Decouple - Dr. Chris Keefer

Latest Episodes:

The Forgotten Climate Debate Nov 26, 2024

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Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, a French historian of science & technology, shares how European societies grappled with climate change centuries before modern science proved the scale and breadth of its impact, revealing a forgotten saga where colonial ambitions and volcanic winters shaped our earliest understanding of Earth's shifting climate.

Grounding our discussion is his Fressoz’s 2024 book Chaos in the Heavens: The Forgotten History of Climate Change, co-authored with Fabien Locher.

Defense in Depths Nov 19, 2024

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Aidan Morrison, director of energy research at Australia’s Centre for Independent Studies, takes us to the depths of Australia’s security predicament as a country near Maritime Southeast Asia dependent on liquid hydrocarbon imports. We discuss military strategy, the use of nuclear and diesel-electric submarines, and the continent’s precarious dependence on maritime trade and military alliances.

Microreactors, Macro Problems Nov 12, 2024

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Nick Touran, a nuclear engineer and manager at TerraPower, unearths the sobering realities of micro nuclear reactors. Through a detailed discussion of physics, engineering, economics, and history, Touran explains why microreactors face fundamental challenges that factory production alone cannot solve.

Paper Reactors to Power Reactors Nov 05, 2024

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Nick Touran tells the story of Admiral Hyman Rickover, the “Father of the Nuclear Navy” and author of the legendary "Paper Reactor" memo. We discover how Rickover’s hard-driving management and obsession with practical engineering shaped not just the US nuclear navy, but the entire landscape of modern nuclear power.

Touran is manager of digital engineering at TerraPower and creator of Whatisnuclear.com.

Decouple Substack: https://www.decouple.media/

TMI: Too Much Intervention? Oct 29, 2024

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James Krellenstein, co-founder of Alva Energy, explains precisely what happened at the Three Mile Island accident, in which an ordinary reactor trip cascaded into a partial meltdown due primarily to errors in the human-machine interface. Krellenstein discusses how the 1979 incident, despite its severity, actually showed the effectiveness of the “defense in depth” principle and led to significant improvements in plant operations and nuclear safety culture.

Watch the episode on YouTube to follow along with visuals.

Small Reactors Are Bulking Up Oct 22, 2024

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Koroush Shirvan, an MIT professor and consultant on recent major reports on nuclear economics, sheds light on the hidden costs of small modular reactors. Lower power densities, ballooning containment and reactor vessel sizes, poor economies of scale, and missed opportunities for cost reductions mean that SMRs may not be the panacea for nuclear that many believe them to be.

321, Liftoff! Oct 15, 2024

Show notes

Jigar Shah, Director of the Loan Programs Office (LPO) at the U.S. Department of Energy, joins me to discuss his office’s latest Pathways to Commercial Liftoff report on nuclear energy. We touch on the state of the American nuclear industry, its surge of policy and private sector support, and outstanding obstacles to tripling nuclear capacity in the United States.

In addition to emphasizing the need for standardization in reactor designs and a unified communications strategy from the nuclear industry, Jigar sets the record straight on what the LPO can and, importantly, cannot do for the sector. While the LPO offers extensive support in the form of loans and high-quality information, it is up to industry to lead the charge. In his words, “we can’t want this more than industry.”

Read more on Substack: https://www.decouple.media/

Lead the Way, TVA Oct 09, 2024

Show notes

Fred Stafford, a STEM professional and anonymous energy commentator, discusses the Tennessee Valley Authority's potential to lead a nuclear revival in the United States — that is, if it can overcome the tensions between public and private interests and a looming debt ceiling that threatens to dim its nuclear ambitions.

Read more on Substack: www.decouple.media

The Energy Transition Will Not Happen Oct 02, 2024

Show notes

Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, a French historian of science and technology, challenges our understanding of energy history. He unravels the myth of energy transitions, revealing symbiotic relationships between coal, wood, and oil that have shaped our world in unexpected ways.

The Bottomless Well Sep 25, 2024

Show notes

Mark P. Mills returns to Decouple to challenge our understanding of energy scarcity and efficiency. In this episode, he unravels the paradox of how pursuing energy efficiency often leads to increased consumption, and explains why he believes our energy resources are functionally limitless.

Mark P. Mills on X: https://x.com/MarkPMills

Decouple: https://www.decouple.media

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