There is a narrative out there that we shouldn’t care about higher emissions because because plants love CO2.

Well, firstly, we’re not plants.

Secondly, the reason we should care about more CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere is because it’ll be bad for modern human civilization 🧵 Higher CO2 levels trap heat and push global temperatures higher at a rate societies struggle to handle.

Historically, CO2 has varied, like 1,000 to 2,000 ppm in the Eocene 50 million years ago, with temps ten to fifteen degrees Celsius above today's.

That made Earth ice-free, with seas one hundred meters higher. There were no humans back then.

In the Pliocene, 3 to 5 million years ago, CO2 was closer to today's 420 ppm, with temps two to three degrees warmer, still flooding coasts. Still no humans.

If Iran didn't have a nuclear electricity program, it might have gotten the bombs already.

Let me explain 🧵 To build a civilian nuclear electricity program, a country must work with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and sign a safeguards agreement. 

Without it, they can’t buy the specialized technology needed, like centrifuges or reactors.

It's not like you can buy this stuff on Amazon or EBay, and the companies that sell it will only do so if the country has signed the agreement.

President Trump signed four (!) executive orders to make the U.S. the world’s leader in nuclear electricity.

Some of it is promising. Some of it might backfire. Let’s break it down.

Nuclear Executive Orders megathread ☢️

https://twitter.com/whitehouse/status/1925975528097431782

Starting with the juiciest EO of them all: Reforming the NRC!

If you’ve been in pro-tech spaces on X, you’ve heard that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is to blame for nuclear’s abysmal performance in America in the past 30+ years.

“Since 1978, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has authorized only five new reactors, and of these, only two have been built,” reads the EO.

I don’t have any hot takes on the immigration controversy, but felt inspired to share my story.

Some of my most vivid childhood memories in Brazil are of watching American movies after getting home from school.

They were light movies like Bethoven, Paulie or Babe.

In hindsight there were a lot of talking animals.

I loved the United States of America even then, before my developing brain could understand why.

Life simply appeared to be a lot better in America and everyone seemed happier.

I mean… people had air conditioning, laundry machines, dishwashers and TALKING PETS, how could they not be happier?!

My photo kissing a nuclear waste cask went viral and people had… opinions about it.

There was outrage, with many claiming it was dangerous and that I was hurting my future children (lol).

Here’s why kissing a nuclear waste cask is actually fine🧵

https://twitter.com/isabelleboemeke/status/1869770868353859808

The waste people are concerned about and say remains dangerously radioactive forever is called “spent fuel.”

Contrary to popular belief, spent fuel doesn’t look like neon green slime. I know, shocker.

It looks exactly like the fuel that goes into the reactor in the first place:

Just a bunch of ceramic pellets, lined up inside very long metal rods that are bundled together.

how it started how it’s going two years ago i called big pro-nuclear organizations to ask what they were doing to save diablo canyon. the responses were the same: “don’t waste your time, it’s a done deal.”

guess i’m a terrible listener, because i kept digging…

TODAY IS THE DAY!

california legislature will decide on the future of diablo canyon. it’s obvious that keeping it open is the right thing to do to keep the lights on, reduce emissions and ensure california remains a climate leader. #SB846 one objection to keeping it open was what people called a “solar tax”. the issue was fully cleared yesterday and the rooftop solar industry has removed its opposition to it. win win 🏆

CHERNOBYL UPDATE:

there’s been loss of some power at the chernobyl nuclear site. but how dangerous is that? by the year 2,000 all of the reactors at chernobyl power plant were shut down. so the risk of a core meltdown is ZERO

https://twitter.com/iaeaorg/status/1501545852715905029

what about the risk of spent fuel in cooling pools? when the uranium pellets come out of the reactors, they still produce heat for years. that’s why they need to stay in a pool and be cooled down. they produce less and less heat as time goes by, reducing the need for cooling.

#Zaporizhzhya thread:

it is the biggest nuclear power plant in europe (6 reactors)

3 reactors were offline already

2 more were recently shut down

there seems to be 1 reactor still operating a couple of hours ago, russian military attacked the plant and caused a fire in an administration building. the reactor buildings were not on fire and seem to be safe.

“what do we want?
clean energy!
when do we want it?
now!”

extra entrance to the @savecleanenergy rally!

@Heather_mom4nuk @kristinzaitz @ParisOrtizWines @NuclearQuaffle @MadisonSchroder diablo canyon is california’s largest single source of clean energy.

lots of people showed up to say “don’t shut it down!”

📣 DIABLO CANYON @MIT and @Stanford WEBINAR TLDW:

the webinar started with former secretary of energy steven chu saying “what are you doing you silly bunch? keep diablo canyon open!” just kidding! he actually said that countries that turned off their nuclear *cough cough germany* have built more fossil fuel plants and increased their carbon emissions.

just so we’re all on the same page: burning more fossil fuels = bad

this presentation by energy twitter’s fav @JesseJenkins is worth a watch! but here is a little TLDW 🧵
to get to 100% clean electricity by 2050 we’re gonna have to:

- double the current *clean* energy capacity in the US by 2030
- double the current *total* energy capacity by 2040 (but all has to be clean)
- do all of it again by 2050

so, adding on average 35GW/yr for 19 years 😳