Climate and Energy Solutions

A reflection on the final hours of COP climate negotiations Author: The Kernel & Vladislav I open my eyes in that giant bowl of steel and concrete that pretends to be a hall but really is an Olympic stadium in disguise, its curves hidden behind white panels and makeshift halls, as if we’ve collectively agreed […]

Author: The Kernel & Vladislav Last week, an article circulated in ECO—the daily newsletter published by the Climate Action Network (CAN) at COP29—warning of a “nuclear stampede” threatening climate finance. For those unfamiliar, CAN is a global network of over 1,500 environmental NGOs working to promote government and individual action to address climate change. While

How National Climate Plans Lost Touch with Reality Author: The Kernel, Gayatri Karnik and Eric G. Meyer In 2015, world leaders created the Paris Agreement to coordinate global climate action, requiring nations to submit detailed climate strategies to the United Nations. These take two forms: Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), updated every five years to outline

Author: The Kernel, and Charlie Maitland  Even in a room full of experts dedicated to the idea that nuclear should lead our clean energy future, there are plenty of conflicting opinions on how it could happen. “No Fuel, No Party” inspired by the old “no martini, no party” TV ad with George Clooney, was a

Author: The Kernel, and Vladislav Introduction As the climate crisis escalates, the need to mobilize substantial financial resources for mitigation and adaptation becomes increasingly urgent. The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance, established under the UNFCCC framework, aims to support developing countries by mobilizing funds starting from a floor of USD 100 billion

Author: The Kernel, and Eric G. Meyer When Four Corners reached out for their nuclear energy episode, I was thrilled. Here was a chance to share insights about nuclear power’s role in our clean energy future with the oft-nuclear skeptical Australian audience. I was also a bit confused. Why weren’t they talking to the vanguard of pro-nuclear

Author: The Kernel, and Mary Kloser Have you heard about the banana challenge? You may have seen a few videos of this challenge on our social media. So, why are we doing this? We’ve teamed up with Mothers for Nuclear and Constellation Energy for the #ComeClean campaign. Our mission? To get people talking about nuclear energy with their friends and family in

Author: The Kernel, and Kiersten Sundell Here’s a riddle for you: what emits boatloads of carbon, destroys forests ecosystems, and is still called renewable energy? Did you guess it? We’re talking about the world’s first ever human energy source – biomass. Biomass energy is produced when we burn natural material like trees and brush, garbage,

Author: The Kernel, and Kiersten Sundell Sources are saying that the world is preparing to fight climate change with nuclear as a clean baseload power source. New reactor builds have begun popping up all over the globe as 25 countries pledged to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050. The only problem with all of this? We

Author: The Kernel & Kiersten Sundell If you care about renewables, or California, or saving money on electricity, you’re gonna wanna hear this. People who have rooftop solar panels often generate more electricity than they can use, and net metering allows them to send it onto the grid for others, and get credits in exchange. When the

Author: The Kernel & Kiersten Sundell The traditional approach to siting nuclear waste repositories has often been top-down – decisions about community land are made by governmental authorities or technical experts, without considering the socioeconomic, cultural, and ecological concerns of the host community. These decisions have resulted in opposition and mistrust, and have been at

Author: THE KERNEL & Kiersten Sundell When nuclear fuel is done pumping out clean power for 5 straight years in a reactor, it chills in a cooling pool for another 5 years before being moved to dry cask storage at a spent fuel pad. One question we get asked a lot is: are those safe from…attacks?

Author: THE KERNEL & Jeff With the summer officially upon us, many state legislatures have adjourned for the year. With grid reliability and climate concerns being a top priority, state lawmakers across the country have taken steps to unlock the nation’s largest source of baseload, carbon-free energy: nuclear power. In the 2024 legislative session, state policymakers

Author: THE KERNEL What’s the difference between fission and fusion? Great question. Fission splits atoms apart. This is how we create all nuclear power, at least right now. Fission can be done with a few different elements, but nuclear reactors usually use uranium-235, since it’s a good isotope for splitting. In a nuclear reactor, a neutron is

Author: THE KERNEL & Kiersten Sundell Why don’t we recycle spent nuclear fuel in the United States? Great question.  After five years of use in a reactor, over 90% of the potential energy in spent nuclear fuel still remains untapped. The only reason we retire it in the first place is because it’s no longer as efficient, and

Author: THE KERNEL & Madison Schroder In April, Dr. Katy Huff announced her retirement as the Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. We at Generation Atomic want to take a moment to celebrate her significant contributions to the preservation and expansion of nuclear energy in the United States and abroad. Having

Author: THE KERNEL & Kiersten Sundell In 1902, the workplace standard for radiation was (a ridiculously high) 30,000 mSv/year. For reference, the current maximum allowable dose for nuclear plant workers to receive in a year is 50 mSv. Getting 30,000 mSv in a year is like getting 30,000 CT scans. It’s like being one of the

Author: THE KERNEL & Gayatri Karnik Event before the Nuclear Energy Summit by the Belgian Prime Minister’s Office, Brussels, 20th of March 2024. The event was an informal conversation between IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, and Belgium Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten on the eve of the first

Author: Kiersten Sundell Taylor Swift has been getting slammed in the media for emitting over 8 thousand tons of carbon in the year 2022, which is more than any other celebrity in the world and 1,100 times more than the average person. It’s well known, however, that she buys double the carbon credits for what she