Nick chats to Simon Holmes à Court about nuclear energy in Australia.

“When are you covering nuclear?” is one of the most common questions we’ve received from APC listeners.

So we finally went there. And it was great to have Simon on to explore it all before we go back to our startup roots next episode with our THIRD pitch fest.  

(00:00) Intro

(03:55) What people get wrong about nuclear 

(05:38) Simon’s background

(07:27) Global Nuclear Energy Landscape

(15:03) Safety Concerns

(20:23) Waste

(26:10) Construction Time

(32:39) Cost and Generation Profile

(39:21) Flexibility

(40:48) Economics

(50:02) Political and Regulatory Challenges

(01:00:42) Uncomfortable Questions

To ultimately answer the question: does Australia need nuclear energy?

There was so much to cover we didn’t have time to explore all the questions, including the role of AI and covering the next 15 of the transition in more detail. Excuses for new episodes!

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About the podcast

A Positive Climate is an uplifting podcast about tackling climate change. An entertaining look at the products, people and technologies making a real difference. 

Hosted by Australian climate technology investors and experts Nick Zeltzer and Alex McIntosh. We cover it all on the show while keeping things optimistic and accessible: electric planes, waste eating maggots, plant-based meats, hydrogen made from beer, the solar revolution, the coolest new sustainable products and much much more.

The podcast rated in 2022 and 2023 as the top Australian made podcast in Apple’s Technology podcast charts.

Previous guests have included innovators and technologists from JET Charge, Goterra, 5B, Amazon, Zoomo, V2Food, Vow, Sea Forest, Great Wrap, Infravision, Zero Co, Hysata, Sicona, OneSmallStep, Tenacious Ventures, CarsGuide, AMSL Aero, Nori, EnergyLab, MicroTau and many more.

Music by the late, great Nick Weaver

Production by our hero Mark Spencer from Here.Media