Hybrid energy systems have drawn increasing attention of late but the possibility of melding the benefits of nuclear power with those of renewables harbours the potential to revolutionise energy generation as we know it.

By performing a sort of balancing act, nuclear power can enhance the efficiency of renewables while ensuring the overall system is reliable and low carbon.

Yet while some countries have already successfully adapted nuclear power plants to be load following—that is, to provide flexible operation based on energy demand and fill the gaps in output left by intermittent sources such as wind and solar—the issue more economic than technical.

Nuclear plants require significant invesment, and as such they need to run for as many hours as possible, and it’s not economic for them to stand idle for a period of time just because the wind happens to be blowing—they generate no income during that period.

Here Aliki van Heek, unit head at IAEA, speaks to Nuclear Engineering International about the feasbility of merging nuclear power and renewables into a hybrid energy system, and the impetus phenomena such as climate change have created with regard to making such a concept a reality.

An “energy-only” model keeps wholesale prices low during fair weather. Low prices encourage customers to add devices and equipment. On a larger, longer term scale, it encourages businesses and even residents to migrate to take advantage of having low cost electricity available.

But it doesn’t provide sufficient predictable revenue to encourage investment in durable generating sources or long term, guaranteed delivery fuel supply contracts. //

If challenged about the value of continued strong support and mandates for increasing wind and solar penetration, one of their arguments is that using the wind and the sun to supply energy when it is available allows fossil fuel generating sources to burn less fuel. //

That would be a reasonable response if the only competitor to wind and solar was fossil fuel. It’s even a reasonable response in systems where large hydroelectric dams are part of the generating mix because it allows the water to remain behind the dam, ready to be used when wind and solar generation falls off.

But opportunistically displacing other sources of power can lead to unproductive consequences like eliminating enough revenue from nuclear plants to make them struggle financially. Right now, there are firm plans in place to close five operating nuclear plants in the US during 2021.

Though some industry leaders have vociferously denied that wind and solar power can be blamed for those closure decisions, the financial evidence is clear. Low grid prices and grid congestion fees in regions where there is abundant wind or solar power available create a “missing money” situation that stresses large steady-running generators that serve base load very well. //

The “energy-only” market structure has helped gas to push most coal and lignite off of the Texas grid, producing significant air pollution reduction and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Using more natural gas in power production has been beneficial to the Texas economy as well, since most of the gas burned in the state is extracted in the state. //

Without any source of revenues for power generations other than selling electricity, there are no reasons why any generator would spend money to store fuel on site to use in the rare case where there are interruptions in the fuel supply. //

If society determines that it is unacceptable to have a power grid that cuts off customers for many hours at a time during a period when being without power can be deadly, it must accept the fact that markets cannot be the decision makers.

Cheapness on a short duration scale – like 5-minute settlement markets – cannot be the sole criteria for selecting power sources.

Construction of Snowy 2.0, a major pumped-hydro expansion of Australia’s renowned Snowy Mountains Scheme, is well underway, with tunnelling about to begin.

A nationally-significant renewable energy initiative, Snowy 2.0 is also unique in international terms, combining a high head differential (more than 700m), long tunnels and reversible pump-turbines.

It will link two existing Snowy Scheme reservoirs, Tantangara and Talbingo, through 27km of segmentally-lined waterway tunnels, approximately 10m in diameter, and a power station about 800m underground.

Snowy 2.0 will add 2,000 megawatts (MW) of energy generation and, with the capacity to generate power for seven days without recharge pumping, it will provide 350,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy storage.

Research on demand programs suggests that a better, and more long-lasting, approach is price incentives. Critical peak pricing (CPP) programs give customers lower prices throughout most of the year, but impose a much higher price when supply is tight. Numerous careful studies, covering both residential and commercial customers, have demonstrated that CPP yields substantial demand reductions in response to the high price. And one study by Catherine, Meredith and co-authors demonstrates that making CPP the default gets very high participation and also high satisfaction among customers.

From 1973 onwards, Pan Am significantly struggled. Starting with the oil crisis in 1973 and growing competition, the airline worked to right-size its operations. However, the real blow to Pan Am came in 1978.

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act into law, which phased out the CAB and deregulated the American airline industry. It was essentially with this stroke that the US officially ended having even a de facto flag carrier.

During the regulated years, Pan Am could not fly domestic routes. The CAB was concerned about Pan Am growing so big it would monopolize the growing air market, so it left Pan Am with operating international routes with few exceptions. The carrier seriously wanted domestic routes, but it never got the breadth that it needed.

So, in 1978, all of a sudden, Pan Am had a limited domestic network and a large international network with nearly no connecting feed. On international routes, Pan Am faced a host of new competitors that seriously threatened its business.

From then on, Pan Am was on the slide. After a rough merger with National Airlines, the carrier went through a difficult 1980s and tried various strategies, including divestment of some assets and fleet advancements, which helped but was not enough for the airline. One thing it could not prepare for was the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and subsequent financial struggles.

In 1991, Pan Am ceased operations, leading to the end of the premier international airline.

The grim failure of Operation Hat resurfaced this month after violent floods killed over 50 people in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. The floods most likely began when a chunk of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off and trapped flowing water, forming a lake that eventually burst through and swept through nearby valleys. The undeniable oddness of a glacial breaking apart during the winter has led some locals to speculate that perhaps the plutonium generator, which is still likely producing heat, led to the deadly floods.

There’s no evidence for the hypothesis, though even after years of reconnaissance missions and rigorous chemical assays of the surrounding area, nobody knows where the CIA’s lost nuclear powered spy oven is.

Consistently ranked as one of the leading causes of death around the world, malaria doesn’t have an effective vaccine yet. But researchers have invented a promising new blueprint for one — with properties akin to the novel RNA-based vaccine for COVID-19.

Making a vaccine for malaria is challenging because its associated parasite, Plasmodium, contains a protein that inhibits production of memory T-cells, which protect against previously encountered pathogens. If the body can’t generate these cells, a vaccine is ineffective. But scientists recently tried a new approach using an RNA-based platform. 

Their design circumvented the sneaky protein, allowed the body to produce the needed T-cells and completely immunized against malaria. The patent application for their novel vaccine, which hasn't yet been tested on humans, was published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office on Feb. 4.

“It's probably the highest level of protection that has been seen in a mouse model,” said Richard Bucala, co-inventor of the new vaccine and a physician and professor at Yale School of Medicine.