Climate and Energy Solutions

Author: Kiersten Sundell Costa Rica, like many tropical nations, follows a familiar annual pattern: half of the year is dry, and the other half is rainy. But with climate change rapidly accelerating as the years march on, the Costa Rican dry season has gotten longer and drier, posing a lethal threat to the country’s main energy source. […]

Author: Kiersten Sundell Happy Valentine’s Day to all nuclear lovers! Three years ago today, Texas was hit with a less-than-lovely winter storm that devastated the power grid, left over 4 million without electricity, and resulted in hundreds of lives lost. This was one of the worst power grid failures in recent U.S. history — but what

Author: Madison Schroder Another country is hopping on the new nuclear bandwagon, and honestly, I’m not too surprised. Sweden’s low-carbon grid has been a model for other European countries for decades. As of 2022, Sweden’s electricity sector is about 90% decarbonized, with the majority of their energy coming from a mix of nuclear and hydro. Wind makes up

Author: Madison Schroder Over the past few years, Generation Atomic and our dedicated supporters have tirelessly advocated for nuclear energy through campaigns targeting various policies at the federal, state, and even international levels. These actions represent only a fraction of the collective effort our community has made to accurately communicate the benefits of nuclear power,

Author: Kiersten Sundell Have you ever heard of the linear no-threshold model for measuring radiation exposure? In essence, this model posits that every tiny exposure to radiation accumulates, impacting you in the same way that one large exposure would. This is a controversial viewpoint in the scientific world, so let’s quickly dive in. Let’s say that

Author: Kiersten Sundell As you may well know, the history of uranium mining isn’t all that ethical. Consent-based siting is a relatively new concept, brought on in part by the widespread pollution of indigenous lands across the globe. Thankfully, present-day uranium mining operations adhere to strict engineering standards and robust regulatory protocols, meaning that former unethical

Author: Kiersten Sundell You’ve heard that practice makes perfect, but have you heard that practice also makes faster builds, smoother supply chains, cheaper materials, and experienced regulatory bodies? I’m talking about nuclear plants, of course. Many nuclear opponents say, “if nuclear plants always go over budget and over time, why should we keep trying?” Well, this

Author: Kiersten Sundell What’s the difference between lifecycle emissions and …. regular emissions? Well, to tell you the truth, there is no zero-carbon energy source in existence. Bombshell. We often use the term “zero-carbon” to describe clean energy sources like nuclear, solar, wind, and hydro, because they don’t emit any carbon dioxide into the atmosphere while

Author: Kiersten Sundell Something we were recently asked on TikTok was: “Why does the waste stored at Onkalo geologic repository in Finland need to be retrievable? Is there a specific Finnish law that requires this?” There is — you can find it in a 2001 report from the Nuclear Energy Agency titled “Stepwise Decision Making in

Author: Kiersten Sundell Did you know that nuclear waste is only waste if we waste it? That’s a lot of waste. What I mean is that after five years of use in a reactor, over 90% of the potential energy in spent nuclear fuel still remains untapped. France and Russia have extensive programs for recycling nuclear

Author: Kiersten Sundell Did you know that hydrogen comes in different colors? Well no, not exactly like this. Hydrogen gas doesn’t exist naturally in a usable form — it needs to be extracted from water using electrolysis, or extracted from another compound using a process called steam reforming. Either way, getting the hydrogen requires a lot

Author: Kiersten Sundell If you see Generation Atomic content often, you may have seen more of us at COP28 than the formal policy negotiations that took place between nearly 200 countries. Let’s talk about the policy outcomes of COP, and what they mean for the future of clean power. To start off, nuclear energy made history at this year’s

Author: Eric G. Meyer Illinois has wisely taken steps to legalize new nuclear power, but vague definitions and arbitrary limits could stifle its options for the clean energy transition. After weeks of deliberation in the annual veto session, Illinois’ General Assembly passed SB 2473, which lifts the state’s decades-old ban on new nuclear power plants, a