Tech
Why Nuclear Energy Is On The Verge Of A Renaissance
For some, nuclear power may conjure images of mushroom clouds or bring back memories of disturbing nuclear disasters like Chernobyle and Fukushima. But despite public fear around nuclear power, the technology has proved to be an emission-free, reliable way to produce large amounts of electricity on a small footprint. As a result, sentiments about the technology are beginning to change.
Both the U.S. government and private companies including X Energy, NuScale and, Bill Gates-backed, TerraPower are pouring money into developing, what they say will be smaller, safer nuclear reactors. CNBC visited Idaho National Laboratory to see the Marvel microreactor firsthand and learn what such developments could mean for the future of nuclear power.
After humankind discovered nuclear fission, the first applied use was the atomic bomb. The study of fission for electricity production came later.
In December 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his fateful Atoms for Peace speech, an impassioned plea to reconstitute the power of the atomic bombs dropped in World War II for a more noble cause.
“Against the dark background of the atomic bomb, the United States does not wish merely to present strength, but also the desire and the hope for peace,” Eisenhower told the United Nations.
Almost 70 years later, the tension between those end uses still underlies the space today.
From the 1950s through the 1970s, the United States dramatically increased its nuclear energy generation.
But the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and Chornobyl meltdown in 1986 changed the landscape, spurring fear that nuclear energy could not be controlled safely.
Since the 1980s, nuclear energy capacity and generation in the U.S. has largely stayed flat. Today, the country’s fleet of nuclear power reactors produces only 19% of the country’s electricity, according to the government’s Energy Information Administration.
In more recent times, the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan in 2011 — and earlier this year the capture of nuclear power plants in Ukraine by invading Russian forces — have added to public concerns.
But despite its fraught origin story and the psychological effect of high-profile accidents, nuclear energy is getting a second look.
That’s largely because nuclear energy is clean energy, releasing no greenhouse gasses. Meanwhile, the world is seeing more of the effects of climate change, including rising global temperatures, increased pollution, wildfires, and more intense and deadly storms.
“We need to change course — now — and end our senseless and suicidal war against nature,” Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, said in Stockholm on Thursday.
“There is one thing that threatens all our progress. The climate crisis. Unless we act now, we will not have a livable planet,” Guterres said. “Scientists recently reported that there is a 50-50 chance that we could temporarily breach the Paris Agreement limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next five years.”
Watch this video for a dive into nuclear energy’s potential renaissance as a response to the growing crisis of climate change.
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Why Nuclear Energy Is On The Verge Of A Renaissance
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AI data centers are driving unprecedented demand for electricity and putting renewed pressure on America’s power grid to modernize its equipment and develop greener, more efficient sources of power. Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon are all spending millions of dollars on local infrastructure upgrades and companies like SpaceXAI are even building off-grid power plants to power their data centers.
Google says its planned 780-megawatt data center in Pine Island, Minnesota, could offer a model for powering the AI boom. In a proposed agreement with Xcel Energy, Google says it will support 1,900 megawatts of new wind, solar and battery capacity, while minimum payments and exit fees are intended to protect local ratepayers if demand falls short.
CNBC examines whether projects like Pine Island can make the grid cleaner without shifting costs to existing customers, why some energy experts argue that smaller data centers could make better use of infrastructure already in place, and how utilities’ financial incentives can complicate efforts to build less.
Chapters:
0:00 – 2:06 Introduction
2:07 – 4:49 Off-grid solutions
4:50 – 9:00 Upgrading the grid
9:01 – 11:44 Smaller data centers
Produced by: Jeffrey Kopp
Senior Director of Video: Jeniece Pettitt
Tech Correspondent: MacKenzie Sigalos
Edited by: Erin Black, Matt Soto
Camera: Donny Rowles
Animation: Jason Reginato, Emily Park
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The Race To Power AI Is Reshaping America’s Electric Grid
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A leak by Indian supplier Tata Electronics, purportedly of the yet-to-be-released iPhone 18 Pro models, has become marketing gold for the Chinese government. The Communist Party paper, The Global Times, is using the leak – caused by a cyberattack – as a cautionary tale for Apple and other American companies that are in the process of diversifying their supply chains away from China. CNBC’s Eunice Yoon reports.
00:58 Correction: The location tag should be Beijing, China.
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About CNBC: From ‘Wall Street’ to ‘Main Street’ to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more.
Want to get ahead at work? Then you need to learn how to make effective small talk. In CNBC’s new online course, How To Talk To People At Work, expert instructors teach you how to use everyday conversation to gain visibility, build meaningful relationships and advance your career. Sign up now: https://cnb.cx/4sGlSkh
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China’s Swagger After India’s iPhone 18 Leak
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Unstoppable demand for AI is leading to a capacity crunch on factory lines at the world’s leading chip manufacturer, Taiwan Semiconductor. And it could put a chokehold on AI’s ability to scale. Analysts tell CNBC that Nvidia, Apple, Broadcom, AMD and others are locked in an “extremely fierce” competition to get their GPUs, CPUs and custom AI chips made at TSMC. Capacity can’t come online fast enough, despite TSMC’s rush to build new fabs in Taiwan, Japan and Arizona, where has expanded investment to $265 billion. The strain has made one man at TSMC “the most popular person on the planet,” as chip start-ups and big name CEOs visit Taiwan to ask him for wafer allocation. It’s also created a rich opportunity for Intel, as customers look to the long-struggling foundry arm of the U.S. chip manufacturer for a second source.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:06 ‘Most popular person on the planet’
6:54 Making room for smaller players
9:10 Can new U.S. fabs ease the crunch?
Producer and Reporter: Katie Tarasov
Edited by: Matt Soto, Andrew Evers
Camera: Eddie Temborski, Robert Lampe, Evan Reinhardt
Senior Director of Video: Jeniece Pettitt
Animation: Jason Reginato, Emily Park
Additional Footage: Cerebras, D-Matrix, Getty Images, Intel, Nvidia, OpenAI, SpaceX, TSMC
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Why There’s An ‘Extremely Fierce’ Battle For TSMC’s Limited Chip Manufacturing Capacity
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Warner Music Group, the third-largest music label by market share, is tapping into the South Asian music movement with its latest venture.
CNBC’s Laya Neelakandan explains.
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Micron’s hometown of Boise, Idaho has a growing crop of newly minted millionaires.
The AI-driven memory boom is showing up in the form of job growth, new construction projects, a bustling dining scene and an influx in new residents.
CNBC’s Katie Tarasov explains. Find the full report in related video.
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@dianaschneider7087
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
👍🏻👏🏻😊😊
@trapaneezus
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Nuclear is the ONLY real "green energy" solution! Everything else requires MORE FOSSIL FUEL to implement!
@JDs_RandomHandle
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
16:54 This is how any normal reactor works, don't be fooled by the sales pitch.
Light water reactors have a negative reactivity effect known at a negative temperature coefficient. As the reactor coolant heats up it's not able to moderate neutrons (slow down neutrons to the range required to cause a fission event) in an adequate manner to maintain criticality (the continuous reaction)
@JDs_RandomHandle
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
16:00 I work at a 2 unit plant pumping out over 2 Giga-watts, as an operator and each 12 hours shift has about 16-20 operators, you don't need hundreds because the truth is that we are the people controlling everything in the plant. Radiation protection can shove it in an emergency we are there to make things safe for the public no matter the harm to ourselves. We are the hazmat team, fire brigade, safe shutdown, and emergency response to all emergencies. And that's just 20 people if we are lucky. The extensive training is non-stop, drills every shift after 2 years of training then continuous training every 5 weeks.
@JDs_RandomHandle
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
14:20 These salt, thorium, fast reactors, and deuterium reactors are nothing new. Marvel is new but the design basis is the same idea.
@nilosantos4862
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Time has passade but no advance in scrap from radiative storage. Many notices about use concrete for driven on oceans but everybody know that earthquake can expulse marine species up to the bottom
@johnaaron37
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Honestly, the first nuclear disaster I think of, as an American, is Three Mile Island.
@victorco.6308
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
It is good. Power source is all safety measure are taken
@constantinemakarov5865
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Is anybody familiar with Russian's "Breakthrough" project? They have created the closed cycle system where the waste materials to be recycled into new fuel making the fuel base almost endless.
@critiqueofthegothgf
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
i fully support nuclear power and believe it;s necessary in the fight against climate change but to cite intermittency and the need for large storage capacity as a setback against other renewables while implying nuclear can meet the baseload, now, is a bit disengenious. it takes at least 10 years of planning, alone, for a new plant to be built. id be willing to bet we'll have enough storage capacity for wind and solar by that time, alone.
@binhan8261
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
14:08
@relicofgold
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
As always, they FAIL to adequately address the waste issue. As of now, it's not solvable. The waste is highly toxic for centuries. Screw nuke power. Until they solve that problem, RENEWABLES are the only way to go.
@relicofgold
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Epidemiologic studies of spatial variation in cancer incidence or mortality have been conducted to investigate effects of unplanned releases as well as routine operations. For example, a case–control study of cancer among children < 5 years of age found that residence within 5 km of a nuclear facility was associated with a 61% [one-sided lower bound of the 95% confidence interval (CI), 26%] increased incidence of all cancer (Spix et al. 2008)
@relicofgold
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
It's not safe. It's never been safe. The waste is toxic for thousands of years. Will you allow the waste to be stored in your backyard?
@winter4953
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
safer
@dhanxsorient2268
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
😂👎
@devilinthebelfry7292
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Nuclear power IS the cleanest and most reliable energy source we can harness. It leaves MUCH less of a footprint than solar. It also manages its own waste. Everting else is either breathed in or thrown in the trash. Nuclear is the way to go.
@caseywarren7426
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
we can't let the dumbest amongst us.. produce policy on science… This is not idiocracy yet… be better america.
@jwestney2859
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
When we are acting out of fear, it is hard for us to make a good choice, even when the choice is obvious to anybody that is thinking clearly.
@brown7228
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
The powers that be in the government sit on their hands while the oil and natural gas industry expands their services. Who is looking out for the population of this country? Nuclear power is the answer.
@TripDerham
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Kudos to Cat Clifford for making it into a documentary on nuclear power without knowing how to pronounce the word "nuclear"
@wespeakyournames7227
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
How much power does a nuclear submarine create? I wonder if they create a great deal of excess energy.
Anyhow could that technology be useful in cities?
@Ed-ty1kr
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Yeah because radioactive energy emmitting HOT particles used to boil water, that remain hot even as SPENT fuel rods needing elaborate pumps and cooling ponds, are supposed to save us from "global warming". Right CNBC? I dont know whats worse, the painfully obvious propaganda coming from main stream media, or the army of social media bot's paid to infuence the weak minded sheep…
@Oopsiedaisy861
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
My problem isn’t with nuclear per se, my problem is with capitalism and cutting cost measures will ultimately lead to a nuclear power plant that is not properly staffed or managed and will lead to a disaster. Even in nuclear plants that are operating perfectly, there is a higher incidence of cancer rates in people who live near nuclear plants. Let’s focus on renewables instead.
@santiagoparadaplata5097
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Nuclear power is the way to go, as someone who worries a lot about the environment, this is really the best way to produce energy.
@vicchris3943
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Japan nuclear plant using grandfather old tech
@AlbertMark-nb9zo
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Nuclear Energy was one of the technologies that inspired me as a child to be fascinated with science and technology. But I grew up. Technological Evangelism shouldn't replace pragmatism. Developed countries developed procedures for a reason. Every nuclear reactor in modern times in a modern developed country has gone massively over budget. Present nuclear reactors are cost prohibitive, even on schedule. They are basically for base generation. There are still niche for variable generation. Modern renewable tech is basically price parity with conventional sources. Develop various storage solutions. Support the renewal of present stations but direct the majority of new money to the development of newer, cleaner, safer and less controversial energy sources and mass storage. That will lower infrastructure, production, operational and maintenance costs of much more scalable and new renewables, which are far more amenable to price curve lowering.
@Shark-ub5xy
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Cnbc being based
@TL-wy1nk
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
You need to build your back up power, to cool the reactor, in the most robust of places.
@TL-wy1nk
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
All the protestors have been wrong for 50yrs.
@TL-wy1nk
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
The Germans were wrong. You can't say that very often, but in this case you can.
@nichster080
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Nuclear power is the only green sustainable power. we will die from carbon a million years before nuclear storage is even an issue.
@cheryllightfoot2260
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Nuclear power should never be considered in any form. It creates deadly waste products that cannot be disposed of safely. That won't ever change. We need to focus on solar and wind power FULL STOP!!!!!
@jefpanisi3764
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
People reject nuclear power when they learn how often the government has lied about the true safety record. Nuclear has never been safe, clean or economical.
Take for example the PGE Humboldt Bay Unit"3 reactor just South of Eureka, California. This 63mw plant, license# 7, operated from 1963 till 1975 and cost $33 million to build and over $1 billion to decommission. Their damaged and partially melted fuel rods greatly contaminated the spent fuel pool which leaked for years into the ground, then into the Bay where people clam dig. The leak started at a measured 50 gallons per day and increased from there.
Then, the "cooled" spent fuel was shipped in externally contaminated shipping casts (My Humboldt Diary by Bob Rowen) by rail from 1966 to 1971. Nuclear Fuel Services Inc of West Valley New York hated to receive the damaged fuel because the employees would become contaminated. So far, they have received more than $33 million in compensation. There's more! Nuclear Fuel Services Inc of West Valley New York is now a superfund catastrophe costing already $4 billion and likely to exceed $10 million.
But, the greatest costs of all were those exposed to the plants leaks, discharge and accidents. Read "Science" 18 June, 1971 by Gillette that stated the plant as the dirtiest in the nation which released 900,000 curries in 1970. That was a minimum because the monitors were frequently off scale ( Bob Rowen). Dark point sources measuring 2-3 rems were found outside the controlled area. PGE claimed they came from Chinese nuclear testing across the Pacific.
Finally, a Coast Guard MST tasked with potentially updating the contingency plan, read the nuclear operator's log at the reactor, which described an accident that occurred on 7-17-1970. Google "Humboldt Nuclear Accident". The military was called in desperation for advice to keep the plant from an hydrogen gas explosion. The plant was vented!
The U.S. CONGRESS's Joint Committee on Atomic Energy on 7-22-1970 was presented with the results of the investigation conducted by the A.E.C, General Electric (plant designer) and PGE. The published results do NOT match the nuclear operators log which became "LOST" (NRC pio Dricks).
The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy was abolished in 1977 by the U.S. Supreme Court when Jimmy Carter (Chalk River) was president. He is alive today because he knew his level of exposure and got the best medical care for his cancer. The children of South Bay Elementary School 450yrds downwind of the reactor were never told the truth! Fifty- nine commercial nuclear reactors were under construction at the time.
SOMEONE DO THE MATH
@chapter4travels
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Nuclear power is changing but the NRC is not, they still hate everything nuclear with the passion of 1000 firey suns. The NRC also has a lot of international influence and they are using that to hold back new nuclear any chance they get.
@Zimfier3
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
I swear I remember someone mentioning how bad it was that Germany was going to be reliant on nuclear energy from Russia years ago. Anyone remember who that was?
@deannaspencer8988
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
All Stores Please Lower the price of all Military and Local for all Brands of Nuclear Power Plant Products and Accessories and Production Cost Now That's too much $$ The Whole World Now 🙏🙏🙏
@Captain_Yak
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
news anchor for fukashima disaster "Japan declared there first atomic emergency" what was 1945 then???
@deannaspencer8988
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
All Stores Please Lower the price of all Military and Local for all Brands of Nuclear Power Plant Products and Accessories and Production Cost Now That's too much $$ The Whole World Now 🙏🙏🙏
@tomchristian9932
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
👍🏻
@tnorrish
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Narrator sucks
@MrGottaQuestion
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Too bad this documentary drank the fusion Kool aid. Just BS. I thought this would explain why fission is going to make a comeback but was left sorely disappointed. They mentioned small nuclear but chose a reactor with a problematic coolant, to put it mildly. Don't mention that usually because of cost concerns modular reactors end up up sized and closer to conventional reactors. Then talk about the pipe dream magic of fusion. I wish they would have spoken of molten salt reactors, which do away with the costly containment dome (and don't have coolant that can burn), and maybe mentioned a startup like Copenhagen atomics.
@benjaminlehman3221
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
How is the waste so hot it takes 5 years to cool down yet we can’t still use it to boil water? It seems like we should figure out what to do with it so it’s not “waste”
@commandertaco1762
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Modern reactors are incapable of sustained reaction once the water evaporates as it acts as the moderator. So they effectively turn off if they get too excited(not quite it seems, see replies below)
@anonobot3333
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
I would prefer to see updated designs built….
@evilweenie5743
December 22, 2023 at 8:15 am
Uhuh now the leftists idiots want nuclear. They should have never made it go away.