Fusion power, if it works, offers vast amounts of clean energy and almost zero carbon emissions. A new experimental fusion reactor has come online, and it uses a curious twisted stellarator design.
Thomas Bernauer, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
In Switzerland, specific and often costly environmental policies are put to test through direct democracy.
The Fukushima Daini plant, 11km from the ill-fated Daiichi station, suffered a technical problem in one of its spent fuel cooling ponds.
EPA/Kimimasa Mayama
The latest earthquake off Japan’s east coast was an ominous reminder of the 2011 Fukushima disaster. But despite a technical hitch at one of Fukushima’s other reactors, there was no repeat this time.
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill meeting members of the citizens’ jury.
AAP Image/Tim Dornin
After a Royal Commission and a citizens’ jury, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has enough advice to decide on his nuclear waste dump plan. Which makes his decision to hold a plebiscite baffling.
Koeberg is South Africa’s only nuclear power station but that may change in the future.
Jim Sher/Flickr
There are fears that that the nuclear build in South Africa is being driven for the benefit of the politically connected rather than the national good.
Controversy dogs South Africa’s nuclear energy plans.
Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
South Africa’s Parliamentary Budget Office had 10 months to prepare its findings about the cost of a nuclear programme. Its final report was little more than a summary of other institutions’ work.
The country needs more nuclear power – but not more Hinkleys.
Ganibal / shutterstock
A former state regulator and member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission argues that subsidizing reactors to keep them running is unnecessary and will be bad for consumers and the environment.
The FitzPatrick nuclear plant in Oswego, New York will receive state subsidies to continue operating through 2029.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory commission/Flickr
A nuclear engineer makes the case that nuclear power plants are important resources and should receive economic rewards for providing steady supplies of carbon-free electricity.
No nukes: a 1979 rally against the construction of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, which is slated to shut down by 2025.
Jessica Collett/Shaping San Francisco Digital Archive
The Greens have successfully cast themselves as the party of climate science. But to hit their climate goals they may need to become even more radical, by embracing technologies like nuclear power.
The biggest concern is that nuclear power is too expensive for South Africa and investing in it will cripple the economy.
Shutterstock
South Africa’s nuclear plans have been put on hold. In light of recent events in the country, pressure is being put on the government to halt the process.
Australia could take spent fuel from nuclear power stations overseas. This one is in South Korea.
IAEA Imagebank/Flickr
Chernobyl is already responsible for up to 5,000 cases of cancer in Europe.
After one reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant caught fire and exploded in 1986, the whole site was encased in a concrete sarcophagus.
Vladimir Repik/Reuters
The meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 exposed 572 million people to radiation. No other nuclear accident holds a candle to that level of public health impact.