Environment & Climate Change

19 Items

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Analysis & Opinions - The Diplomat

With Growth of Coal Power Plants, Vietnam's Future Is Grim

| January 12, 2017

On January 12, 2017, the academic journal Environmental Science & Technology published a study by researchers from Harvard University, Greenpeace, and the University of Colorado Boulder titled “Burden of Disease from Rising Coal-Fired Power Plant Emissions in Southeast Asia.” Based on official data on the future installation of coal-fired power plants in Southeast Asia and atmospheric transport modelling, the research group presented a grim picture of regional air pollution due to emissions from these plants.

Analysis & Opinions - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

The Experts on Nuclear Power and Climate Change

| December 17, 2015

"Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed at the global climate change conference in Paris that China pledged to achieve peak carbon dioxide emissions by around 2030, and to get around 20 percent of its primary energy from non-fossil sources by 2030. In 2014, China’s non-fossil energy consumption accounted for 11.2 percent of total energy use—hydro power was 8 percent, nuclear power was about 1 percent, and non-hydro renewable energy was around 2 percent—which is very close to the target of 11.4 percent set for 2015. Still, coal supplied the majority (66 percent) of China's total energy consumption in 2014, and oil accounted for about 18 percent of the energy mix. Natural gas, at 5 percent, still accounted for a relatively small share. To double the share of non-fossil sources by 2030, what role can nuclear power play?"

Analysis & Opinions - The Huffington Post

A Lack of Bombast

| December 15, 2015

"Barack Obama's tenure, particularly his second term, is studded with peacemaking deals, from the Iranian nuclear agreement, to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to the re-opening of relations with Cuba, and to now the accord on climate change. His first term brought us the Affordable Care Act. When are we going to back off our disappointment at his clear lack of bombast?"

Analysis & Opinions - Power & Policy Blog

The Plutonium Mountain Mission: Lessons

| Sep. 27, 2013

In Summer of 2013, The Project on Managing the Atom released “Plutonium Mountain: Inside the 17-Year Mission to Secure a Dangerous Legacy of Soviet Nuclear Testing.” In the report, Eben Harrell and David Hoffman tell how dedicated scientists and engineers in three countries overcame suspicions, secrecy, bureaucracy, and logistical obstacles to secure more than a dozen bombs worth of plutonium that had been left behind at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although the outline of the Semipalatinsk operation had been made public before, the report filled in new details.

Secretary of State Kerry at the Capitol in Washington, DC

Photo by Chip Somodevilla

Analysis & Opinions - The Boston Globe

John Kerry’s six-month report card

| August 1, 2013

Contrary to a small army of critics and "armchair quarterbacks," Professor Burns gives Secretary of State John Kerry a "job-well-done" in his first six months on the job. From orchestrating this weeks talks in Washington between the Israelis and Palestinians, to cultivating key relationships with India, China and other Asian states, Burns is encouraged that Secretary Kerry is putting diplomacy back on the map. Burns also stresses that diplomacy takes time, and in the digital world of "right now," it is important that we remember that diplomacy and its results are not instant.

Policy Brief - Energy Technology Innovation Policy Project, Belfer Center

Research, Development, and Demonstration for the Future of Nuclear Energy

| June 2011

Dramatic growth in nuclear energy would be required for nuclear power to provide a significant part of the carbon-free energy the world is likely to need in the 21st century, or a major part in meeting other energy challenges. This would require increased support from governments, utilities, and publics around the world. Achieving that support is likely to require improved economics and major progress toward resolving issues of nuclear safety, proliferation-resistance, and nuclear waste management. This is likely to require both research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of improved technologies and new policy approaches.