Ever wondered about life without electricity? Us neither.
Read here on how we keep it going. 

Brent Heuser, an engineering professor at the University of Illinois, said Japan’s plan to release treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant will have “zero environmental impact.”
The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co or TEPCO, will treat and dilute the water before pumping it out into the Pacific Ocean in about two years’ time.
Japan’s neighbors including China and South Korea opposed the plan. Environmental group Greenpeace as well as local residents and fishermen also raised their concerns.

CNBC

Engineering professor says Japan’s plan to dump treated radioactive water in the sea is not dangerous

The government of Zimbabwe this week approved a Memorandum of Understanding with Russia. The Memorandum seeks to facilitate a high level of cooperation between the two countries in the use of nuclear energy by laying a foundation for the execution of the agreed areas of cooperation.



ESI Africa

Zimbabwe approves MoU for nuclear energy cooperation with Russia

Japan has announced it will dump 1m tonnes of contaminated water into the ocean, sparking controversy

The Guardian

Everything you need to know about the plan to release treated Fukushima water

The Russian navy for nearly a decade has been trying to double, from one to two, its active fleet of huge, nuclear-powered battlecruisers.

It’s not going well.

Forbes

Russia Is Trying To Restore a Giant Nuclear Battlecruiser—It’s Not Working Out

Japan's government announced Tuesday it would start releasing treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean in two years. It's a move that's fiercely opposed by fishermen, residents and Japan's neighbors.

Tech Xplore

Japan to start releasing Fukushima water into sea in 2 years

Nuclear attack subs are awesome weapons. But are they too expensive?

Nuclear Sub Club: Do Rising Powers Like India Really Need Nuclear Attack Submarines?

Japan's decision to release more than one million tonnes of treated radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea has stirred fierce controversy.

Understanding the plan to release treated Fukushima water

Plan to discharge 1m tonnes condemned by neighbouring countries and environmentalists

Financial Times

Japan to release contaminated Fukushima plant water into Pacific

Japan will release more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear station into the sea, the government said on Tuesday, a move opposed by neighbours including China, which called it “extremely irresponsible.”

Reuters

Japan to release contaminated Fukushima water into sea after treatment

And that’s exactly what they should do. And the International Atomic Energy Agency agrees. Only a small amount of tritium is left, so trivial that it could not harm humans or anything in the environment.

Japan Will Release Radioactive Fukushima Water Into The Ocean

Incident comes as world powers try to rescue landmark deal abandoned under Trump

Iran says blackout at Natanz facility was ‘nuclear terrorism’ 

Nuclear energy is at heart the climate debate -- the only carbon-free fuel that can run around the clock. But can opponents transcend the accident at Fukushima?

Will Nuclear Energy’s No-Carbon Quality Outweigh The Fukushima Accident?

The Japanese government has decided to dispose of massive amounts of treated but still radioactive water stored in tanks at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant by releasing it into the Pacific Ocean, local media reported Friday, a conclusion widely expected but delayed for years amid protests and safety concerns.

Japan to announce Fukushima water release into sea soon

Expectations for growth in nuclear power lift shares in miners of the radioactive metal

Investors bet clean power shift will fuel higher uranium prices

Have you ever started a new job and spent a lot of time figuring out everything from how to get paper for the printer to whether an important customer prefers quick phone calls to emails?

Retaining knowledge of nuclear waste management

The United Arab Emirates announced Tuesday that its Barakah nuclear power plant has started commercial operations, in a first for the Arab world.

UAE begins commercial operations of first Arab nuclear plant

Earthquakes are often associated with oil and gas production, and the proposed storage site is close to thousands of new oil and gas wells.

Why The Permian Basin May Not Be The Best Place To Store Nuclear Waste.

As demand for low-carbon electricity rises around the world, nuclear power offers a promising solution. But how many countries are good candidates for nuclear energy development?

How many countries are ready for nuclear-powered electricity?

Research shows small modular reactors' potential to decarbonize heat and power in high-emitting industrial sectors.

Mining.com

Nuclear energy could drive decarbonisation in Canada’s heavy industries – report

Two new reports argue for a leap in uranium prices as China commits to 46% increase in nuclear capacity, Europe designates it "green" and inventory is hoovered up.

Stars are aligning for uranium price rally

‘Thirty years ago was the last time the country could run unopposed in such a critical technology field’

Japan powers up for the new battle over batteries

"The overall question for me is how to decarbonize society in the most affordable way," says Nestor Sepulveda SM '16, Ph.D. '20. As a postdoc at MIT and a researcher with the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), he worked with a team over several years to investigate what mix of energy sources might best accomplish this goal. The group's initial studies suggested the "need to develop energy storage technologies that can be cost-effectively deployed for much longer durations than lithium-ion batteries," says Dharik Mallapragada, a research scientist with MITEI.

Powering the energy transition with better storage

A decade ago, a massive tsunami crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Three of its reactors melted down, leaving it looking like a bombed-out factory. Emergency workers risked their lives trying to keep one of history's worst nuclear crises from spiraling out of control.

How dangerous is the Fukushima nuke plant today?

Ten years after the tsunami struck, most citizens are vehemently opposed to restarting the reactors.

Fukushima nuclear disaster haunts Japan’s climate change debate

It is an essential weapon in the fight against climate change

The Economist

Nuclear power must be well regulated, not ditched

In an otherwise unremarkable-looking cluster of industrial buildings somewhere in the southeast of France, a team of engineers is attempting to tackle one of science’s most intractable problems – how to summon the power of a star. 

If they pull it off, they’ll solve mankind’s greatest existential problems at a stroke, radically reducing harmful pollution and tackling runaway climate change. Still, that’s a big if. So join us today as we take a high-energy jaunt inside the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor. 

Tech Vision

Inside The World's Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor

Nuclear power has a controversial history, but many energy experts say it has a major role to play in our energy future. Some in the industry are working to make standard fission power safer and cheaper. Others are pursuing the holy grail of energy - nuclear fusion, the process that powers the sun and the stars. If we figure out how to harness that power here on earth, it would be a huge game-changer.

Is Nuclear Fusion The Answer To Clean Energy?

Over the last decade, Michael and his colleagues have constructed a new paradigm that views prosperity, cheap energy and nuclear power as the keys to environmental progress. A book he co-wrote (with Ted Nordhaus) in 2007, Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility, was called by Wired magazine “the best thing to happen to environmentalism since Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring”. 

Michael Shellenberger

Why I Changed my Mind About Nuclear Cower

Taylor Wilson, at age 14, became the youngest person in history to produce nuclear fusion. His TED speech is a call to inspire a new generation of scientists and engineers to dream big and use technology to make the world a better place.

Taylor Wilson

The Future of Energy

Power & Utilities | Nuclear

The rapid development of shale gas resources in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia has contributed to sustained low natural gas prices and encouraged the construction of natural gas-fired power plants. About one-third of the new natural gas-fired generating capacity built in the United States since 2010 is located in PJM Interconnection (PJM), the grid operator for all or parts of 13 states in the mid-Atlantic region, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. In 2020, the utilization rate, called capacity factor, of natural gas-fired combined-cycle (NGCC) units built from 2010 to 2020 in PJM was 71%, which was higher than that of older units in the region.

Energy Information Administration

Newer-technology natural gas-fired generators are utilized more than older units in PJM

Nikola, IVECO and natural gas distributor OGE are partnering to create a hydrogen pipeline and fuel station system to power fuel cell big rigs in Europe.

Nikola Forms Hydrogen Pipeline Alliance In Europe To Fuel Clean Trucks

Concerns about climate change are driving a growing number of states, utilities, and corporations to set the goal of zeroing out power-sector carbon emissions. To date 17 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico have adopted laws or executive orders to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity in the next couple of decades. Additionally, 46 U.S. utilities have pledged to go carbon free no later than 2050. Altogether, these goals cover about half of the U.S. population and economy.

US power sector is halfway to zero carbon emissions

Renews Ltd provides news-focused coverage through unrivalled insights into the inner workings of offshore and onshore wind, wave and tidal power and other generation technologies.

Renews

NKT upgrades underground cables in France

Merger of world’s 2 largest water and waste groups after long-running takeover battle reshapes market sector 

Veolia agrees deal for arch-rival Suez 

Based on data in EIA's Monthly Energy Review, energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions decreased by 11% in the United States in 2020 primarily because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions. U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions fell in every end-use sector for the first time since 2012.

U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions declined by 11% in 2020

Energy Trend

TPC’s Largest 150MW Ground Solar Plant Fully Connected to the Grid, with an Annual Power Generation Estimated at 200 Million kWh

Controlled Thermal Resources has kicked off construction of its Hell's Kitchen Lithium & Power project in California.

Think GeoEnergy

Construction kicks off for California lithium+power project

Analysts at Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley have picked their favorite energy stocks, suggesting that one in particular could double in price.

Morgan Stanley picks its favorite global energy stocks — with one ‘too cheap to ignore’

State’s legislature debates plan to impose extra costs on renewables plants

Wall Street and big tech team up to oppose Texas wind power bill

The U.S. will need new electric transmission lines to meet the president's aim of eliminating the power sector's net carbon pollution. But public opposition has doomed many such projects.

Politico US

Down to the wire: Biden's green goals face a power grid reckoning

On April 1, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Northwest River Forecast Center (NWRFC) released its latest water supply forecast for the 2021 water year, which runs through September. The forecast shows near-average water supply in the northern half of the Columbia River Basin and below-average supply in the southern half. Abnormal to severe drought, particularly in Oregon, affected some regions in the southern half of the Columbia River Basin. Overall, EIA expects the forecast of near-to-below normal water supply across the region to decrease the electricity generated from hydropower this summer.

Mixed water supply conditions expected to affect hydropower outlook in Pacific Northwest

A set of recent reports related to February’s “big freeze” in Texas point up the pressing need for policymakers to act decisively to mandate key fixes in the state’s power grid.

Texas Big Freeze: New Reports Show Clear Need For Policymakers To Act

Vattenfall JV starts work on hydrogen cave storage

Record green high for British electricity generation

Kansas wind farm to power vaccine manufacturing 

BP, Aral Announce Strategic Alliance to Construct Charging Station Network as Gas Stations Make Way for Age of EVs

Predatory deals from the financial crisis are back—just in time for the climate crisis.

Bloomberg

The Subprime Solar Trap for Low-Income Homeowners

India is moving away from coal, and towards hydropower, as it looks to expand its renewable power capacity. However, these moves are laced with environmental challenges and political pressures, raising the question: how will India balance all of these conflicting concerns and challenges?

Power Technology

Hydropower and geopolitics: winners and losers in the Indian sub-continent

Workers in the greener side of the energy industry earn significantly less than those who extract fossil fuels and run power plants, new data show.

The wage gap that threatens Biden's climate plan

Fluence, Siemens deliver Baltic battery pilot 

RWE Renewables awards Wartsila US storage deal

Zenobe to develop 100MW UK battery

President Biden and congressional Democrats are already bracing for the next big legislative fight — a major infrastructure package that may aim to bolster clean energy.

Washington Post

Democrats eye climate in big infrastructure push

The specifics of the agreement are largely in line with China’s ongoing Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), spending billions in infrastructure investment with an eye on long term economic and security hegemony.

China-Iran $400 Billion Accord: A Power Shift Threatens Western Energy

ReNew Power prices $585m of green bonds

Japanese crew teams up on 240MW US solar-storage plant

Celebrating 50 Years of Operation, Delta Aims to Achieve 10% Market Shares in Electric Vehicle Drivetrain by 2030

President’s $2tn spending package represents unprecedented state effort on greener economy

Biden throws weight of US government behind clean energy

Americans are in even more debt over their electricity use than ever, with an average increase in their monthly bills of about 30% from 2019 to 2020 in unregulated markets like New York and Texas. This doesn't need to be the case.

Past Due Electric Bills An Undue Burden On Americans

Researchers at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have developed a technology for the energy-efficient and economic separation of hydrogen from natural gas. This membrane technology makes it possible for the two substances to be routed through the national natural gas grid together and then isolated from one another at their final destination. A major step forward in the transportation and distribution of hydrogen as an energy source.

Green hydrogen: Transportation in the natural gas grid

Germany has promised to abandon coal by 2038 and achieve a mostly carbon-free energy system by 2050.

Germany to shut down 1.5 GW of coal generation by December

Biden proposes ten-year clean energy tax credit extension 

Space-based lasers have a number of increasingly realistic applications from energy weapons to clean power delivery systems.

Space Lasers: The Truth

Texas needs more reserve baseload capacity and Berkshire Hathaway has a plan to provide it by building 10 new natural gas plants around the state.

Protests Arise As Warren Buffet Seeks To Profit From Recent Texas Power Blackouts

Gas and electricity groups reject contract renewals or increase prices for sector upended by pandemic

UK pubs hit by higher energy costs as suppliers limit exposure 

The world has doubled its wind and solar energy generation in five years, but countries are refusing to let go of fossil fuels, presenting a serious threat to climate targets, a new report has revealed.

‘The Urgency Is Immense’: Wind And Solar Power Double In 5 Years, But Countries Are Clinging To Coal

Berkshire Hathaway has proposed an $8 billion plan to Texas lawmakers to boost the state's electrical power generation reserve capacity, which would help prevent future disasters that Winter Storm Uri inflicted. However, the plan includes a mandatory monthly fee that most Texans oppose.

University Of Houston Hobby School Survey Shows Berkshire Hathaway’s $8 Billion Texas Power Plan Is Unpopular With Texans

Renewables drive record coal drop in 2020

Combustible by-product (CBP) production in the U.S. electric power industry decreased from 135.1 million short tons in 2010 to 88.7 million short tons in 2019, a 34% decline. CBPs are residues left over after the combustion of coal, petroleum coke, residual fuel oil, and wood or wood waste. CBPs can be disposed of in onsite or offsite landfills or ponds, reused in products such as concrete wallboard or as structural fill to support roadways (referred to as beneficial reuse), or stored for subsequent disposal or reuse. The beneficial reuse rate of CBPs from operating power plants increased from 38% in 2010 to 44% in 2019.

U.S. electric power industry produces less and recycles more combustible by-product

The invoices and proposals are still being sorted, but it appears that Texas ratepayers may eventually be on the hook for about $12 billion in electricity-related costs due to the February snowstorm and blackouts that killed 111 people and caused tens of billions of dollars in damages.

In Wake Of Blackouts, Texas Ratepayers May Be On The Hook For $12 Billion

Legislation gives government the power to suspend permits granted to private companies in the hydrocarbons sector

Mexican president moves to undo key energy reforms

Transaction will increase company’s exposure to electricity markets

National Grid to buy Western Power in £14.2bn deal

If 34 billion dollars in capital investment would provide for the energy needs of 6 million people almost pollutant free, would you do it? That’s the question Denmark - population a touch under that 6 million - is currently answering with a resounding yes.

Denmark's $34 Billion Green Energy Island

Greece’s main power company raised €650m in a deal that attracted strong investor demand.

Europe’s first sustainable junk bond draws scrutiny over green impact

Power & Utilities | Finance

With roughly 25% of the Texas power grid’s generating units offline for maintenance, grid managers at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas once again expressed concerns about tight electricity supply on Wednesday.

Another April Day, Another ERCOT Warning About Inadequate Supply

Seven European transmission system operators have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the launch […]

Offshore Wind

European TSOs Form Eurobar to Standardise Offshore Grids

Icelandic developer/ operator Varmaorka has commissioned four additional modules expanding the capacity of the Kopavatn geothermal plant in Fludir, Iceland to 1.2 MW.


Kopsvatn geothermal plant in Iceland commissions expansion

IRENA and the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), have undertaken an MoU that will see the two organisations work closely to support grid enhancements, system flexibility and sector-coupling in China and IRENA’s Clean Energy Corridor regions.

China: Creating clean energy corridors by improving grid support

While the deadly coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep the world, energy researchers in Europe have been assessing a drop in carbon emissions and an acceleration of the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable electricity.

Covid Vs Coal: Has The Pandemic Accelerated Europe’s Green Energy Transition?

Should you get a COVID vaccine?  Yes, it will protect you AND protect others to help us move past this pandemic so we can get back to a more normal life.  But wait!  If you get vaccinated, you can also get a doughnut!  At least that's the deal that Krispy Kreme Doughnuts is offering. Once you get your vaccine, you get a doughnut.  Oh, it's not just one doughnut—it's one doughnut every day.  That's a lot of doughnuts.
OK, so how about some physics estimations to go along with your tasty doughnut?
Let's say that all the Americans that have a COVID vaccine get (and eat) one doughnut a day.  Of course eating food gives you energy to do stuff—that's how food works.  So, suppose that all these humans eat their doughnut and then use the extra energy to peddle a stationary bike.  All of these bikes are then connected to generators so that they feed into the power grid.  What kind of power output would this produce?
The first thing we need is the number of doughnuts a day.  According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) 63 million Americans have been fully vaccinated so far (as of April 7 2021). Oh, don't worry too much about the numbers—I'm going to do all my calculations in python so that you can change the values if that makes you happy. I'm also going to assume that all these people get their doughnut—every day.
Next, I need to know the amount of energy per doughnut.  According to Krispy Kreme's site, a plain glazed doughnut is 190 Calories.  But what the heck is a Calorie?  Well, [the original calorie was created to describe changes in thermal energy for different substance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calories.  Then, later people used it to measure the amount of chemical energy your body can get from eating food.  However, there is a problem.  For some reason, all food labels list stuff in Calories—but these are really kilocalories.  So, that doughnut has 190,000 calories.  I guess it just sounds like it's too big of a number for people to consider eating.
There is another unit of energy—the joule.  Since this is the preferred unit of energy for physicists, I'm going to use it.  To convert between units, 1 calorie is equal to 4.184 joules.  But what does this have to do with your everyday life?  Let's consider something you might do without too much effort.  Suppose you have a textbook on the floor and you pick it up to put it on a table.  Since you are exerting a force on the book over some distance, you have to change the gravitational potential energy of that book.  The change in gravitational potential energy is equal to the mass of the book (about 1 kilogram) multiplied by the local gravitational field (g = 9.8 N/kg) and then multiplied by the change in height (about 1 meter).  This will give a change in energy of about 10 joules.  So that gives you a rough feeling for the amount of energy in a joule.
But what about power?  Power is the rate of energy change.  It tells you how fast you use energy.  As an equation, it looks like this:
defpower
In this expression, if ΔE is the change in energy in units of joules and Δt is the time interval in seconds then the power will be in units of watts.
We are almost ready to calculate the vaccine doughnut power.  We just need one more estimation—the efficiency.  When a human eats a doughnut, only some of the chemical energy goes all the way into useful energy.  Also, with a stationary bike generator some of the energy the human uses to push the pedals also goes into heating up some of the moving parts.  In the end, only a percentage of the energy goes into electrical energy.  This percentage is the efficiency.  I'm just going to make a rough guess that the process of doughnut eating to electrical energy is 25 percent efficient.
That's it.  I just need to take the number of doughnuts per day and convert that energy to joules and then divide by the length of a day (in seconds).  Oh, and multiply by the efficiency.  Here's what I get. Note: this is actual python code.  You can see my calculations and even change them if you like.
pythonpower
You can see that for each human, it's just a measly 2 watts of power.  That's around the power output for a smart phone (power values vary based on use).  However, once you include all the vaccinated people we get up to 144 Megawatts.  In 2019, the average household power was about 1200 watts.  That means that you could use all these doughnuts to run 120 thousand homes.  Oh, AND you get vaccinated—that's a win.

Wired

How Many Homes Could You Power With Free Doughnuts?

Based on data in EIA’s Monthly Energy Review, energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions decreased by 11% in the United States in 2020 primarily because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions. U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions fell in every end-use sector for the first time since 2012.

IRENA and SGCC have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see the two organisations work closely to support grid enhancements, system flexibility and sector-coupling in China and IRENA’s Clean Energy Corridor regions.

IRENA

IRENA and China State Grid Agree to Advance Transition Through Power System Enhancements

The Federal Government is promising a gas-led recovery that will turbocharge Australian manufacturing and provide reliable and affordable power to households. Despite international pressure to reduce the use of fossil fuels, Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s says that gas will help Australia 'transition' to renewables. Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor insists we can’t make the transition to a secure and reliable electricity sector without an increased role for gas and has pledged to use taxpayer funds to build new gas-fired power plants if needed. But not everybody is convinced, and increasingly, state governments are pushing beyond gas with ambitious plans for more renewable power.

ABC News

The future of power: What’s behind Australia’s push for gas-fired energy

The Nigerian federal government has commenced its plan to deliver electricity through solar energy to Nigerians whose communities are off the national power grid.

Solar rollout for 25m Nigerians to begin

Electricity is becoming increasingly important to the functioning of modern economies because it is essential to a range of critical services from healthcare to banking to transportation. Secure supply of electricity is thus paramount. Threats to electricity security are evolving along with the operation of the power system. To ensure that power systems remain secure, new frameworks are needed to transition to higher shares of variable renewables, increase interconnected devices and handle the changing pattern of extreme weather events.

Electricity Security 2021

As the Texas legislature barrels ahead with remedies for deadly blackouts like February’s, we still can’t pinpoint their exact causes. New revelations by ERCOT suggest that early assessments were wrong. As more facts emerge, we provide market design remedies to improve weatherization incentives.

Let’s Mess With Texas’ Power Market—And Make It Stronger

GE: Blue Hydrogen and Natural Gas Will Portray Essential Roles in Energy Transformation for the Carbon Reduction Route of Asia-Pacific

Advantech, thingnario Look to Dominate Green Energy Business via Taipower-Certified Full-Service Solution

Thousands of open-air waste pools near power plants, mines and industrial farms can pose safety dangers from poor management and, increasingly, the effects of climate change.

New York Times

Florida Crisis Highlights a Nationwide Risk From Toxic Ponds

Imagine the process of distributing electricity to homes from the power grid is like travelers boarding a train.

Framework could support more reliable electric power distribution systems

Transmission system operator TenneT has launched a qualification system for construction work on 2 […]

TenneT Seeks Construction Team for 2 GW Offshore Grid Platforms

The biggest carbon emitter added coal-red capacity in 2020, offsetting declines elsewhere

The world is kicking its coal habit. China is still hooked

A district attorney filed five felony and 28 misdemeanor counts in connection with the Kincade Fire, which ravaged Sonoma County.

PG&E Charged With Crimes in 2019 California Wildfire

The fact is, the current grid infrastructure is unable to meet the current power demands and unable to withstand the inclement weather extremes we are now facing. Because it is a single model – one integrated grid, it is a single point of failure without the resiliency we need moving forward.

Renewable Energy Is The Solution To Texas’ Blackouts, Not The Cause

Republican lawmakers try to thwart president’s green revamp of nation’s electricity system 

Latest on Power & Utilities