Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Nuclear is costly, risky and slow, Ramana says. Why then, he asks in his new book, do governments still champion it? You would be forgiven for thinking that the debate on nuclear power is pretty much settled. Sure, there are still some naysayers, but most reasonable people have come to realise that in an age of climate crisis, we need low-carbon nuclear energy – alongside wind and solar power – to help us transition away from fossil fuels. In 2016, 400 reactors were operating across 31 countries, with one estimate suggesting roughly the same number in operation in mid-2023, accounting for 9.2% of global commercial gross electricity generation. But what if this optimism were in fact wrong, and nuclear power can never live up to its promise? That is the argument the physicist MV Ramana makes in his new book. He says nuclear is costly, dangerous and takes too long to scale up. Nuclear, the work’s title reads, is not the solution. This wasn’t the book Ramana, a professor at the University of British Columbia, planned to write. The problems with nuclear are so “obvious”, he wagered, they do not need to be spelled out. But with the guidance of his editor, he realised his mistake. Even in the contemporary environmental movement, which emerged alongside the anti-war and anti-nuclear movements, there are converts. Prominent environmentalists, understandably desperate about the climate crisis, believe it is rational and reasonable to support nuclear power as part of our energy mix. Nuclear is Not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change by MV Ramana is out now Continue reading...

New data reveals the virus has spread to endangered species in Antarctica – yet the H5N1’s risk to biodiversity, farming and human health is little explored With at least 280 million birds dead since October 2021, the highly infectious H5N1 strain of avian flu has devastated poultry and caused the biggest sudden drop of the world’s wild bird population in decades. The millions of wild birds killed includes tens of thousands of endangered and endemic species – and tens of thousands of mammals have died too. Today, new data, published in Nature Communications, documents the disease’s spread to the southernmost tip of the planet – the Antarctic region – where it has inflicted significant die-offs in elephant seals and fur seals. This outbreak has affected every continent except Oceania, and yet there has been little coverage of the impact on global biodiversity and farming systems – or of potential risks to human health. Continue reading...

Three states and the Northern Territory face an increased risk of bushfire this spring, according to fire authorities and the BoM Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Large parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory, the south-west of Victoria and south-east corner of South Australia face an increased risk of bushfires this spring. An official assessment from fire authorities and the Bureau of Meteorology, co-ordinated by the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities (AFAC) and released on Wednesday morning, points to a likely early start to the fire season in Victoria. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Arithmetic over capacity does not add up, with supply chains a constraining factor Renewable energy auction secures enough power for 11m UK homes It was a “record-setting auction” and “a significant step forward in our mission for clean power for 2030”, trumpeted the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, enjoying the contrast with last year’s auction flop under the Tories in which precisely zero bids were received to build offshore windfarms. Miliband was claiming credit when it wasn’t entirely due, of course, because this year’s competition was designed well before the general election. Some version of success was guaranteed from the moment the last government said it was prepared to pay up to £73 a megawatt hour (in 2012 prices, confusingly) for offshore wind, a mighty leap from the £44 level that produced no takers in 2023. At the higher level of incentive, developers were bound to come out to play again. Continue reading...