Widespread impacts from climate change are already here. Our actions in this critical decade will determine the full extent of future impacts on our children and grandchildren. In our 2022 Annual Review, you will see how, with our world-class sustainability partners, Terra Praxis is the only entity designing a scalable, rapid repowering system to decarbonize the entire global coal fleet by 2050. This is how we plan to eliminate one-third of global carbon emissions and provide a method for supplying affordable, reliable, and emissions-free energy to billions of people.
Climate change is an energy problem. We only have 28 years to replace fossil fuels and double our overall energy supply. Our programs could accelerate the reduction of global carbon emissions by repurposing trillions of dollars of existing infrastructure to supply clean, affordable, and reliable energy to billions of people. As you reflect on our 2021 Annual Review, we hope you will be as energized as we are by our success in mobilizing a broad coalition of public and private sector leaders and building momentum for innovative climate solutions.
TerraPraxis Climate Solution Profile
The TerraPraxis ‘Repowering Coal’ system is a fast, low-cost repeatable strategy to repower hundreds of existing coal plants that would otherwise continue to burn coal, and whose closure is likely to encounter fierce political resistance and cause economic harm to communities. This initiative is designed for radical cost reduction to enable production of reliable, competitive, clean energy, rapidly repowering the 2TW global coal fleet and cutting carbon emissions by 40%. The repowering system transforms coal plants into flexible clean generators, making them better partners for renewables on the grid. This paper describes a fast, low-cost, and repeatable strategy to repower hundreds of existing coal plants that would otherwise continue to burn coal, or whose closure would cause economic harm to communities.
TerraPraxis Climate Solution Profile
In September 2020, TerraPraxis and LucidCatalyst published the Missing Link to a Livable Climate report. This brief contains its main findings, key messages, and interesting facts on how we can still meet the Paris Goals with proven, ready technology and with no major investments.
How Hydrogen-Enabled Synthetic Fuels Can Help Deliver The Paris Goals
Our report shows that it’s not too late to still meet the Paris goals — but only if we are prepared to make major investments in clean hydrogen production. There is simply no other way to make the numbers add up — this truly is the missing link we need to maintain a livable climate on this planet.
This excellent report skilfully shows how nuclear energy helps meet all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. No other electricity generation technology can match this diversity of beneficial impacts... The NNWI strongly endorses “Beautiful Nuclear: Driving Deep Decarbonisation”. - Tim Yeo, Chair, The New Nuclear Watch Institute and former Chair of the UK Environment Select Committee
TerraPraxis staff have worked on the following publications through their affiliations with other organisations.
Extending the life of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant has the potential to help California meet the increasing challenges of climate change by providing clean, safe and reliable electricity, water and hydrogen fuel for Californians, according to this new study by researchers at Stanford University's Precourt Institute for Energy and the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. TerraPraxis' Chief Scientist, Justin Aborn performed the analysis in and wrote Chapters 3 and 4.
Power sector emissions represent the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions globally, and coal-fired power stations are the biggest source of emissions within this sector. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, rapid decarbonization of coal heavy economies is essential. In this study our colleagues from QuantifiedCarbon (QCL) assess the potential of these strategies as options in a broader general strategy, which we call “retrofit decarbonization” of coal power units.
In this article, published in the The Bridge (National Academy of Engineering), authors Eric Ingersoll, Kirsty Gogan, and Giorgio Locatelli describe how the US nuclear sector can shift to standardized products with replicable designs delivered by consistent, experienced suppliers, as demonstrated by experience in other countries.
LucidCatalyst is providing support and staffing for the Flexible Nuclear Campaign led by EFH, EON, and NREL, which is a campaign of the NICE Future Initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial.
Energy Systems Catapult has just released the full technical report from the Energy Technologies Institute Nuclear Cost Drivers (ETI NCD) project by LucidCatalyst. This report demonstrates a credible path for nuclear energy to become a competitive Net Zero solution alongside renewables.
By Eric Ingersoll and Kirsty Gogan, IAEA Bulletin. The Clean Energy Ministerial Flexible Nuclear Campaign we co-founded explores the expanded role that nuclear energy can play in de-risking the energy transition. Here, we describe two opportunities to drive deeper decarbonization with nuclear energy: 1) expand role of nuclear energy in electricity production through a combination of advanced reactors and thermal energy storage to complement renewables in future energy grids; 2) address the use of oil and gas by providing large-scale, low-cost hydrogen produced with nuclear power.
The LucidCatalyst team was honored to be invited to write both the NGO Foreword (with Energy for Humanity and ClearPath Foundation) as well as a dedicated chapter in the report focused on flexible advanced reactors in future energy grids and innovative new hydrogen production facilities.
In 2018 LucidCatalyst led the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) Nuclear Cost Drivers Study (NCD) suggesting that UK nuclear new build has very significant cost and risk reduction potential. The 30% Cost Reduction Working Group therefore commissioned LucidCatalyst to apply the insights gained in the ETI NCD Study to produce this short report.
A new study by LucidCatalyst for the ARPA-E MEITNER program is the first to derive the highest allowable capital cost for advanced reactors across four of the major power markets in the US in 2034. Advanced reactors that cost less than $3,000/kW will be attractive investments, and create the most value for plant owners. The study shows how advanced reactors can complement wind and solar. Together, these technologies drive down costs, reduce emissions, and improve performance in future U.S. electricity grids.
LucidCatalyst and its partners created this report for the European Commission Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, as well as for the international investment and financing community, to help them fairly and robustly evaluate the overall sustainability of nuclear energy as an investment. Our central finding is that nuclear energy is a sustainable energy investment.
Responding to Climate Change and Strengthening Global Security
This report is a culmination of meetings and effort from Partnership for Global Security and the Nuclear Energy Institute under the Global Nexus Initiative. Advanced nuclear reactors, the smaller, flexible, and innovative nuclear technologies of the future, are rising in importance as the global community grapples with the vital challenges of cutting carbon emissions, supporting the global demand for electric power, and ensuring the continued peaceful use of nuclear energy in the 21st century. LucidCatalyst contributed.
A Key Source of Low-Carbon Power
Kirsty Gogan contributed to this report, which focuses on the role of nuclear power in advanced economies and the factors that put nuclear power at risk of future decline. It is shown that without action, nuclear power in advanced economies could fall by two-thirds by 2040. The implications of such a “Nuclear Fade Case” for costs, emissions and electricity security using two World Energy Outlook scenarios – the New Policies Scenario and the Sustainable Development Scenario are examined.
LucidCatalyst created a Stakeholder Engagement Curriculum for newcomer countries on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The workshop aims to provide a basic grounding in the concepts and best practices of stakeholder involvement for a broad variety of participants, drawn from around the globe and across the full range of nuclear activities.
The Need for Urgent Action
The UK’s Nuclear Innovation & Research Advisory Board (Nirab) has recommended that the UK Government should consider investing up to GBP1 billion (USD1.3 billion) between 2021 and 2025 to boost the progress of innovation in the nuclear energy sector.
An Interdisciplinary MIT Study
A fresh look at nuclear, given advances in inherently safer technologies, a sharpened focus on the need to reduce CO2 emissions in the energy sector, and challenges of cost and public perceptions of safety. LucidCatalyst's Eric Ingersoll and Andrew Foss contributed.