Renew Extra Weekly

 The climate issue suggests that we need to expand renewable energy and energy saving as fast as possible, so as to cut carbon emissions. However, given how things are going internationally, the defence sector may be expanded instead- it is being presented increasingly as being urgent for national survival.  For some that is very worrying- especially given that more money (£15bn in the UK) is also being allocated for nuclear weapons development. What sort of survival might that lead to, if the worst come to the worst and deterrence doesn’t work?  While not necessarily wanting to dispense with defence or the military, not everyone is in agreement with the rush to build more weapons. Though there may be exceptions, given a choice, most people in industry would no doubt prefer to work on something that adds value to life rather than destroys it.  So it is interesting to see that the UK Trades Union Congress this year decided to back a ‘Wages not Weapons’ motion.  T...

 The annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report as usual looks in great detail at the state of play for nuclear, mostly still not doing too well, compared with renewables, mostly doing better, with the report looking extensively at that as well as the ups and downs of nuclear. The renewable challenge is after all very striking: for example, global solar electricity generation has increased by about 28%, with costs continuing to fall. And crucially, in April 2025, renewables exceeded nuclear power generation globally for the first time.  However, although construction costs and delays remain a big problem, the nuclear story is not entirely negative. Given reactor start-ups and closures in 2024, nuclear added 5.3 GW net, while operating capacity increased by 2% and electricity output by 2.9%. But given the overall growth of electricity use, the nuclear share of global power has fallen to 9%. Whereas renewables are expanding overall. And that is despite some recent financial pr...