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The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Atomic smitten? The case for nuclear power

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

Politics, Government, Society & Culture, News

4.61K Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2022

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Could nuclear power be the answer to our doomed energy sector? It remains controversial – but why? Ahir Shah talks to Francis Livens, professor of radiochemistry at the University of Manchester and academic director of the Dalton Nuclear Institute about how nuclear works, how the sector has changed, and how hitting net zero carbon by 2050 might be impossible without it.  “Without nuclear energy, hitting net zero will be impossible.” “Patronising scientists haven’t created a dialogue with the public about nuclear energy.” “Thinking about old nuclear factories is like comparing cars from today with those from the 1970s.” Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Ahir Shah. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Assistant producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

My name is Stan. I'm at. Nice to meet you. So you took up photography where? I've always loved

0:05.5

photography but I turn it into earning a living at 60. I enrolled on a day course.

0:11.8

Well college. I loved going to college. It's good you can retry. I'm enrolled on the day course. But college?

0:13.0

I loved going to college.

0:14.0

It's good you can retrain and do something.

0:16.0

Yeah, yeah.

0:17.0

Let's talk about working, learning, saving and making the most of living longer.

0:22.0

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0:28.0

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0:30.0

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0:32.0

From those happy greetings at the door to the warm cuddles on the sofa.

0:37.0

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0:55.5

after theirs with dental life. Pick up country are feeling the weight of increased energy costs,

1:16.0

and there have even been threats of blackouts this winter. Fossil fuels exacerbate climate change and renewables face the problem of intermittency.

1:23.2

This is where proponents of it would argue nuclear power comes in but it remains

1:27.4

controversial. With me to discuss nuclear power is Francis Livens, professor of

1:31.9

radio chemistry at the University of Manchester, an academic

1:34.8

director of the Dalton Nuclear Institute. Francis, welcome to the bunker.

1:38.6

Pleasure. Now, first of all, Francis, I know that any layman's answer will necessarily be limited but

1:45.6

what is nuclear power how does it work? Okay so nuclear power as we use it is

1:52.2

based on the splitting of very heavy atoms, almost always

1:58.1

uranium, which you can mine out of the ground and you can turn into fuel for nuclear reactors.

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