to reactors that announced intentions to shut due to economic factors. The second cycle will include reactors projected to close in the next four years.

Read more at UtilityDive: DOE conditionally awards PG&E’s Diablo Canyon nuclear plant $1.1B to forestall shutdown, by Stephen Singer, published November 21, 2022.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Capital reallocation, Carbon emissions, Carbon markets, Climate change, Energy abundance, History Timeline, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Public companies, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

October 4, 2022

Is nuclear energy poised for an ESG-fueled comeback?

In a world of rising energy insecurity, climate change and skyrocketing energy prices, nuclear energy might be one of the only sectors feeling more bullish than ever.

"Once seen as an energy option on its last legs, the nuclear industry has had several victories lately. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill intended to keep the Diablo Canyon plant running past its expected retirement date, and Germany plans to keep two aging nuclear plants available until at least April.

The energy security arguments for those plants in some ways mirror those of the 1970s, which led to a huge nuclear build-out. Then, it was skyrocketing gasoline prices and anti-market actions from Middle Eastern oil exporters creating energy insecurity. Today, similar factors are at play, with Russia now causing supply concerns and natural gas prices spiking. There’s also the ticking tock of climate change making zero-carbon nuclear particularly attractive in a world racing to cut emissions.

Supporters say there’s enough momentum for a nuclear renaissance that would catapult the industry into a greater role in the world’s clean energy future. Newsom backed an effort to keep the Diablo Canyon plant open until 2030, for example, as climate-linked wildfires and heat waves showed it would be tough for California to lose a big zero-carbon power source in the coming years as it strives to slash emissions.

But the nuclear industry has long voiced concerns over what it sees as hesitancy and unfair treatment in the world of climate finance and ESG, the movement to include environmental, social and governance issues in investing principles.

“Nuclear should be getting credit for ESG, and I’d like to tell you that it’s that simple, but it’s not,” said Maria Korsnick, CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute industry group, during an NEI event in June. “There’s some financial institutions that look at nuclear and look at ESG, and they struggle to say that nuclear actually supports it.”

Read more at EnergyWire: Is nuclear energy poised for an ESG-fueled comeback?, by Nico Portuondo, published October 4, 2022.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Capital reallocation, Carbon emissions, Carbon markets, Climate change, Energy abundance, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Public companies, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

September 26, 2022

Issuance of first-ever voluntary nuclear energy carbon credits

This corporate PR news made zero headlines in the press but we could not be more excited about it. Yet, this unassuming group of executives pursuing their own corporate objectives, could well have an enormous impact on the future of the whole planet. The agreement they reached and announced in a joint press release, involving the planned procurement by Microsoft of Clean Energy Credits (CECs) from OPG, may be the first-ever voluntary corporate purchase of a carbon-credit from nuclear energy.

This auspicious moment deserves more attention than it received, as it marks the inclusion of nuclear energy for the first time as a source of carbon credits. Up until now, for no reason other than possibly concerns about public perception, carbon credit purchases (which are an entirely voluntary type of corporate greenwashing) have come solely from purchasing rights to claim credit for new renewable energy generation and activities like reforestation or rainforest preservation. As far as we know, no company has elected to purchase clean energy credits from nuclear energy.

This ground-breaking agreement could well serve as a model for many other companies seeking truly meaningful ways to reduce their actual and ongoing carbon impacts and the team involved in the deal is clearly aware that they are setting a new precedent. The press release included the following three quotes from Ken Hartwick, President and CEO of OPG, Chris Barry, President of Microsoft Canada, and Todd Smith, Canada's Minister or Energy:

“This innovative partnership will not only spur economic development in Ontario, but also serve as a model for other companies and jurisdictions to encourage use of clean hydro and nuclear power,” said Ken Hartwick, OPG President and CEO. “As part of OPG’s Climate Change Plan, we committed to achieving net zero as a company by 2040, and to act as a catalyst for efficient economy-wide decarbonization. Ensuring industry has access to clean energy to offset emissions assists in meeting that goal.”

“We can only address climate change by tackling the challenge collectively. Agreements like this one with OPG will help Microsoft move closer to achieving our sustainability commitments, including our goal of having 100 percent of our electricity consumption, 100 percent of the time, matched by zero carbon energy purchases by 2030.” said Chris Barry, President, Microsoft Canada. “Working closely with like-minded organizations like OPG, will help us move toward a more sustainable future, while continuing to power innovation in Ontario.”

“As environmental goals increasingly influence corporate decisions on where to invest and grow, this partnership between OPG and Microsoft illustrates the potential for Ontario’s Clean Energy Credit registry to draw businesses from across the world to our province,” said Todd Smith, Minister of Energy. “This voluntary registry will incentivize investments in new clean energy generation and technological innovation while reducing costs for ratepayers.”

Read more at Microsoft News Centre Canada: OPT and Microsoft announce strategic partnership to power a Net-Zero future for Ontario, published September 26, 2022.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Capital reallocation, Carbon emissions, Carbon markets, Climate change, Corporate decarbonization, Corporate purpose, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, History Timeline, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Public companies, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

September 15, 2022

Oliver Stone’s “Nuclear” premiered at Venice Film Festival

Oliver Stone’s award-winning [1] documentary titled “Nuclear: Time to Look Again” premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 9, 2022.

The film has an important backstory. By 2019, Stone had become increasingly concerned about climate change and the apparent lack of progress in reducing the CO2 emissions that cause it. After hearing about and then reading Joshua Goldstein and Staffan Qvist’s “A Bright Future: How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow” he decided that nuclear energy was a tool with great promise. He chose to contribute his skill as a filmmaker and storyteller to the pronuclear effort.

He and Goldstein co-wrote the script for “Nuclear.” During the 2-year-long effort to film and edit the movie, Goldstein provided detailed critiques and challenges. In interviews conducted before or immediately after the film’s premier, Stone has described the process of getting it right as a “pain in the ass” but also as an imperative to ensure that the film is not dismissed based on minor technical errors. He chose the documentary format as most appropriate for a topic with a public discourse that has been overloaded with emotion and fear and lacking in rational exploration of the underlying facts.

IMDB provides the following plot summary:

As fossil fuels continue to cook the planet, the world is finally becoming forced to confront the influence of large oil companies and tactics that have enriched a small group of corporations and individuals for generations. Beneath our feet, Uranium atoms in the Earth's crust hold incredibly concentrated energy. Science unlocked this energy in the mid-20th century, first for bombs and then to power submarines, and the United States led the effort to generate electricity from this new source. Yet in the mid-20th century as societies began the transition to nuclear power and away from fossil fuels, a long-term PR campaign to scare the public began, funded in large part by oil interests. This campaign would sow fear about harmless low-level radiation and create confusion between nuclear weapons and nuclear power. With unprecedented access to the nuclear industry in France, Russia, and the United States, director Oliver Stone explores the possibility for the global community to overcome challenges like climate change and reach a brighter future through the power of nuclear energy.

In a series of appearances throughout the film, Nucleation Capital’s Rod Adams described the way that fossil fuel interests invested in a nuclear energy fear campaign to protect their markets and political power. He also talked about the inspiring features of densely concentrated fuel that produces little or no pollution and about the advances being made in making nuclear energy systems smaller, simpler and easier to produce.

Unlike so many Hollywood disaster and dystopia films, “Nuclear” contains a hopeful, “we can do this” message. It features a small selection of some of the many scientists, engineers and communicators working to develop or enable the kinds of advanced nuclear energy systems that are being added to the Nucleation Capital portfolio. The film’s stars include Jake DeWitt (Oklo), Caroline Cochran (Oklo), Shannon Bragg-Sitton (INL), Ashley Finan (NRIC), Isabelle Boemeke (Isodope), and Joshua Goldstein (Bright Future).

_________________
Footnote

[1] “Nuclear” won the CICT Award – UNESCO “Enrico Fulchignoni” and the Fondazione Mimmo Rotella Award at the Venice Film Festival

We will be planning events around film-screenings of #Nuclear in the coming weeks. If you are interested in attending a screening event, please sign up here and we will send you a notification.

Published by Valerie Gardner in Brilliant thinkers, Climate change, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, NEWS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Pro-nuclear campaign, US technological leadership, Zero emission energy

September 1, 2022

California Legislators Vote To Save Diablo Canyon

California's legislature, by nearly unanimous votes in both the Assembly and the Senate, agreed with Governor Gavin Newsom, to extend the operating life of Diablo Canyon. This was the result of multiple converging factors, the most important of which was that the closure would have worsened the already fragile state of the California energy grid, maing black-outs far more likely. But, behind this looming awareness were many other factors influencing public opinion and political pressure, which include pronuclear advocacy, scientific concerns about climate change, shifting political winds in the face of Russia's invastion of Ukraine and leadership from the Biden Administration. There will be many efforts to understand what tipped the political weights in favor of saving Diablo Canyon, and not all will be correct, but the good news for is that rationality prevailed in California, despite concerted anti-nuclear pressures.

Climate change and Russia's invasion of the Ukraine are looming backdrops to this stunning victory. Yet, most directly, the basis of the success comes down to the fact that Governor Newsom himself became convinced that delaying the closure of Diablo Canyon was both the right thing to do and was politically feasible. It isn't clear exactly how he arrived at this conclusion but it is certain that his political weight made it happen. What caused the politics to shift? Possibly, Newsom found sufficient political cover and acceptable polling data from the fact that Illinois Governor Pritzker and Michigan Governor Whitmer, both Democrats, took action to protect their nuclear power.

Nevertheless, coming out in favor of extending the life of Diablo Canyon, was enormously risky and difficult for Governor Newsom, as it involved making a 180 degree shift from his prior position of working to ensure that Diablo got closed. Yet, with state policy experts warning that the closure would cause blackouts and likely deaths as a result, Governor Newsom bit the bullet and did the right thing.

There were a multitude of pronuclear individuals and groups providing support and political cover for this decision. As far back as 2015, Michael Shellenberger and his organizations, The Breakthrough Institute and Environmental Progress, argued on behalf of nuclear power. Shellenberger split out of TBI, a think tank, in order to engage in more active pronuclear advocacy. He and a group of younger activists organized and held the first pronuclear rally, a three day protest and parade against the closure of Diablo Canyon. From there, numerous groups were formed which contributed advocacy towards the support of nuclear power: Californians for Green Nuclear Power, Generation Atomic, Mothers for Nuclear, Climate Coalition, Rethink Nuclear, Nuclear New York, Protect Nuclear NOW and many others.

Meanwhile, filmmakers Robert Stone and Dave Schumacher produced luscious documentaries that challenged the status quo attitudes about nuclear power. Their films, Pandora's Promise and The New Fire respectively brought new insights into our understanding of both the facts about nuclear power and the reality about the concerted and often nefarious efforts to besmirch nuclear's reputation. These films had surprising reach and helped soften widespread knee-jerk antinuclear reactions. Then, the academics from Stanford and MIT played their parts and issued a report providing evidence that closing Diablo Canyon would cost the state $21 billion.

While, no single person or group can take sole credit for this victory, there was little discernable action until the joining of Isabelle Boemeke to the campaign. Representing the younger generation and signing up to support Diablo Canyon as the first "nuclear influencer," Isabelle served as the spark to ignite public attention to the support that Diablo Canyon had as our largest source of clean energy, and helped turn the tide in favor of saving it. Under the handle "Isodope," she adroitly leverage social media tech platforms, including Instagram, TicTok and Twitter, to send highly stylized, informative and compellingly snarky videos to a broad spectrum of followers. She also acted on the momentum garnered by the Stanford/MIT report to organize an in-person rally in San Luis Obispo, complete with support from local politicians and residents. That turned to be very successful and she then parlayed that success to corral scientific experts to weigh in with a direct letter appeal to Governor Newsom.

Finally, with the introduction of the Biden Administration's Civil Nuclear Credit program and its offer of up to $6 billion in support of saving aging plants, Governor Newsom could no longer afford to ignore the reality that saving Diablo Canyon could help him avoid energy embarrassment and liability from the rash of civil lawsuits that would have followed black-out related deaths.

There are now many articles coming out with their assessments of the factors that enabled this success. None capture the whole picture, which spans much more engagement, work and adroit advocacy in California, across the US and even internationally, that contributed to making ignoring reality of nuclear impossible for Gov. Newsom.

Read the Forbes article, In Big Win For Nuclear, California Legislators Vote To Save Diablo Canyon, by Robert Bryce, September 1, 2022 here. There are many other articles reporting on this significant achievement but we can't list them all here.

Published by Nucleation Capital in 100% Renewables, Anti-nuclear campaign, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Climate mayhem, Environmental support for nuclear, Government support, History Timeline, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Politicians supporting nuclear, Pro-nuclear campaign, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

August 6, 2022

Oliver Stone announces a new documentary film on Nuclear

With an August 3rd tweet, filmmaker Oliver Stone announced the premiere of his latest documentary, Nuclear: Time to Look Again, at the Venice Film Festival on September 9th. We are looking forward to its release. Along with the promotional image shown above, Stone attached a brief written statement which reads:

I've been working on this for almost two years with the enormous help of Joshua Goldstein, coauthor of "A Bright Future." By now, I'm sure you know that this is an argument in favor of nuclear energy as the realistic solution to the gulf we now face in the production of clean energy for our continuing existtence here on the planet Earth. This is an energy that will not only save the planet but allow us to thrive upon it. And although it's long regarded in popular culture as dangerous, it is, in fact, far safer than coal, oil, and gas. The documentary, at 1-hour-45-minutes, gets into the details but it doesn't sink into all the petty arguments that the anti-nuclear crowd throws at it. Renewables like wind and solar work to a limited degree, but by now, we should know they don't come close to fixing the problem alone — — which is why the fossil fuel companies support renewables. Because they inevitably require large amounts of methane gas to ensure their reliability.

I believe this is the greatest story of our time. We must use science and our brains to overcome this ultimate challenge given to us by nature.

We'll be making the film more and more available on domestic platforms as we get closer to its release.

We will be planning events around film-screenings of #Nuclear in the coming weeks. If you are interested in attending a screening event, please sign up here and we will send you a notification.

July 6, 2022

EU Taxonomy to Include Nuclear Energy

The EU Parliament ruled in a majority vote to keep nuclear energy in the Complementary Delegated Act for the EU's sustainable Taxonomy. Set to enter into force on January 1, 2023, the Taxonomy Delegated Act will allow nuclear and natural gas-fired power plants to be marketed as green investments on financial markets.

278 MEPs voted against giving green labels to nuclear and gas but this number fell short of the absolute majority of 353 MEPs that were needed to veto the Commission’s proposal.

Inthe newly approved EU taxonomy, new nuclear and gas-fired plants built through 2030 will be recognised as a "transitional energy source" as long as they replace dirtier fossil fuels such as oil and coal.

Gas projects are required to keep direct emissions are kept under a maximum cap and they switch to fully renewable energy by 2035.

Nuclear power may be funded so long as they commit to switch to accident-tolerant fuels by 2025. Additionally, nuclear power must adhere to certain standards for the disposal of radioactive waste.

There were months of heated debate over a whether or not to include nuclear and gas in a rating regime that influences choices of direct investment in clean energy for the next decade, with the goal or reaching net-zero by 2050.

The EU Commissioners devised their plan as a compromise between pro-nuclear French and anti-nuclear, pro-gas German contingents by coupling gas and nuclear together, which left MEPs with no choice but to vote for both or none.

Which means that nuclear power plants, which do not emit greenhouse gases are forced to get negative billing, by being paired with natural gas, which does emit greenhouse gas emissions. However, since there is inadequate alternatives, gas poses a better choice than coal, as it is slightly less polluting than coal and is being relied upon increasingly as a transitional fuel.

Read more at Earth.org: Gas and Nuclear Turn Green as EU Parliament Approves New Taxonomy, published July 7, 2022, by Martina Igini and NEI, "EU Taxonomy to Include Nuclear Energy, Recognizing Its Role in Global Decarbonization" published July 6, 2022.

In a follow-up article published July 19, 2022 in Bloomberg entitled Once-Unthinkable Nuclear Green Bonds Are Coming to Europe, Greg Ritchie and Ronan Martin describe EDF's plan to distinguish nuclear issuance from ‘classic’ bonds but shows how, by virtue of qualifying activities could be a true game-changer for clean energy.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Climate policy, Corporate decarbonization, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, Government support, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Politicians supporting nuclear, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

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