Towards a U.S. Nuclear Renaissance?

(Art direction and design: Jean-Dominique Lavoix-Carli) On 30 September 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published the latest edition of the Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Advanced Nuclear. Its aim is to contribute to accelerate advanced nuclear reactors’ commercial deployment in support of U.S. objectives in terms of nuclear energy, necessary notably to achieve its …

Niger: a New Severe Threat for the Future of France’s Nuclear Energy?

(Art direction and design: Jean-Dominique Lavoix-Carli) Article updated to include October 2024 and early November 2024 events. On 19 June 2024, Niger has revoked French nuclear state company Orano’s mining permit for the Imouraren mine. This means that Orano – and thus France – loses 47% of its uranium reserves, when an era of renewal …

Revisiting Uranium Supply Security (1)

(Art direction and design: Jean-Dominique Lavoix-Carli) In December 2023, twenty two governments and the nuclear industry decided to treble nuclear energy by 2050. If we are to meet this objective, then the corresponding uranium supply must be adequate. Globally, there is enough uranium to see the aims met (see Uranium and the Renewal of Nuclear …

The Future of Uranium Demand – China’s Surge

(Art direction and design: Jean-Dominique Lavoix-Carli) The world is poised to make the effort to treble its nuclear energy capacity by 2050. Even though uranium reserves are meant to be abundant and widespread worldwide, the necessity of producing uranium from mines, with long timelines from exploration to extraction and milling, added to the fate of …

Uranium and the Renewal of Nuclear Energy

(Art direction and design: Jean-Dominique Lavoix-Carli) A new era starts for nuclear energy. The December 2023 “Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy by 2050”, signed by 22 states, officially cemented the beginning of the renewal of nuclear energy (see Helene Lavoix, “The Return of Nuclear Energy“, The Red Team Analysis Society, 26 March 2024). Then, on …

The Return of Nuclear Energy

(Art direction and design: Jean-Dominique Lavoix-Carli) On 21 March 2024, thirty two heads of states and governments and special envoys met in Brussels for a summit that received little media attention, despite a very high level attendance. This meeting was the first ever Nuclear Energy Summit, jointly hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) …

Climate Change, Planetary Boundaries and Geopolitical Stakes

Adapting and Making the World Sustainable Again Strategic Foresight, Early Warning and Geopolitics Serve the Future Planetary boundaries* are being overstepped. These changes are fundamentally upsetting our world. These mutations are here to last, spread and increase. We must act now. We must prepare to adapt to the myriad of alterations taking place in all …

How to Create New Civilizations (2)? Creation and Mimesis

(Art direction: Jean-Dominique Lavoix-Carli) How can we create new civilizations adapted to the challenges of the present and of the future? Can we do it despite tremendous pressures such as climate change, or blows such as defeat at war? In this series of articles, we use Toynbee’s masterful A Study of History to explore the …

How to Create New Civilizations (1)? Challenges and Pressures

(Art direction and design: Jean-Dominique Lavoix-Carli) The first decades of the 21st century present human societies with many challenges. At times, it appears our very civilizations are at stake. Can we create new better-adapted civilizations? What are the alternatives? What can we learn from the works that have examined the history of civilisations? Between the …

Climate Breakdown: Towards War to Reduce CO2 Emissions?

(Art direction and design: Jean-Dominique Lavoix-Carli) “Climate breakdown has begun” warned UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a statement released on 6 September 2023. Globally, throughout the 2023 Summer, the world has lived through the beginning of the turmoil and havoc that climate change and related temperature rise bring. Repeated heatwaves, related air pollution “with knock-on …

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