The production of clean synthetic fuels is key if we want to decarbonize the economy to achieve the urgent clean energy transition. This article highlights how hydrogen produced from clean energy sources needs to step up, nuclear energy could be a big player in its production and offers some key advantages over other clean forms of energy sources, such as land use and costs.

On the day this episode was recorded, Germany shut down its last 3 nuclear power plants - active assets producing massive amounts of clean energy. Michael Liebreich and Kirsty Gogan discuss what drove this decision and its consequences. They also share their thoughts on how nuclear energy's role in the clean energy transition, though now recognized and proven, still struggles to make its way.

Terra Praxis featured as Brutal Tech's startup showcase.

"As a climate solution accelerator, Terra Praxis is accelerating solutions that have the potential to scale and have a significant impact on the decarbonization challenge."

Widespread impacts from climate change are already here. Our actions in this critical decade will determine the full extent of future impacts on our children and grandchildren. In our 2022 Annual Review, you will see how, with our world-class sustainability partners, Terra Praxis is the only entity designing a scalable, rapid repowering system to decarbonize the entire global coal fleet by 2050. This is how we plan to eliminate one-third of global carbon emissions and provide a method for supplying affordable, reliable, and emissions-free energy to billions of people. With global coal consumption reaching record highs in 2022, solutions like this are needed now more than ever.

In April 2023, Terra Praxis took part in this IAEA webinar that discussed economic considerations around the potential for repurposing retired or operating coal-fired power plants with nuclear power plants to support climate change mitigation. This webinar provided an opportunity to highlight current case studies in this area, including potential economic benefits, identified challenges and possible solutions.

"We are still not treating the climate emergency as if it was an emergency" is one of many of Kirsty Gogan's insights during her interview with Pamela Largue at Enlit Europe. This article highlights the key issues Kirsty addressed in terms of why nuclear energy should be part of the energy transition in order to address the climate urgency.

Terra Praxis and Danish floating nuclear power plant developer Seaborg have agreed to assess Seaborg's Compact Molten Salt Reactor (CMSR) as a potential heat source to support the rapid decarbonization of the global coal fleet.

Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Dashboard launch, which includes analysis of 21 SMR designs and the progress towards their deployment and commercialization. Terra Praxis Founding Director, Kirsty Gogan joined a panel of experts who discussed the energy planning priorities of potential end-users.

Terra Praxis joined its partners from Anthropocene at this exciting festival, where Terra Praxis had a chance to walk people through our work on REPOWER.

Terra Praxis and Seaborg have agreed to assess Seaborg’s CMSR as a potential heat source in the standardized, systematic method of repurposing existing coal-fired power plants with nuclear reactors, developed by Terra Praxis. Many coal power plants are located close to industrial water courses or oceans providing direct site access for Seaborg's floating power barge product.

To meet their net-zero goals, companies need support across their energy transition journeys to reduce CO2 emissions, capture and store carbon, generate green hydrogen, repower coal, and optimize wind turbines. The new Microsoft Center of Excellence will showcase leading energy transition solutions and give customers an opportunity to learn first-hand the solutions offered by Microsoft and our global partner ecosystem.

Terra Praxis was honored to be featured at the newly inaugurated Microsoft Energy Transition Center of Excellence grand opening, where we showcased REPOWER, the largest carbon abatement solution on the planet.

Terra Praxis and Copenhagen Atomics have agreed to assess Copenhagen Atomics Waste Burner (CAWB) as a potential heat source in the standardized, systematic method of repurposing existing coal-fired power plants with nuclear reactors, developed by Terra Praxis. Parties anticipate that the success of Terra Praxis’ Repowering Coal system will be a dramatic reduction in regulatory licensing scope, project duration, project costs, and commercial risks to enable the rapid decarbonization of coal plants to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

The purpose of the workshop was to explore the challenges in developing an adequate level of competence and experienced personnel to operate and maintain the new generation small modular reactors. Operating these reactors may require a different kind of organization structure and personnel may need a different set of competencies and expertise.

Kirsty Gogan, and Eric Ingersoll, Terra Praxis Founding Directors and Co-CEOs, participated in the Enlit Impact Circle, where a group of select experts gathered to give shape to the upcoming Enlit Europe conference program.

Terra Praxis Founding Director and Co-CEO, Kirsty Gogan, participated in a roundtable discussion hosted by the IAEA Director General Rafael M. Grossi on ‘Unleashing the co-benefits of nuclear power.'

Did you know that coal plants can be repurposed with advanced reactors to become clean energy generators? Terra Praxis and our partners from Microsoft and Schneider Electric gathered at DISTRIBUTECH to showcase the largest single carbon abatement opportunity on the planet.

The biggest challenge facing the future of the global nuclear sector can be summed up in one word: scale, we aren’t building new reactors fast enough to make even a small dent in global greenhouse gas emissions, which continue to rise. However, shipyards have the production capacity to churn out reactor vessels at the scale needed to make a difference in the global electricity mix. Indeed, they have the ability to build powerships at rates that could transform the nuclear industry.

Shipyards build ships, of course. But they are more than that; in reality, they are manufacturing centers for all manner of extremely large, complex, and highly regulated items, such as oil drilling platforms, cruise ships, and other marine vessels. In addition to large things, shipyards specialize in constructions that are designed for extremely challenging environments and operations, such as submarines or ice breakers. Modern shipyards already have the professionals and the supply chains in place to deliver safe, reliable, and ready-to-go products at impressively high levels of quality control and assurance. There’s no real reason that they couldn’t turn that expertise toward building modular reactors and assemble them into barges and other offshore platforms that could operate as offshore power plants—perhaps even offshore power plants linked directly to hydrogen and synthetic fuel production.

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Terra Praxis' Chief Technology Officer, Chirayu Batra, was invited as an expert lecturer for this workshop reviewing state-of-the-art reactor design concepts, nuclear fuel cycle options including design and technological features of various innovative reactors.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) plans to invest RM20 billion worth of capital expenditure annually over the next 28 years to support the country’s net-zero agenda.

In the news round-up for November, the focus was on the role nuclear played at COP27. World Nuclear Association's Jonathan Cobb and Henry Preston report on the conference and from some of the expert sessions staged at the IAEA #Atoms4Climate pavilion, including a session featuring Terra Praxis Co-Founder, Kirsty Gogan.

Terra Praxis has been listed among eight of the most high-impact, cost-effective, evidence-based organizations fighting climate change. Why Johannes Ackva and Luisa Sandkühler of Founders Pledge recommend Terra Praxis: “We believe that Terra Praxis continues to do incredibly important work around shaping a conversation for advanced nuclear to address critical decarbonization challenges, such as the decarbonization of hard-to-decarbonize sectors and the conundrum of how to deal with lots of very new coal plants that are unlikely to be prematurely retired.”

Terra Praxis was part of 2022 Enlit Europe. Enlit Europe is part of a series of events where energy professionals from around the globe come together to collaborate and innovate to solve the most pressing issue in energy.

This fall Founders Pledge is celebrating the two year anniversary of their Climate Change Fund. Thanks to this fund, Terra Praxis was able to quick start operations in 2020 and continue its growth and expand its work streams throughout these years. This post will give a high-level overview of how the Fund's money has been hard at work (i) accelerating innovation in neglected technologies, (ii) avoiding carbon lock-in in emerging economies, (iii) promoting policy leadership and paradigm shaping, and (iv) catalytically growing organizations during the past two years.

"What I love about what you’re doing is that you’re taking the opportunity to look at these coal plants, and not just close them down, but turn them into something new and better,” Microsoft President and Vice Chair, Brad Smith, said at the launch of our new EVALUATE application, enabling every coal plant owner in the world to assess their coal plant for conversion to clean energy.

Terra Praxis Co-Founder Kirsty Gogan spoke at the recent Energy 2050 Summit. This year's agenda was anchored on the theme "Accelerating the Energy Transition" and featured leading companies rising to the decarbonization challenge, senior energy executives and decision-makers, policy makers, investors, strategists, new technology providers and global governments.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) reported in a September study that over 300 coal-fired power plants in the United States alone are candidates for the Repowering Coal programme. DOE estimated that “80% of retired and operating coal power plant sites that were evaluated have the basic characteristics needed to be considered amenable to host an advanced nuclear reactor”. This represents over 260GWe located at more than 300 sites. However, the Terrestrial Energy-TerraPraxis partnership is looking to repower coal plants globally, which is an estimated 2TWe opportunity.

Small modular reactors (SMRs) could play a key role in plans to replace the heart of coal-fired power plants with a low - or zero-emission heat source.

Spotted: The Paris Agreement states that emissions need to be reduced by 45 per cent by 2030 and reach Net Zero by 2050 in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Although many now consider that this target is beyond reach, it is still possible to stall warming at 2 degrees Celsius. One key to reaching this is to eliminate the use of fossil fuels as soon as possible, but current industry and deployment models for advanced heat sources cannot deliver fast enough or at the scale required. Startup Terra Praxis is aiming to change this.