Decouple

By Dr. Chris Keefer

There are technologies that decouple human well-being from its ecological impacts. There are politics that enable these technologies. Join me as I interview world experts to uncover hope in this time ... more

· Science

FAQs about Decouple:

How many episodes does Decouple have?

The podcast currently has 243 episodes available.

Decouple episodes:

July 01, 2024 We’ve Got to Talk About the Bomb Some More
Professor Alex Wellerstein returns for a part two answering questions about the bomb, near misses, command and control and more.
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1h 49min
June 24, 2024 Is Regulation Strangling Nuclear Energy?
Is overzealous regulation the root cause of the contemporary crisis in deployment of nuclear reactors in the USA? James Krellenstein argues that Nuclear Regulatory Commission critics are trapped in the 1980’s and that the spectre haunting today’s deployments are not primarily regulatory. Due to simplified systems and lower material costs modern NRC approved passive reactors should be cheaper than complex Gen 2 reactors. In addition there are 17GWe worth of combined construction and operating licenses in the USA ready to go. All that and more on this week’s episode.
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1h 20min
June 08, 2024 Climate Change and Mass Extinctions: A deep time perspective
Science journalist Peter Brannen joins me to discuss the kill mechanisms of Earth’s five mass extinctions. Humanity has developed the god like power’s to mimic all of them. From altering the carbon cycle to eutrophication of oceans and to a far lesser degree our asteroid like thermonuclear weapon arsenal.
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1h 6min
May 23, 2024 Modularity: Lessons from chemical process engineering
How should we think about modularity in the nuclear space? Jesse Hubesch joins me to disentangle the much hyped concept of modularity from his perspective as a chemical process engineer.
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50min
May 14, 2024 We've Gotta Talk About the Bomb
Historian of science Professor Alex Wellerstein joins me to talk about the sword haunting the ploughshare of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

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1h 18min
May 09, 2024 Marcel Boiteux: Builder of the World's Greatest Nuclear Fleet
Marcel Boiteux, a shy economist who escaped occupied France to fight the Nazis before working out the theory of electricity pricing for newly-nationalized Electricite de France, rose to become the greatest builder of nuclear power the world has ever seen.
Mark Nelson, founder of Radiant Energy Group, explains what forces shaped his mind, his role in the fateful "War of the Nuclear Systems," how he prepared for the oil crisis that triggered the "all nuclear" Messmer plan, and how he survived an ecoterrorist attack to construct the famous nuclear fleet that now lies underused and underappreciated.
Can France rediscover its greatest engineering hero, who died last year at the age of 101, in time to rescue itself and indeed all of Europe from its energy death spiral?
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1h 21min
May 08, 2024 The Chinese Atom
While the west struggles to deliver nuclear plants and dreams about novel reactor technologies China is deploying it all: large LWR, SMR and MSR/HTGR. World Nuclear Association China lead Francois Morin joins me to catch us up on recent developments and trends.
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1h 18min
April 22, 2024 Renewable Nuclear: All about Breeder Reactors
In the early days of nuclear power uranium was thought to be a critically rare mineral. Nuclear engineers sought to solve this problem with a special type of reactor that produced more fissile material than they consume. Nick Touran joins me to discuss and explore the long term sustainability of nuclear power.
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58min
April 16, 2024 Vogtle part 4: Can Positive Learning Happen Next?
The Grand Finale is here. We wrestle with the question of whether nuclear can find its groove and the positive learning rates that have eluded it so frequently. Vogtle unit 4 came in 40% cheaper than unit 3. Can those gains continue downwards? Is Vogtle 5 more likely to follow this cost reduction curve compared to a new AP1000 elsewhere?
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1h 10min
April 09, 2024 A Chat with the Nuclear Barbarian
Emmet Penney joins me to shoot the breeze and catch up on the whirlwind developments of the last few months.
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1h 7min

FAQs about Decouple:

How many episodes does Decouple have?

The podcast currently has 243 episodes available.