Atomic Show #277 – Simon Wakter, pro-nuclear engineer in an ambivalent country
Simon Wakter is a strongly pro-nuclear engineer in a country that passed a referendum officially phasing out nuclear energy since several years before he was born. He has to round up to be called a thirty-something.
Simon works in the nuclear energy branch of AFRY, a well-established 17,000 employee, all-of-the-above. engineering company that recently adopted a new brand name.
During this show we talked about his research and professional work investigating new markets for smaller nuclear power systems, his interest in risk management and analysis, his participation as an active member of the young generations group of the European Nuclear Society, and his work as the editor of a newsletter that covers nuclear energy from a Nordic perspective.
We talked about the complicated political history of nuclear energy developments in Sweden, delved into the sources of antinuclear activities, and chatted about recent improvements in nuclear energy acceptability as a powerful tool to address climate change and energy poverty.
Simon is young man who appreciates the importance of abundant clean energy in helping humans to develop their full potential. He is enthusiastic about technological advances that are revisiting some aging and possibly obsolete assumptions about the limitations of nuclear energy’s contributions.
I enjoyed this conversation and hope you do as well.
Please provide your comments and suggestions.
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Thanks for another one Rod. It’s good that you get perspectives from different parts of the world.
It will be very interesting to see if they actually can begin to “repower” existing coal plants in Eastern Europe. I see this like taking an old car and dropping another engine into it. If they can do it, maybe others can too.
As far as your conversation about convincing people to change from fossil fuels to nuclear, you had a great point about how large the industry is and how many people it employs. I believe you’ve used this quote in the past.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair
Sounds like Sweden is not as anti-nuke as it used to be. The Times a They Are a Changin’.