At the Oppenheimer Project we’re doing a lot of direct engagement with different stakeholders. This week we wanted to share a few vignettes from conversations we’re in the midst of.
Thinking big: We participated in a very spirited conversation about the applicability of nuclear to direct air capture with a number of leaders in the field. We started with a question – how can we make the biggest impact on the question of climate change? Nuclear Energy is an obvious part of the solution to climate change as a means to move our baseload electricity generation to carbon free energy -globally the vast majority is still fossil based. But what if we thought bigger, much bigger, and allowed ourselves to think of a world where we were generating massive amounts of energy, two or three times the carbon free energy that the world has now? With enough carbon free energy abundance we could solve nearly all the world’s energy problems and power some serious CO2 removals. It was great to dream big. The ultimate question turned to how would we start such a plan? How could it make sense as a business?- is it a good fit for a grant or specific project? We don’t have the answers, but always welcome your ideas.
Ploughshares: Dealing with the problem and threat of nuclear weapons is not for the faint of heart. Plowshares has led the charge for many years and hosted a ‘meet the expert’ lunch for the Nuclear Free Legacy society and supporters. The expert led luncheon discussed the current geopolitical landscape for nuclear threat reduction. There was a thread of hope that appealing to today’s unconventional political leadership could make a difference. Our hope with the Oppenheimer Project is that this is a moment to support out of the box trilateral (US, Russia, China) dialog on cooperation of fissile materials as was suggested in the Acheson-Lilienthal plan.
Utility and DOE conversations about building new nuclear: On the road to producing more nuclear energy, the biggest payoff is not shutting down reactors that are running perfectly well. Then comes restarting ones that were recently shuttered. And then, conceivably – finishing building plants that have been half built – like VC Summer. Santee cooper notes that they are seeing lots of interest in the VC Summer project – which is hopeful for making the case for over 200 additional gigawatts to come.