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PODCAST

Decouple

Dr. Chris Keefer

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.

science

All Episodes

00:47:31

How to Fuel a Tripling of Nuclear Energy

Decouple ·

2023/12/12

Dr. 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 Urenco

en

01:23:04

NuScale, New Problems

Decouple ·

2023/12/02

The 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.

en

00:43:24

Ontario’s Green Energy Act

Decouple ·

2023/11/28

Chris 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.

en

01:20:56

Enriching Uranium Understanding

Decouple ·

2023/11/13

One 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 nuclear

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00:38:58

US Offshore Wind Dead in the Water?

Decouple ·

2023/11/06

The 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.

en

01:33:56

Small Misunderstood Reactors

Decouple ·

2023/10/18

James 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.

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00:45:35

Why is Western nuclear so expensive?

Decouple ·

2023/10/11

Jacopo 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/

en

00:05:51

Are renewables jobs the “fast food” employment of the...

Decouple ·

2023/10/07

Dr 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 and

en

01:21:10

Just How Cheap are Wind & Solar?

Decouple ·

2023/09/29

Muckraking 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

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00:41:02

How Ontario Decarbonized

Decouple ·

2023/09/15

Dr. Keefer’s speech at Minerals Week in Australia sharing the story of Ontario’s coal phaseout & the decarbonization of its electricity grid.

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00:49:47

The Geothermal Masterclass

Decouple ·

2023/09/06

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.

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00:09:47

Quebec reconsiders Nuclear. Waters up with that?

Decouple ·

2023/08/25

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

en

00:56:01

Jigar Shah: Breaking the Nuclear Stalemate

Decouple ·

2023/08/18

Today 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.

en

00:59:26

An Oppenheimer on Oppenheimer

Decouple ·

2023/08/11

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.

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00:51:22

American Nuclear: The Next Chapter

Decouple ·

2023/08/05

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

en

01:07:06

American Nuclear: Failure to Learn, Destined to Repeat?

Decouple ·

2023/07/31

“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?

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01:02:46

Gone With the Wind: Denmark’s Stalled Energy Transition

Decouple ·

2023/07/17

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

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00:13:52

Embrace the Waste

Decouple ·

2023/07/10

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

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01:23:10

The Case for CANDU

Decouple ·

2023/07/04

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

en

01:06:12

Bridging the Metabolic Rift

Decouple ·

2023/06/29

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.

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294 results

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