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TerraPower Just Broke Ground on Its Next-Gen Nuclear Project

On Bill Gates’ advanced nuclear reactor, solar geoengineering, and FEMA

TerraPower Just Broke Ground on Its Next-Gen Nuclear Project
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Heavy rains in China are boosting the country’s hydropower output • Late-season frost advisories are in place for parts of Michigan • It will be 80 degrees Fahrenheit and cloudy today near the Port of Baltimore, which has officially reopened after 11 weeks of closure.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Bill Gates’ TerraPower breaks ground on next-gen nuclear project

TerraPower, the energy company founded by Bill Gates, broke ground yesterday on a next-generation nuclear power plant in Wyoming that will use an advanced nuclear reactor. As Heatmap’s Emily Pontecorvo and Matthew Zeitlin explained, these reactors are smaller and promise to be cheaper to build than America’s existing light-water nuclear reactor fleet. The design “would be a landmark for the American nuclear industry” because it calls for cooling with liquid sodium instead of the standard water-cooling of American nuclear plants. “This technique promises eventual lower construction costs because it requires less pressure than water (meaning less need for expensive safety systems) and can also store heat, turning the reactor into both a generator and an energy storage system.” TerraPower is still waiting for its construction permit to be approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and The Associated Press reported the work that began yesterday is just to get the site ready for speedy construction if the permit goes through.

2. Construction begins on Brooklyn’s big offshore wind hub

Another big energy project also broke ground yesterday: The South Brooklyn Marine Terminal will support Equinor’s 54-turbine Empire Wind 1 project and be the largest offshore wind port in the U.S. once completed. The terminal spans 73 acres in Sunset Park. Along with supporting the assembly and storage of wind turbine components, it will also house a substation connecting energy from Empire Wind 1 to the grid. Empire Wind will deliver 810 megawatts of renewable energy to New York, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes. The terminal’s construction is expected to be finished by the end of 2026. Below you can see what the port looks like now, and a rendering of the finished project:

Equinor

Equinor

3. Environmental Defense Fund will invest in solar geoengineering research

The nonprofit group Environmental Defense Fund will start funding research into solar geoengineering, The New York Timesreported. Up until very recently, solar geoengineering was “one of climate science’s biggest taboos,” as Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer put it. That’s because it involves trying to cool the planet by reflecting the sun’s heat back into space. Some scientists and environmentalists worry geoengineering could have unintended consequences for the climate, and would give greenhouse gas emitters an excuse to keep on polluting. But as temperatures soar and global emissions remain stubbornly high, scientists have started to embrace the idea, and the EDF says because the topic isn’t going away, it wants to fund solid research that can help inform policymakers should geoengineering get the greenlight in the future. The EDF is looking to issue its first grants this fall.

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  • 4. FEMA’s disaster relief fund is already running low

    Hurricane season has only just started, and already the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund is running low, CNN reported. So far the nation has been hit with 11 extreme weather disasters this year, costing $25.1 billion and leaving FEMA’s fund facing the prospect of a $1.3 billion shortfall in August unless Congress frees up additional funding. The costs are only expected to mount: Meteorologists expect the 2024 hurricane season to be extremely busy, and intense heat waves in western states could make for a busy wildfire season.

    NOAA

    5. California lawsuit takes aim at big oil companies’ profits

    California is gunning for big oil companies’ profits. Since September of last year, the state has been pursuing a lawsuit against five major oil companies (and the American Petroleum Institute), accusing them of greenwashing, and deceiving the public about the risks of climate change and how their fossil fuel products contribute to it. Yesterday California Attorney General Rob Bonta amended the suit to incorporate a new state law that allows him to seek a company’s “unjust profits” made through violating consumer protection and advertising laws. The suit wants the profits to be directed into a victims’ restitution fund. According to the Financial Times, the updated filing includes new evidence that the companies made “false and misleading statements” in widespread U.S. advertising campaigns.

    THE KICKER

    Researchers have just discovered that ocean algae play a key role in cooling the planet by producing large amounts of a compound that helps with the formation of clouds.

    Yellow

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    Q&A

    You, Too, Can Protect Solar Panels Against Hail

    A conversation with VDE Americas CEO Brian Grenko.

    This week's interview subject.
    Heatmap Illustration

    This week’s Q&A is about hail. Last week, we explained how and why hail storm damage in Texas may have helped galvanize opposition to renewable energy there. So I decided to reach out to Brian Grenko, CEO of renewables engineering advisory firm VDE Americas, to talk about how developers can make sure their projects are not only resistant to hail but also prevent that sort of pushback.

    The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

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    Hotspots

    The Pro-Renewables Crowd Gets Riled Up

    And more of the week’s big fights around renewable energy.

    The United States.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    1. Long Island, New York – We saw the face of the resistance to the war on renewable energy in the Big Apple this week, as protestors rallied in support of offshore wind for a change.

    • Activists came together on Earth Day to protest the Trump administration’s decision to issue a stop work order on Equinor’s Empire Wind project. It’s the most notable rally for offshore wind I’ve seen since September, when wind advocates protested offshore opponents at the Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island.
    • Esther Rosario, executive director of Climate Jobs New York, told me the rally was intended to focus on the jobs that will be impacted by halting construction and that about a hundred people were at the rally – “a good half of them” union members or representing their unions.
    • “I think it’s important that the elected officials that are in both the area and at the federal level understand the humans behind what it means to issue a stop-work order,” she said.

    2. Elsewhere on Long Island – The city of Glen Cove is on the verge of being the next New York City-area community with a battery storage ban, discussing this week whether to ban BESS for at least one year amid fire fears.

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    Spotlight

    How a Carbon Pipeline Is Turning Iowa Against Wind

    Long Islanders, meanwhile, are showing up in support of offshore wind, and more in this week’s edition of The Fight.

    Iowa.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images, Library of Congress

    Local renewables restrictions are on the rise in the Hawkeye State – and it might have something to do with carbon pipelines.

    Iowa’s known as a renewables growth area, producing more wind energy than any other state and offering ample acreage for utility-scale solar development. This has happened despite the fact that Iowa, like Ohio, is home to many large agricultural facilities – a trait that has often fomented conflict over specific projects. Iowa has defied this logic in part because the state was very early to renewables, enacting a state portfolio standard in 1983, signed into law by a Republican governor.

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