The core of the Fat Boy bomb, which leveled two square miles of Nagasak, weighed 13.6 pounds. It was about the size of a softball. Photo by Diana Polekhina, Unsplash, cropped.
I am one of those people who hates the word “utilize.” The logic of the English language would seem to be that to utilize something is to alter it to give it utility that it didn’t originally have. One example is to punch holes in the bottom of a bucket … [continued]
We’ve got a disaster underway in the Middle East following the US and Israel bombing Iran. The Straight of Hormuz remains blocked, and the global oil industry is approaching true crisis. However, things could get much worse — much, much worse. Reporting indicates a drone struck a nuclear power plant … [continued]
Chatgpt generated image of energy models weighing imagined centralized futures against real-world electrification and grid flexibility.
An Energy Research & Social Science paper crossed my screen recently that put structure around something visible to anyone who has compared nuclear forecasts with build rates. Nuclear power has been projected to grow faster, cheaper and more broadly than it actually has, not once or twice, but across decades, … [continued]
When I wrote in 2021 that small modular reactors were mostly bad policy (peer reviewed version, CleanTechnica version), the argument was not that nuclear fission could not produce useful low-carbon electricity. It was already doing so every day. The United States had about 98 GW of operating nuclear capacity, and … [continued]
ChatGPT generated infographic contrasting nuclear’s compact site footprint with its cost overruns and delays, while showing wind’s limited disturbed land and solar’s broad siting options
The claim that nuclear power uses less land than renewables is making the rounds again, usually presented as if it settles a complex debate with one clean visual. A nuclear plant fits inside a compact fenced site. Wind turbines are spread across plains and ridgelines. Solar arrays cover visible surfaces. … [continued]
Timeline of UK Hinkley nuclear reactor delays against 75% grid decarbonization with renewables by author
The latest announcement about Hinkley Point C was predictable. The first reactor at the plant in Somerset is now expected to begin generating electricity in 2030. The cost estimate has climbed again, now reaching roughly £35B in 2015 pounds or about £49B in current money according to Electricité de France. … [continued]
On February 9, 2026, Japan restarted Unit 6 of its largest nuclear power plant, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station in Niigata Prefecture, which was shut down following the 2011 Fukushima tsunami and nuclear accident. As the reactor returns to full operations, the resulting increase in nuclear generation is likely to … [continued]
Sometime around 1989 or the early 1990s, Carlo Rubbia, the Director-General of CERN, put together a special working group with instructions to design a way to generate electricity using radioactive materials that would be different from anything that had come before. The method had to do its work without producing … [continued]
ChatGPT generated illustration showing how Ontario’s electricity grid shifts from a peak-driven system reliant on centralized generation to a battery-enabled grid that flattens demand by shifting electricity across time
Recently I took part in a discussion in Ottawa as part of CAFES Network’s work to raise local energy literacy, hosted by Invest Ottawa and attended by a mixed audience of residents, municipal and provincial policy observers, students, and people already working in energy and climate. Angela Keller-Herzog, founding executive … [continued]
ChatGPT generated illustration showing how nuclear reactors in Ontario continue to add costs to electricity bills even when units are offline or under refurbishment, as fixed costs, financing, and depreciation flow to ratepayers regardless of output
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has asked the Ontario Energy Board to approve a sharp increase in regulated nuclear payment amounts, including a year over year jump of more than 40% in 2027. The weighted average regulated payment amount rises from about $78/MWh in 2026 to roughly $110/MWh in 2027, driven … [continued]
