Cleaning Up. Leadership in an age of climate change.

Fighting for Nuclear - Ep5: Kirsty Gogan

Episode Summary

What role (if any) should nuclear play in a low carbon future? Should we build more large-scale light-water reactors despite high costs? Is nuclear safe? Kirsty Gogan, a leading voice on nuclear power answers all of the above. In addition to being an authority on nuclear, Kirsty is an award-winning expert on science communication, climate change, and competitiveness. She is managing partner of LucidCatalyst, a specialized consultancy, recently commissioned by the Energy Technologies Institute to produce their Nuclear Cost Drivers Study, and by ARPA-E (the US agency charged with accelerating next-generation energy technologies) to conduct a study on Cost and Performance Requirements for Flexible Advanced Nuclear Plants in Future U.S. Power Markets. Kirsty chairs the UK Government’s Nuclear Innovation Research and Advisory Board (NIRAB) Cost Reduction Working Group. In 2019, NIRAB recommended investment of USD1.3 billion between 2021 and 2025 to boost the progress of innovation, leading to a package of measures designed to support UK net zero goals in 2020. Kirsty is also Co-founder and Global Director of Energy for Humanity (EFH), an environmental NGO focused on large scale deep decarbonisation and energy access.

Episode Notes

Further reading:

Kirsty’s bio on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-gogan-alexander-8153095/

Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board

https://www.nirab.org.uk/

Cost and performance requirements for flexible advanced nuclear plants in US power markets

https://www.lucidcatalyst.com/arpa-e-report-nuclear-costs

IEA Technology Perspectives 2020

https://www.iea.org/topics/energy-technology-perspectives

FT Open Letter on EU sustainable finance for nuclear energy and climate

http://energyforhumanity.org/en/news-events/news/news/ft-open-letter-eu-sustainable-finance-nuclear-energy-climate/