Alternative Energy / Nuclear Power

May 09, 2011 at 22:01 | ISN Security Watch

While India maintains that nuclear power is the best way to address its growing energy needs, it does not possess sufficient uranium to meet demand. Australia would make an ideal…

Apr 26, 2011 at 09:02 | Taras Berezowsky

The world observes the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster (April 26th, 1986) today, the worst nuclear accident in history. The Fukushima debacle in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami…

Apr 25, 2011 at 09:27 | RFE/RL staff

When reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded 25 years ago, it seemed nuclear power might die with it. Around the world, people recoiled in horror as…

Apr 19, 2011 at 08:21 | Kurt Cobb

Nuclear researchers knew long ago that reactor designs now in wide use had already been bested in safety by another design. Why did the industry turn its back on that…

Apr 18, 2011 at 10:36 | Stuart Burns

Every time there is a spike in the cost of energy such as the ’73 crisis and the ’79/80 oil price spike — and then again in ‘07/08 — alternative…

Apr 13, 2011 at 09:04 | Ferdinand E. Banks

When the subject was oil, my students at the Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok) were politely asked to study the situation in the United States. It told me everything I…

Apr 11, 2011 at 09:08 | Stuart Burns

Events at Fukushima in Japan have put the spotlight not just on nuclear power as a source of energy, but on the storage of nuclear waste. Some of the gravest…

Apr 06, 2011 at 07:00 | Jess McCabe

The UK should turn its stockpiles of spent nuclear fuel into a £10 billion ($16 billion) economic opportunity, according to a report from the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment.…

Apr 04, 2011 at 01:47 | RFE/RL staff

After three weeks of efforts to regain control of Japan's damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, several bits of bad news this week showed the job could…

Mar 31, 2011 at 04:44 | Stuart Burns

So following the near meltdown of several reactors at Fukushima Nuclear Power, it’s dead is it? Well, to follow one FT article, you could be mistaken for thinking that…

Mar 30, 2011 at 04:10 | SciDev SciDev

The World Still Needs Nuclear Power — But it Must be Safer and More Transparent Earlier this month, an explosion in the energy sector caused immense destruction, costing the lives…

Mar 29, 2011 at 04:34 | Gloria Gonzalez

The near-meltdown of nuclear reactors in Japan may derail already shaky prospects for a US clean energy standard (CES) and an expansion of the US nuclear fleet. Prospects for a…

Mar 28, 2011 at 03:13 | Gail Tverberg

The usual plan for spent nuclear fuel in the United States is to transfer it to a cooling pool and then after some time to transfer it to dry cask…

Mar 24, 2011 at 14:22 | Professor Chris Rhodes

97% of world market supplies of rare earth elements (REEs) come from China and look to become insecure in regard to meeting "green" energy targets, since exports of REEs are…

Mar 23, 2011 at 16:39 | Gail Tverberg

We are at a crossroads with respect to nuclear energy, having discovered a new way (or several new ways) that nuclear plants can fail. How do we deal with such…

Mar 23, 2011 at 16:29 | SciDev SciDev

Four of the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan seem to be steadily moving towards progressive core melting. If sizeable core melt occurs, very dangerous species of…

Mar 23, 2011 at 06:07 | Brian Westenhaus

Fast answer – an interesting concern.  Those words are chosen as the human tragedy unfolds.  Perhaps hundreds or thousands of people are exposed to the elements, including overnights in cold…

Mar 21, 2011 at 17:00 | Llewellyn King

For 40 years I've written about nuclear power, defended it and believed, as I still do, that it offers the best signpost to a great future; to what Churchill called…

Mar 21, 2011 at 16:54 | Kurt Cobb

Famed student of risk and probability and author of The Black Swan Nassim Nicholas Taleb tells us that in 2003 Japan's nuclear safety agency set as a goal that fatalities…

Mar 21, 2011 at 16:50 | RFE/RL staff

Just a half-hour drive from the Armenian capital, Yerevan, a Soviet-era nuclear power plant sits precariously on an earthquake fault line. Environmentalists have long said the Ararat Valley, located just…