Nucleation Capital will be participating in this SF Climate Week event for "fission futurists." Click the link to go to the invitation.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved PG&E's 20-year license extension for Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, allowing operations into the mid-2040s pending California legislative approval, and overall marks a major step in extending the state’s largest source of zero-carbon power...
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Climate change, Electrification, Energy abundance, Government, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy
Nucleation Capital is pleased to be sharing copies of Isabelle Boemeke's wonderful debut book, RAD FUTURE: The Untold Story of Nuclear Electricity and How It Will Save the World. with our investors and broader community. We hope you will read it, enjoy it, and then give it to your spouse, your siblings, your parents, your children, your colleague, your friend or your neighbor to read. (Rad = Radiant)
Isabelle Boemeke, the author and one of Nucleation's featured Women in Nuclear, has already made an impact on the world of nuclear. She has single-handedly brought today's social media-consuming generation to have a much better understanding of nuclear power via her Tweeting, TikToking and extremely creative videos. Isabelle has given TED Talks and has become a very sought-after speaker. Importantly, her alter-ego, Isodope, has been able to speak candidly and collegially to the interests and concerns of a generation of young women who may be surprised at how seamlessly Isodope can weave a discussion of nuclear power and the importance of clean energy into a video with make-up tips.
Most importantly, however, Isabelle has aimed her prodigious talents at saving nuclear power plants, including the previously doomed Diable Canyon. Once Isabelle engaged along with her massive fan base, saving Diablo Canyon quickly became the politically-correct thing to do. She organized the pronuclear community into organizing a rally in San Luis Obispo, near the plant and secured extremely positive press. She didn't stop there, however, and organized a letter to Governor Newsom urging him to save Diablo Canyon for the sake of not reversing our climate progress, signed by 88 leading scientists. Her team also flooded the zone with one-on-one meetings with assembly members and gained political support from key constitutents of Diablo Canyon. Together with allies across the California spectrum, Isabelle successfully helped to persuade Governor Newsom to stop the premature closure of the plant, and a bipartisan majority of the California's very progressive state assembly passed legislation to that effect.
The publication of Rad Future is just one of the latest feats from Isabelle. Along with the publication of the book, Isabelle released 3 minute video showcasing her vision of the future on a planet that embraces nuclear power. This video is just a tremendous bit of creativity and we hope everyone can see it. Fortunately, you can still find it on Isabelle's X/Twitter account or on the Isodope.com website. It looks like this:
Please click through to the video slightly down the page and enjoy. Then, you can follow Isabelle's activities as the first pronuclear social media influencer in the following places:
X/Twitter: @Isodope
Instagram: @I_sodope
TikTok: @Isodope
Note: If you are an investor in Nucleation Capital's Fund I and you don't receive a copy of Isabelle's book this holiday season, please contact us. If you subscribe before the end of the year, we will forward a copy to you as well. To learn more about our charitable donations for 2025, please see: "Gratitude in Greens & Blues."
Published by Nucleation Capital in Energy abundance, Energy transition, Fission, Investor activity, NEWS, Nucleation communications, Pro-nuclear campaign, Solving climate, Women in Nuclear
Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, author of "Atomic Dreams," makes a compelling case for California to rethink its 1976 moratorium on building nuclear plants — arguing that clean-firm power is essential for meeting climate and energy goals, in an increasingly electrified economy.
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Climate change, Climate policy, Energy transition, Fission, Government support, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear waste, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Nucleation communications, Regulatory reform, Solving climate, US competitiveness, US technological leadership
We are thrilled to share that Diablo Canyon has been saved—for now! Rather than allowing this clean energy producing power plant to be wastefully decommissioned by those who simply dislike nuclear power, the California legislature, under the leadership of Governor Gavin Newsom, voted to extend its life by up to 10 years. Senate Bill 846, sponsored by Jordan Cunningham (CA-25, R), passed with nearly unanimous votes in both the Democratically-controlled Assembly and Senate. SB 846 also provides for as much as $1.4 billion in loans from California to PG&E for re-licensing and enables PG&E to also submit a timely application to the DOE's Civil Nuclear Credit program for further aid in re-starting licensing with the NRC and transitioning back to full-operating mode. This is a nearly miraculous win for California's pronuclear advocates and it is worth celebrating both the win and the broader community that made it possible. Please read more at the link.
Published by Nucleation Capital in ADVOCACY ACTIONS, Climate change, Climate mayhem, Climate policy, Environmental support for nuclear, Government support, International support for nuclear, Investor activity, Philanthropic support for nuclear, Politicians supporting nuclear, Pro-nuclear campaign, Solving climate, US competitiveness, US technological leadership, Women in Nuclear
$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
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
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
Governor Gavin Newsom, a consumate politician, finally is willing to declare his support for Diablo Canyon, something he has long refused to do. As the L.A. Times reports in an article titled California promised to close its last nuclear plant. Now Newsom is reconsidering, Newsom has chosen to come out publicly with support for saving Diablo Canyon. It is doubtful that Newsom has suddenly "seen the light" about nuclear. More likely, he's seen recent polling showing that a majority of Democrats and Republican understand the importance of nuclear power for addressing the goal of reliable clean energy in the absence of fossil fuels.
It appears that Governor Newsom is now working to delay the closure of Diablo Canyon. While this will disappoint his fossil fuel donors and those touting renewables (which is a majority of environmental organizations of all stripes), it is definitely the right thing to do.
There are numerous reasons for Newsom having finally found the political will to disrupt what many in California consider a settled matter. As the article mentions, the reality is that shutting Diablo would cause the forthcoming energy shortages that are already projected to be far worse. Back in August 2020, hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses lost power during some of the hotest and smokiest days of the year, and the state narrowly avoided even worse blackouts a few weeks later. Now CALISO is projecting increased grid fragility going forward, even without shuttering Diablo Canyon, given increasing heat waves, more aggressive forest fires and reduced hydropower supply, as a result of California's extended drought.
Additionally, the DOE recently announced their Civil Nuclear Credit program and are now dangling some $6 billion that is earmarked for at-risk nuclear power plants. Gavin recognizes that such funds could help underwrite some face-saving upgrades to the plant, possibly even to the once-through-cooling (OTC) system, the imposed costs of which by the State Water Resources Board were ostensibly the basis for PG&E finally giving up on their plan to re-license the plant.
Then there the small matter of the upcoming election and a Democratic primary where the leading contenders for Gavin's place on the ticket were nearly all expressing strong pronuclear positions and calling Gavin out for his apparent retrograde or donor-induced political ignorance of climate science.
Needless to say, that the joint Stanford/MIT report providing evidence that closing Diablo Canyon would cost the state $21 billion, which was followed by a pronuclear rally in San Luis Obispo, itself followed by the very public letter from 79 high-level scientists, academics and business leader urging Governor Newsom to protect this existing (and paid for) asset, was a triple punch that probably alarmed everyone that he was being seen as being on the wrong side of science.
While the article suggests that Newsom is simply in process of "reconsidering," in fact the word on the street is that a deal has been done to preserve Diablo Canyon, although what that is remains unknown, as no information has yet been officially issued. Needless to say, these are very encouraging signs. Nucleation Capital supports protecting Diablo Canyon, Michigan's Palisades plant and other at-risk plants.
Read the L.A. Times article, California promised to close its last nuclear plant. Now Newsom is reconsidering, by Sammy Roth, April 29, 2022 here. To learn more about what you can do to support Diablo Canyon, see the Save Diablo Canyon campaign at Climate Coalition.
Published by Grant Mills in Carbon emissions, Climate change, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, Government support, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Politicians supporting nuclear, Reduced ecosystem impacts, Regulatory reform, Scientific debate, Solving climate, US technological leadership, Zero emission energy
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