Great. The fusion hype is bad enough already. Now its resurgence is going to interrupt the series of posts I’m in the middle of publishing in order for this post to be “timely.”
The first (and much bigger) round of breathless excitement came in December 2022 when the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) announced a (legitimate) breakthrough in achieving fusion: more energy came out of the target than laser energy injected.
"Even if the unlikely rollout of SMRs eventually happens, it will unfold too late to curb the climate crisis. . . . . . Meanwhile, the siren song of nuclear energy is diverting critical resources from the urgent task of building out clean technologies."
The Nuclear “War” We Get in Ukraine May Not Be the One We Expect
In 1946, Albert Einstein shot off a telegram to several hundred American leaders and politicians warning that the “unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” Einstein’s forecast remains prescient. Nuclear calamity still knocks.
"Are SMRs viable? That is the biggest question surrounding SMRs. Although the plans for these next-generation nuclear units might hypothetically work, their viability hasn’t been proven anywhere.
Jan. 4, 2023
Canada has big climate goals and we need ambitious solutions to meet them. The federal government is banking on a new generation of nuclear technology to help us clean up power grids and reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. But will it work?
Hundreds of fossil fuel lobbyists including at least a dozen from Canada are in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt for this year’s United Nations’ climate conference, a data analysis from Corporate Accountability, Corporate Europe Observatory and Global Witness reveals.
