Tim Gregory, Sheila Jasanoff, and M. V. Ramana debate the promise and perils of nuclear energy.
Have past disasters blinded us to the power of nuclear energy? And if we move past these phobias, might we find a genuine solution to the problem of climate change?
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From Chernobyl to Hiroshima, nuclear technology has long been associated with catastrophe, risk, and environmental harm. For much of the past half-century, nuclear power was sidelined, deemed too dangerous and costly. But the narrative is shifting. Nuclear power is increasingly promoted as a vital source of carbon-free, stable energy. The US plans to quadruple its nuclear output by 2050. The UK has committed to building eight small modular reactors. Thirty countries have pledged to triple global nuclear capacity. Yet serious doubts remain. Critics argue there is still no long-term solution for nuclear waste, that huge costs and construction timelines can't compete with renewables, and that the possibility of catastrophe remains.
So what is the future of nuclear power? What is it about atomic energy that provokes both existential fear and utopian promise, and are either justified? At a time of intensifying climate urgency, is nuclear power our best hope for the future or a dangerous distraction? Author of Going Nuclear Tim Gregory, Harvard professor Sheila Jasanoff, and author of Nuclear is Not the Solution M.V. Ramana debate nuclear dreams and nightmares.
In partnership with The Breakdown.
#nuclear #climatechange #nuclearenergy #chernobyl #atomic
M. V. Ramana, physicist and Simons Chair at the University of British Columbia, is a leading critic of nuclear power.
Tim Gregory is a senior nuclear chemist at the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory and author of Going Nuclear, where he makes a passionate case for atomic power as the backbone of a sustainable future.
Harvard scholar, Sheila Jasanoff, is one of the most influential voices in Science and Technology Studies, dismantling the myth that science and technology operate above politics.
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00:00 The history of military technology that becomes peaceful
00:45 Tim Gregory on emotional reactions to nuclear energy
03:58 Sheila Jasanoff: nuclear has problems with governance and waste
07:28 M. V. Ramana lays out the dangers of nuclear energy
12:03 The Manhattan Project, Hiroshima, and secrecy around nuclear reactors
15:35 Nuclear energy is vastly safer than fossil fuels
18:08 We can't rely on mathematical models
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