Decouple
359 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago -There are technologies that decouple human well-being from its ecological impacts. There are politics that enable these technologies. Join me as I interview world experts to uncover hope in this time of planetary crisis.
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Episodes
We've Gotta Talk About the Bomb
May 14, 2024 11:49 - 1 hour - 70.7 MBHistorian of science Professor Alex Wellerstein joins me to talk about the sword haunting the ploughshare of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. 00:00:00 - The Manhattan Project: A Secret Industry | The Birth of the Atomic Bomb 00:02:16 - Why Study Nuclear Weapons? A Historian's Perspective | Alex Wellerstein's Path to Nuclear History 00:04:32 - Nuclear Fear Across Generations | From the Berlin Wall to 9/11 00:08:21 - First Discoveries of Fission: Bomb or Reactor? | Early Thoughts on Nu...
Marcel Boiteux: Builder of the World's Greatest Nuclear Fleet
May 09, 2024 14:12 - 1 hour - 73.8 MBMarcel Boiteux, a shy economist who escaped occupied France to fight the Nazis before working out the theory of electricity pricing for newly-nationalized Electricite de France, rose to become the greatest builder of nuclear power the world has ever seen. Mark Nelson, founder of Radiant Energy Group, explains what forces shaped his mind, his role in the fateful "War of the Nuclear Systems," how he prepared for the oil crisis that triggered the "all nuclear" Messmer plan, and how he survive...
The Chinese Atom
May 08, 2024 16:38 - 1 hour - 71.2 MBWhile the west struggles to deliver nuclear plants and dreams about novel reactor technologies China is deploying it all: large LWR, SMR and MSR/HTGR. World Nuclear Association China lead Francois Morin joins me to catch us up on recent developments and trends.
Renewable Nuclear: All about Breeder Reactors
April 22, 2024 11:59 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBIn the early days of nuclear power uranium was thought to be a critically rare mineral. Nuclear engineers sought to solve this problem with a special type of reactor that produced more fissile material than they consume. Nick Touran joins me to discuss and explore the long term sustainability of nuclear power.
Vogtle part 4: Can positive learning happen next
April 16, 2024 01:16 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBThe Grand Finale is here. We wrestle with the question of whether nuclear can find its groove and the positive learning rates that have eluded it so frequently. Vogtle unit 4 came in 40% cheaper than unit 3. Can those gains continue downwards? Is Vogtle 5 more likely to follow this cost reduction curve compared to a new AP1000 elsewhere?
Vogtle part 4: Can Positive Learning Happen Next?
April 16, 2024 01:16 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBThe Grand Finale is here. We wrestle with the question of whether nuclear can find its groove and the positive learning rates that have eluded it so frequently. Vogtle unit 4 came in 40% cheaper than unit 3. Can those gains continue downwards? Is Vogtle 5 more likely to follow this cost reduction curve compared to a new AP1000 elsewhere?
A Chat with the Nuclear Barbarian
April 09, 2024 22:24 - 1 hour - 60.9 MBEmmet Penney joins me to shoot the breeze and catch up on the whirlwind developments of the last few months.
Californication of the Grid
March 30, 2024 14:04 - 1 hour - 75.1 MBFan favourite, Mark Nelson, joins me for an update on California’s soaring electricity prices and worsening grid dysfunction.
Deep Sea Mining
March 26, 2024 04:01 - 50 minutes - 45.8 MBSeaver Wang, oceanographer and co-director of climate and energy at the Breakthrough Institute joins me to unravel controversies surrounding deep sea mining for the polymetallic nodules of the abyssal plains.
Will Nuclear power AI?
March 18, 2024 23:36 - 1 hour - 73.9 MBJames Krellenstein joins me to explore the extraordinary power requirements of the AI revolution and how this demand for vast amounts of baseload generation will impact the nuclear sector.
The Fragilization of the Grid
March 08, 2024 17:53 - 1 hour - 61.6 MBDavid March CEO of Exergy/Energy joins me to discuss the sharp decline in power quality from increasing penetration of intermittent generation and the impact its having on mission critical industries and manufacturing.
Peak Cheap Oil?
March 06, 2024 00:48 - 1 hour - 65.9 MBArt Berman joins me to discuss the likelihood and implications of cheap peak oil.
LNG the Champagne of Energy
February 27, 2024 02:19 - 1 hour - 66.6 MBStephen Stapczynski, Bloomberg Business senior reporter, joins me to discuss everything you always wanted to know about LNG but were afraid to ask.
Ontario’s Nuclear Revival: Minister Todd Smith
February 23, 2024 23:55 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MBOntario Energy Minister Todd Smith joins me to discuss the phenomenon of Ontario’s centrality to the West’s nuclear energy aspirations.
Vogtle Part 3: Was the NRC to blame?
February 20, 2024 23:10 - 1 hour - 70.9 MBJames Krellenstein returns to deeper dive the lessons of Vogtle and VC Summer
The Energy Returns of Unconventional Oil
February 16, 2024 22:20 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBChris Popoff returns to talk unconventional oil with a focus on oil sands. What is it? What are its energy economics? How is it like a battery? What does it have to do with peak cheap oil and how does nuclear fit into the picture?
Vogtle Part 2: Murphy’s Law
February 12, 2024 10:47 - 52 minutes - 48.2 MBJames Krellenstein and I continue our deep dive analysis of what went wrong at Vogtle.
The Politics of a Canadian Nuclear Revival
February 09, 2024 20:28 - 1 hour - 72.1 MBAs Canada embarks on a new nuclear build out of SMRs and large Reactors, Professor Duane Bratt joins me to provide a political scientists perspective on the history and future of the Canadian nuclear sector.
Prospects for Process Heat & “Advanced” Nuclear
February 07, 2024 03:25 - 57 minutes - 52.4 MBNoah Rettberg walks us through an in depth exploration on the challenges of decarbonizing process heat.
Its a Material World
January 31, 2024 12:31 - 1 hour - 72.6 MBEd Conway author of “Material World” joins me to explore the material world underpinning the ethereal world of our perceived reality. He explains how sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium are transformed with technology and energy into the building blocks of our built world and how fragile, vulnerable and complex these processes have become.
It's a Material World
January 31, 2024 12:31 - 1 hour - 72.6 MBEd Conway author of “Material World” joins me to explore the material world underpinning the ethereal world of our perceived reality. He explains how sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium are transformed with technology and energy into the building blocks of our built world and how fragile, vulnerable and complex these processes have become.
It’s a Material World
January 30, 2024 23:31 - 1 hour - 72.6 MBEd Conway joins me to discuss his book “Material World” which examines the role of sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium and the technologies we use to transform them into our extraordinary built world.
Vogtle & the Nuclear Renaissance That Wasn't
January 25, 2024 02:59 - 1 hour - 69.9 MBJames Krellenstein returns to dig into what went wrong at Vogtle and why the nuclear “Renaissance” of the early 2000’s ended up a flop.
Vogtle Part 1: the Nuclear Renaissance That Wasn't
January 25, 2024 02:59 - 1 hour - 69.9 MBJames Krellenstein returns to dig into what went wrong at Vogtle and why the nuclear “Renaissance” of the early 2000’s ended up a flop.
Vogtle & the Nuclear Renaissance That Wasn't.
January 25, 2024 02:59 - 1 hour - 69.9 MBJames Krellenstein returns to dig into what went wrong at Vogtle and why the nuclear “Renaissance” of the early 2000’s ended up a flop.
Extreme weather and Alberta’s AWOL renewable energy
January 17, 2024 12:27 - 1 hour - 57.7 MBAlberta, sitting on massive reserves of oil and gas, found itself teetering on the edge of blackouts this week as temperatures in the -40 degree ranges led to multiple grid alerts. As a new record for peak demand was set at 12,384MW, Alberta’s 4481MW wind fleet went AWOL. This raises major concerns regarding electricity planning with a country wide federal mandate for Net Zero electricity by 2035 having already generated significant political controversy in Alberta which has imposed a morator...
Extreme Weather and Alberta’s AWOL Renewable Energy
January 17, 2024 12:27 - 1 hour - 57.7 MBAlberta, sitting on massive reserves of oil and gas, found itself teetering on the edge of blackout this week as temperatures in the negative 40 degree ranges led to multiple grid alerts. As a new record for peak demand was set at 12,384 MW, Alberta's 4481MW wind fleet went AWOL. This raises major concerns regarding electricity planning with a country wide federal mandate for Net Zero electricity by 2035 having already generated significant political controversy in Alberta which has imposed ...
Extreme weather and Alberta’s AWOL energy
January 17, 2024 12:27 - 1 hour - 57.7 MBAlberta, sitting on massive reserves of oil and gas, found itself teetering on the edge of blackouts this week as temperatures in the -40 degree ranges led to multiple grid alerts. As a new record for peak demand was set at 12,384MW, Alberta’s 4481MW wind fleet went AWOL. This raises major concerns regarding electricity planning with a country wide federal mandate for Net Zero electricity by 2035 having already generated significant political controversy in Alberta which has imposed a morator...
From Microchips to Atom Splits
January 08, 2024 15:38 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBNathan Myhrvold, former CTO at Microsoft and vice chairman of TerraPower joins me to discuss his experience bridging the world of software and nuclear power.
A Fireside chat with Sec. Ernie Moniz
December 28, 2023 17:09 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MBSec Ernie Moniz and I chat about best practices for “embarking” and “re-embarking” nations as 24 countries pledge to triple nuclear energy by 2050.
Cracking the Nuclear Innovation Nut
December 22, 2023 05:46 - 1 hour - 60.9 MBHumanity went from inducing the first fissions of heavy elements in 1938 to a nuclear powered submarine in just 16 years. Why has that tremendous pace of nuclear innovation seemingly slowed down to a crawl? Nuclear historian Nick Touran joins me for an in depth analysis of the historic preconditions of nuclear innovation and its opportunities and limits going into the future.
COP28 & The Inconvenient Truth about Coal
December 17, 2023 18:00 - 59 minutes - 54.6 MBRobert Bryce joins me for a COP28 “reactions” episode and drops some hard truths on the world’s ever increasing appetite for coal.
How to Fuel a Tripling of Nuclear Energy
December 12, 2023 17:41 - 47 minutes - 43.5 MBDr. Keefer sat down with some of the Titans of the nuclear fuel cycle at the “Net Zero Nuclear Summit” on the sidelines of COP28 in the UAE where 24 countries have pledged to triple nuclear energy by 2050. The topic: How to scale up Uranium mining, enrichment and advanced fuel manufacturing in the context of our emerging multipolar world and the West’s dependence on Russia for almost 1/4 of its enrichment needs. Enjoy! Feat. Tim Gitzel CEO Cameco, Dan Poneman CEO Centrus, Boris Schucht CEO Ur...
NuScale, New Problems
December 02, 2023 18:10 - 1 hour - 76.1 MBThe cancellation of the Carbon Free Power Project was a massive blow to US SMR front runner NuScale. James Krellenstein joins me for a deep dive.
Ontario’s Green Energy Act
November 28, 2023 00:39 - 43 minutes - 39.7 MBChris Adlam joins me to discuss Ontario’s attempt to imitate Germany’s Energiewende. It began as an attempt to kickstart a green energy industry by retooling struggling automotive plants in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. The lucrative 20 year feed in tariff contracts for wind and solar will end up costing Ontario more than 62 billion dollars.
Enriching Uranium Understanding
November 13, 2023 21:51 - 1 hour - 46.3 MBOne in 20 American homes are powered by Russian enriched uranium because the USA lacks sufficient enrichment capacity to meet its own needs. Energy and fuel security are supposed to be a strong point of the technology but the US nuclear industry faces further reputational risk because no-one is taking responsibility and adequately planning adequate solutions despite NRC licenses being in place. James Krellenstein returns to take our proverbial hands and walk us through the front end of the nu...
US Offshore Wind Dead in the Water?
November 06, 2023 03:39 - 38 minutes - 35.7 MBThe recent cancellation of two large wind projects in New Jersey are the latest in a series of setbacks for the nascent US offshore wind industry. Mark Nelson joins me to analyze whether the nuclear industry is vulnerable to the same cost drivers plaguing this sector.
US offshore wind dead in the water?
November 06, 2023 03:39 - 38 minutes - 35.7 MBThe recent cancellation of two large wind projects in New Jersey are the latest in a series of setbacks for the nascent US offshore wind industry. Mark Nelson joins me to analyze whether the nuclear industry is vulnerable to the same cost drivers plaguing this sector.
Small Misunderstood Reactors
October 18, 2023 14:34 - 1 hour - 86 MBJames Krellenstein joins me to discuss the rationale underlying small modular reactors and in particular the challenges of getting novel reactor concepts from the experimental stage to reliable commercial operation.
Why is Western nuclear so expensive?
October 11, 2023 18:02 - 45 minutes - 26.1 MBJacopo Buongiorno joins me to discuss the cost drivers of nuclear and how we can drive them down. For a deeper dive check out this MIT study that Jacopo led. studyhttps://energy.mit.edu/research/future-nuclear-energy-carbon-constrained-world/
Are renewables jobs the “fast food” employment of the energy transition?
October 07, 2023 00:14 - 5 minutes - 5.36 MBDr Keefer’s Testimony at the House of Commons Natural Resources Committee on what Canada can learn from the Inflation Reduction Act’s “good union jobs” provisions. In the words of NYT labour reporter Noam Scheiber “The green economy is shaping up to look less like the industrial workplace that lifted workers into the middle class in the 20th century and more like an Amazon warehouse with grueling work schedules, few unions, middling wages and limited benefits.” Dr. Keefer outlines the problem...
Just how cheap are wind & solar?
September 29, 2023 00:54 - 1 hour - 74.3 MBMuckraking physicist and data scientist Aidan Morrison has thrown doubt on the oft repeated mantra in Australia that wind and solar are the lowest cost option for a clean energy transition. He discovered that the modelling used to justify these claims leaves out the massive investments in storage and transmission required to balance the system treating them as sunk costs. See Aidan’s own excellent video deep diving the topic here. https://youtu.be/W-GwnPWTwmU?si=VmM98aSuYGC2Z32o
Just How Cheap are Wind & Solar?
September 29, 2023 00:54 - 1 hour - 74.3 MBMuckraking physicist and data scientist Aidan Morrison has thrown doubt on the oft repeated mantra in Australia that wind and solar are the lowest cost option for a clean energy transition. He discovered that the modelling used to justify these claims leaves out the massive investments in storage and transmission required to balance the system treating them as sunk costs. See Aidan’s own excellent video deep diving the topic here. https://youtu.be/W-GwnPWTwmU?si=VmM98aSuYGC2Z32o
How Ontario Decarbonized
September 15, 2023 21:21 - 41 minutes - 37.6 MBDr. Keefer’s speech at Minerals Week in Australia sharing the story of Ontario’s coal phaseout & the decarbonization of its electricity grid.
The Geothermal Masterclass
September 06, 2023 06:16 - 49 minutes - 45.6 MBEnhanced geothermal has been a scientific white whale since the 1970’s but a recent breakthrough announcement is causing waves. Is Baseload cool again? Will enhanced geothermal eat nuclear’s lunch or for that matter renewable’s lunch? The potential to unlock the energy potential of hot dry rocks by leveraging hydraulic fracturing opens up a vast geography for exploitation as 98% of worlds geothermal resources are made up of these geologic formations.
Gentilly-2 Refurbishment s’il vous plait
August 25, 2023 22:27 - 9 minutes - 8.96 MBAs electricity demands increase Quebec is looking into refurbishing its lone mothballed CANDU reactor Gentilly-2. Mark Nelson joins us to discuss.
Quebec reconsiders Nuclear. Waters up with that?
August 25, 2023 22:27 - 9 minutes - 8.96 MBAs electricity demands increase Quebec is looking into refurbishing its lone mothballed CANDU reactor Gentilly-2. Mark Nelson joins us to discuss.
Jigar Shah: Breaking the Nuclear Stalemate
August 18, 2023 19:00 - 56 minutes - 51.8 MBToday I am joined by Jigar Shah, the director of the US Department of Energy Loan Programs Office to discuss the future of nuclear, and nuclear finance in the USA.
An Oppenheimer on Oppenheimer
August 11, 2023 15:58 - 59 minutes - 54.4 MBCharles Oppenheimer, a serial entrepreneur in the software business and the grandson of J Robert Oppenheimer joins me to discuss the Christopher Nolan film, his Grandfather’s legacy and the organization he recently co-founded, the Oppenheimer project.
American Nuclear: The Next Chapter
August 05, 2023 00:24 - 51 minutes - 47 MBPhysicist James Krellenstein returns for a part two to talk about America’s nuclear future.