The nations of the world plan to stop burning carbon fuels, but have not fixed on the replacement. For social and economic confidence, they need to share a proper picture of the options. The world should look forwards to a heavy dependence on nuclear energy with a confidence, informed by natural science.
The most effective source of carbon-free energy available on a large scale is nuclear and this would be accepted but for the general view that it is particularly dangerous. The scientific evidence does not support this long-held apprehension, but makes plain the need for a root-and-branch cultural change in attitudes to nuclear technology.
A message from Rosie, a dog in New Zealand — Minutes of the AGM, October 2021 — News items — Some video links of interest.
Brief report of COP26 for SONE — “Who put the lights out?”: From a report report on the Scottish electricity supply commissioned by Scotland Matters and published by ThinkScotland.org.
Spectator podcast: “Why Fear Nuclear Energy?” — We Shall Not Burn Carbon? — An Expensive Failure? — Global Freezing — Update on Fusion — French Cable Interconnector — COP26 — Is the mood changing?
UK Government policy — Raw materials and raw principles — Another big lithium ion battery fire — Resilience, the question people need to ask — The jury — Hydroelectricity and climate change.
Natural Science and ignorance by Carl Sagan — High temperature reactors: a comment and a reply — The Nuclear Institute — The danger and inadequacy of lithium storage batteries — From the Dalton Nuclear Institute, Manchester.
SONE website rebuilt — News from ‘Penultimate Power’ (UK) Ltd — Nuclear and NetZero — Glasgow declined! — You don’t have to be a scientist to trust nuclear energy — ‘Core Power’ at SONE AGM.
How to get the nuclear message through to people. What is successful on social media, for instance? Here are some examples that did better than most. — A word from Bill Gates. — The Windjammers, a fanciful story for our time. — Core Power, less fanciful nuclear news for shipping.
EU ruling on ‘taxonomy’. — Losses and hopes in the USA. — Hualong One and Two. — ‘Energy and Life with NetZero: Lessons from Covid-19’. — ‘Shorting the Grid’ by Meredith Angwin.
SONE at COP26, Glasgow, 1-12 November 2021. — Oh, not the story of Renewables again! — The decline of the nuclear fleet. — Burial sites for wind turbines. — Discussing climate change with doubters. — The case for nuclear power in Japan and South Korea.
Wise words from SONE’s Patron, James Lovelock. He may be right in saying that, after giving up fossil fuels, the world will go on messing about with renewables before giving them up for nuclear. But is there enough time? Also, Fukushima: a tragedy of misunderstanding ten years on
This month the world turned upside down and as a result this Newsletter is late. A poor excuse, perhaps, but I hope that Members will find the items below stimulating and in some cases encouraging. Of course the choice is personal, but includes important points of view not readily found elsewhere.
A very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year to all SONE members and their families Wise words from Professor Sarah Gilbert, developer of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine, echoing the sound advice of Marie Curie, long ago... “Don’t dismiss science, because science does so much for us.If you feel uneasy about science, go and understand the science. Go and find out what’s going on”.