Decouple

Enhanced 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.

As electricity demands increase Quebec is looking into refurbishing its lone mothballed CANDU reactor Gentilly-2. Mark Nelson joins us to discuss.

Jigar Shah, Director of the US Department of Energy Loan Programs Office, discusses the future of nuclear power in the USA. They explore growing up near a nuclear station, the role of the Loan Programs Office in the industry, comparing costs and models of nuclear power plants in the US and Korea, and the need for nuclear energy to meet energy demands. Funding options, transitioning to clean energy sources, and advanced geothermal technology are also discussed.

Charles 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.

Physicist James Krellenstein returns for a part two to talk about America’s nuclear future.

“Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” Physicist James Krellenstein joins me to deep dive the history of America’s great nuclear build out, its stalling and the age of the operator which saw capacity factors at US plants leap from 60% to 90%. How should this history inform future policy? What's the bull’s case for US nuclear going forward?

Denmark is known around the world as a wind turbine superpower. It has been an early mover with the largest per capita deployments and large interties to manage fluctuating output. Denmark has implemented the world's most ambitious target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. But underlying this target is burning large amounts of biomass imported from abroad mainly the Baltics. New analysis from the Danish energy department show that biomass use exceeds international sustainability goals several times. Danish companies are now showing more interest than ever before to seek a more pragmatic and neutral stance towards nuclear power putting the Danish government in a conundrum about its anti nuclear policies. Johan Sollid, founder and chairperson of Foreningen Atomkraft Ja Tak (Nuclear Power Yes Please,) joins me to discuss Denmark’s energy quagmire and the growing support for nuclear in his country. Johans Twitter: https://twitter.com/sollidnuclear

In this “Decouple Short” Madi Hilly shares the experience of her maternity photo shoot at Idaho National Laboratories and the responses so far.

Chris Adlam, a senior analyst and cofounder of Canadians for Nuclear Energy joins me for an in depth discussion on the Case for the CANDU reactor. Read the “Case for CANDU” report from Canadians for Nuclear Energy at www.c4ne.ca

Inspired by the recent Breakthrough Dialogues theme of the “Metabolic Rift,”Leigh Phillips joins me for a far ranging discussion about the challenges and consequences of humanity’s decoupling from natural ecological flows. We navigate perspectives from deep geologic time on mass extinction or so called “biological revolutions,” the likelihood of modern humanity’s disentanglement from fossil fuels and the optimal mix of markets and planning required to best navigate emerging ecological threats.