Whatever happened to China’s revolutionary molten salt nuclear reactor program?
By Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights
The case of molten salt reactors should make us wary of those promising quick, easy solutions to future energy needs and climate change.
Tag: nuclear energy
The Long Term Perspectives of Nuclear Energy: Revisiting the Fermi Paradox
By Ugo Bardi, The Seneca Effect
Despite the hype, nuclear energy of any kind may remain forever a marginal source of energy.
The Great Turning Point for Humankind: What if Nuclear Energy had not been Abandoned in the 1970s?
By Ugo Bardi, The Seneca Effect
That the nuclear industry was to fail was written on the wall of the reactors because of a series of factual circumstances, surely not because a bunch of long-haired Greens were protesting in the streets.
Comparative impact of nuclear and renewables on CO2 emissions
By Philippe Gauthier, Resilience.org
Countries which are heavily invested in nuclear energy remain higher CO2 emitters, on average, than countries which have invested at the same level in renewable energy. This is the main finding of a study recently published in the journal Nature Energy.
Review: Downwind by Sarah Alisabeth Fox
By Frank Kaminski, Mud City Press
Downwind manages the triple feat of being at once a rigorous piece of scholarship, a moving account of a dark and ongoing period in human history and an exquisitely accomplished first book.
Energy: Missing from the Nuclear Story
By Don Fitz, Green Social Thought
The phrase “Precautionary Principle” is not even included in the index of Energy, much less discussed. Rhodes’ approach suggests a “Throw-caution-to-the-wind Principle.”
There Are Just Two Sources of Energy
By Darrin Qualman, Darrin Qualman blog
At the most foundational level, however, there are just two sources of energy. Two sources provide more than 99 percent of the power for our civilization: solar and nuclear. Every other significant energy source is a form of one of these two. Most are forms of solar.
Peak Uranium: The Uncertain Future of Nuclear Energy
By Ugo Bardi, Michael Dittmar, Alice Friedemann, Cassandra's legacy
Declining uranium production will make it impossible to obtain a significant increase in electrical power from nuclear plants in the coming decades.
How big is that hectare? It depends.
By Bart Hawkins Kreps, An Outside Chance
It’s not always simple to calculate how much area is occupied by an energy installation – especially if the effects of the facility are dispersed in space and in time. Can Power Density account for the afterlife of technologies?
The energy revolution will not be televised
By Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights
Energy transitions take time, a lot of time--far too much time to be shrunk down into a television special, a few talking points, or the next big energy idea. If, as Vaclav Smil contends, we are in for a long, slow slog on the path to a renewable energy economy, then the course with the least risk and probably the greatest return would be to reduce our energy use.
The Real Reasons behind the Nuclear Failure and what that means for Renewables
By Ugo Bardi, Resource Crisis
What are the lessons from the failed nuclear energy revolution?
Energy Crunch: no end to the storms
By Energy Crunch staff, New Economics Foundation
It took major storm damage and record floods to get energy prices off the front pages, but any ministers hoping for a brief respite on the turmoil over energy policy will be no doubt disappointed.