All SONE articles


All articles and newsletters, most recent first

SONE Newsletter 301 – October 2024

Banking sector gets the message – Nuclear shipping comment by Neville – UK policy from the Labour Party – Great British Nuclear narrows SMR Competition – Three Mile Island & Microsoft – Negative solar energy prices – Swedish Deputy PM emphasises science over politics – Fusion in perspective – Future nuclear plants in Russia – Heat in Finland – Lead cooled SMRs – Fuel production at Springfields – Fukushima, recall of an early visit to combat fear.


SONE Newsletter 300 – August 2024

UK SMR contestants — UK & Denmark nuclear shipping regulation — What if Germany had invested in nuclear? — IAEA welcomes thirty nuclear newcomers and SMR interests — China approves 11 new reactors — In the USA nuclear is omitted from Democratic electoral case — Disposable Power Plants — Texas electrical power on 20th August — Finnish SMR designed to produce heat, not electricity — India ramps up nuclear plants — Enrichment in UK and a podcast with Urenco — Energy sources top trumps — A poster published by ResearchFeatures.


The future of energy: Why should it be nuclear-based?

Professor Wade Allison shows that nuclear energy can provide a viable, safe, and environmental replacement for fossil fuels and renewables.


Energy sources top trumps

Ben and Marie Zabell are both Imperial College graduates, and have created a series of info cards to simplify the realities of each currently known energy source.


SONE Newsletter 299 – July 2024

Climate Challenge for the New Government — AGM and provisional site visit — Some in Australia look to UK — Italy invests in nuclear education — SMR submissions to Great British Nuclear — Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power wins Czech contest — USA: the ADVANCE Act — Data centres and their growing hunger — Turkey and the UK — History Corner.


SONE Newsletter 298 – June 2024

Elections and nuclear energy — Climate change in reverse — UK SMR interests — New Nuclear in Maritime — Breakthrough? — Norway’s nuclear plans — Poland approves Rolls-Royce SMRs — Interconnectors fail to make friends — Calder Hall Booklet 1961.


Fear of Nuclear Energy: New Nuclear for Maritime

A short summary delivered to the New Nuclear for Maritime Summit, London, 13 June 2024


Solar Power Volcanic Risk

Iceland has been in the news several times in recent months as volcanic eruptions have forced the evacuation of the town of Grindavik and threatened the electricity generation system. This threat continues, with lava flows from the vent now two miles long. In recent years, unrelated volcanic activity elsewhere in Iceland has caused entirely different problems.


SONE Newsletter 297 – May 2024

Nuclear Skills — Nuclear fuel developments in UK — Nuclear safety: a disagreement with the Director General of the IAEA — Activity at Sheffield — Sizewell, Wylfa and Teesside — Nuclear developments around the world — More on Sellafield


Society and Nuclear Energy: What Is the Role for Radiological Protection?

A critical assessment of the LNT model, as discussed in SONE Newsletter 296, April 2024


SONE Newsletter 296 – April 2024

An analogy with bridges and ferries — Radiological protection: science confronts the LNT Model — Stories of nuclear plant closures in New York and elsewhere in USA — Europe’s Energy Blunders: Lessons from IEA Chief — Current enthusiasm for new nuclear going critical — Nuclear news from a number of countries that caught my eye — “New Nuclear is HOT”, a new book by Robert Hargraves.


SONE Newsletter 295 – March 2024

Nuclear Energy Declaration Adopted in Brussels — Nuclear closure was hailed as a green win, then emissions went up — The Science Museum is looking forwards — Oppenheimer conclusion — Six early nuclear reactor films digitized — Austria and Nuclear Power — Regulations: cooperation between UK ONR, US NRC and CNSC — British Industry is busy, at home and abroad! — Pressure for US regulatory changes.


SONE Newsletter 294 – February 2024

The simple basis of chemical & nuclear energy, 1924 — Great British Nuclear – Simon Bowen — A funded proposal for Westinghouse SMRs on Teesside — News about Wylfa and Heysham — MoltexFlex and Moltex SSR Wasteburner — Sellafield and nuclear waste — Establishing confidence in nuclear energy — Cracks in the “Renewables” Net Zero project.


Establishing confidence in nuclear energy: a study of 120 years of evidence and 80 years of myth

Plentiful energy is essential to a thriving society. But there are only three types of primary energy source widely available on Earth today: renewables, fossil fuels, and nuclear. The contrast between the three is evident from the weight of fuel—energised material—sufficient for one person to cover food, heating, transport, and other needs throughout their life.


The music of chemical and nuclear energy

The simple quantitative description of chemical energy as waves hidden in matter is 100 years old. The record of 70 years confirms that the nuclear power is safer than burning fossil fuels, but unwarranted caution has inflated its costs and denied society its benefits – this is not sustainable.


SONE Newsletter 293 – January 2024

GO for Sizewell C construction ... and a proper nuclear programme announced — News of UK AGR plant extensions — From COP28 — Moltex in Canada and MoltexFlex in UK — NuScale — Newcleo — HALEU fuel — Nuclear powered shipping — Nuclear Energy Maritime Organisation — Zion Lights asks a good question — Films.