Rational discourse about nuclear power in New Zealand

ByRod Adams

New Zealand, a small nation that has an established policy of “No Nukes”, is also the home of a number of rational, articulate people who are having a discussion about whether or not they should reconsider their country’s longstanding position. You can find one place where that discussion is happening by visiting a New Zealand Herald hosted blog with a post titled Would nuclear power be a viable energy source for New Zealand?.

One measure of the interest level in this topic is that the original entry has been posted for about 30 hours and there are at least ten pages of comments with 5-10 comments per page. The number varies because some of the comments are quite extensive. Anyone who blogs can recognize that this is quite a response.

The number of people who are supportive of using nuclear fission as a preferred power source is not terribly high, but some are approaching the question with the conventional viewpoint that all fission plants are very large and produce in excess of 1000 MWe. An island that has a total population of 4 million people obviously would have difficulty integrating such a machine into its grid, but there are other choices available. (Grin)

I have a very busy day today – anyone else have time to help share some knowledge of smaller, passively safe plants like pebble beds and liquid fluoride reactors?

Rod Adams
Rod Adams

Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.

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