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| Nuclear power is big business. But the reactors that provide that power don't have to be that way. This week, I met the founder of a nuclear firm who hopes for a small but widespread future for nuclear power, claiming smaller reactors are safer and can provide power close to where it's needed. Plus, Nigeria's long tradition of "make do and mend", and a marmalade made from pumpkin scraps. | |
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CLIMATE CONVERSATION | Why nuclear has a smaller future |  | Large nuclear power plants, like this one on the Hudson River, have been providing the US with power for decades. Credit: Alamy | A nuclear power plant just a few blocks from the White House? It was certainly an unusual sight in the nation's capital.
The towering metallic structure was part of a prototype being built by the Washington DC-based Last Energy, which is trying to deploy the next generation of nuclear power technology: small modular reactors (SMRs). Essentially, miniature nuclear power plants.
The prototype on show in Washington DC wasn't ready to produce power yet, but the company's founder and chief executive Bret Kugelmass hopes his design can be part of a carbon-emissions-free future. He is not alone – the UK Government last summer announced £215m ($270m) of investment to develop SMRs as part of its transition to a low-carbon economy.
"Nuclear energy should be the premier energy source on planet Earth, period, hands down," Kugelmass tells me. |
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 | The models produced by Last Energy are a somewhat smaller than the power plants we're used to. Credit: Carl Nasman | It's easy to forget, but by the middle of the 20th Century, nuclear seemed poised to be THE energy source of the future, generating a near-endless supply of electricity without any air pollution. In a speech setting out his vision for conservation in the US in 1963, for example, John F Kennedy predicted that half of all electricity produced in the US would come from nuclear. Currently, the US is the world's biggest nuclear energy generator, but it accounts for only 20% of its electricity production.
After a handful of high-profile incidents, from Chernobyl to Fukushima, enthusiasm in many countries has been waning. Germany, which once generated a quarter of its electricity from nuclear power, moved to end it altogether after Japan's Fukushima disaster in 2011. It's last reactor was shut down in April 2023. (Read about German citizens' mixed reactions to the event.) |
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Nuclear data | Innovators like Kugelmass are now hoping to rehabilitate the energy source's image.
"Many people are concerned with safety or waste, and they have every right to feel that way," he says. "But people's notion of radiation being this disproportionate hazard simply belies reality. And it's incumbent upon us to address those concerns."
Kugelmass and others are designing what they say are safer, more efficient alternatives. SMRs use less fuel, take up less space and can be mass-produced and then shipped and assembled on site.
Last Energy's prototype buries the nuclear fuel underground, encased in steel. The reactors can be deployed right where they're needed, next to power-thirsty factories or data centres.
"Especially with the advance of AI, we've seen a surge of orders come in from data center companies. So, this is our biggest growth area."
Conventional nuclear power stations currently account for around 20% of the electricity mix in the US and about 10% globally. But with more plant closures than openings, those figures are trending downwards. | Power in numbers | SMRs face challenges of their own: rising borrowing and construction costs – Kugelmass estimates they will cost $100m (£81m) each – along with government regulations and fuel availability to name a few. In fact, the US still hasn't built one.
But Kugelmass hopes to construct his first reactor in Poland by 2025, supplying about 20 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 20,000 homes. And his ambitious goal is to deploy 10,000 mini reactors worldwide in the next 15 years. Whether that is possible considering they have yet to build even one remains to be seen.
But he is not alone – the US Department of Energy has invested $317m (£241m) in the development of an SMR by Oregon-based company Nuscale Power while in the UK, a consortium including Rolls-Royce is working on its own design.
A large-scale deployment of next-generation nuclear energy could make a meaningful dent in carbon emissions, especially in difficult-to-decarbonise industries.
Fatih Birol, the chief of the International Energy Agency, said in March, "without the support of nuclear power, we have no chance to reach our climate targets on time".
Perhaps nuclear is ready for its moment in the Sun. But maybe not quite so close the White House. | |
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NUMBER OF THE WEEK | 22 million | The number of packages the logistics firm UPS delivers every day – the firm aims to shave miles off its average delivery journey to save emissions. | |
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TAKE A MOMENT | How thousands of women made climate history | You heard about their victory, now meet the women behind a landmark human rights case, in The Global Story podcast. | |
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CLIMATE QUIZ | Which book is credited with playing a pivotal role in the environmental movement that gave rise to the inaugural Earth Day in 1970? | A. Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson | B. Small is Beautiful, by E F Schumacher | C. Life on Earth, by David Attenborough | Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the answer. |
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| THE BIG PICTURE | Make do and mend |  | Nigeria has a rich history of tailoring as part of its make-do-and-mend culture. Credit: Getty Images | In 1970s Nigeria, the travelling tailors known as obiomas would roam from town to town equipped with a trusty sewing machine and the skill to mend rips, tears, lost buttons, zips and seams. Today, repairing clothes is very much back in fashion. "Nigerians think any apparel can be repaired – we've seen everything brought in for our tailors, from bras to waist trainers to duvets," Kanyinsola Doherty of Mend Lagos tells BBC Culture. | |
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