Publication
The potential of small nuclear reactors
Small modular reactors could make nuclear energy accessible to more countries, but their viability still has to be tested on a wider scale.
18 March 2022
Small modular reactors could make nuclear energy accessible to more countries, but their viability still has to be tested on a wider scale.
Most forecasts predict that oil prices will keep rising for the time being. But with geopolitical tensions running high, there is uncertainty over when they will stabilize.
Many of us are anxiously anticipating what the endgame will look like in the stand-off between Russia and Ukraine.
Many technologies needed for the green transition exist, but there are still significant hurdles before they can be deployed at the scale needed to reach net-zero emissions in the coming decades.
What goes up must come down, or ought to. This could be one positive message to draw from the cascade of soaring energy prices which the New Year is throwing at us.
Sir, You argue in your editorial (“Power Up”, Dec 28) that “supply constraints would not now be biting so hard if western governments had scaled up investment in new technologies”.
Europe continues to battle high gas prices, though the panic that swept the continent in October eased in November.
After a brief sluggish period in August 2021, when oil prices reversed the gains made in June and July, by the fall prices regained momentum.
It is hard to imagine that natural gas was once an unwanted fuel. “What is worse than finding a dry hole? A gas discovery!” – early oil explorers reportedly quipped.
Iraq is a textbook example of the problems of high dependence on a single sector – that is, hydrocarbons. In fact, the Iraqi economy is one of the most oil dependent in the world.
Modern history is peppered with energy shocks, shortages, price spikes and panics.
In its latest climate change assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change – concluded that “human influence has warmed the climate at a rate that is unprecedented in at least the last 2000 years.