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New Nuclear Is Too Late and Too Costly for the Climate Crisis

14 April 2026, Paul Dorfman, https://bennettinstitutesussex.org/stories/nuclear-is-too-late-and-too-costly-for-the-climate-crisis/

Dr Paul Dorfman, Bennett Scholar, makes a clear and evidence based case: new nuclear power cannot play a meaningful role in addressing the climate or energy crises. It is not simply expensive, it is structurally misaligned with the speed, scale and affordability required for effective climate action.

In the report, ‘Debt, Delays, Dependencies. Why Public Banks
Should Not Support Nuclear Power‘, Dr Dorfman’s contribution makes clear that new nuclear power represents a policy dead end, diverting scarce resources away from climate‑effective solutions. The opportunity cost is enormous: every pound invested in nuclear is a pound not invested in renewables, energy efficiency, storage or grid resilience. New nuclear is already too late. The renewable transition is happening now – and smart policy must move with it.

Key Findings

Dr Dorfman shows that time is the critical constraint. New nuclear projects consistently take 15–20 years from planning to operation, with average construction overruns of more than 60%. In contrast, wind and solar projects move from planning to generation in months to a few years, making them vastly more effective in the decisive decade for emissions reduction. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that renewables are now up to ten times more effective at cutting emissions than new nuclear, underscoring the urgency of choosing technologies that can deliver now rather than decades from now.

Cost compounds the problem. Dr Dorfman highlights that new nuclear is the most expensive form of electricity generation. Nuclear projects routinely double their initial cost estimates, while renewable technologies continue to fall rapidly in price due to economies of scale, innovation and fast global deployment.

The chapter also challenges the notion that nuclear complements renewables. Evidence shows that large, inflexible nuclear plants crowd out investment in grids, storage and flexibility – exactly the systems needed to integrate high shares of renewable energy. Meanwhile, renewables already deliver the bulk of new global power capacity, with wind and solar generating significantly more electricity than nuclear worldwide, and expanding at a far faster rate.

Finally, Dr Dorfman highlights a growing but under‑discussed risk: climate change itself threatens nuclear infrastructure. Rising sea levels, heatwaves, floods and water scarcity increasingly disrupt reactor operation, driving up costs and safety risks. Rather than being a climate solution, nuclear power is becoming more vulnerable because of climate impacts, further undermining its viability.

Why this matters for policy and innovation

Dr Dorfman’s chapter, ‘New nuclear: Too late and too costly for the climate and energy crises‘ has a central insight that aligns squarely with the Bennett Institute’s mission to accelerate effective, evidence‑based policy innovation. The persistence of nuclear in policy debates is not driven by outcomes, but by legacy thinking, political inertia and vested interests. Dr Dorfman’s analysis shows that innovation is not about new reactor designs, but about deploying solutions that already work, quickly, affordably and at scale. This research reinforces a core Bennett Institute principle: policy decisions must be grounded in real‑world delivery.

April 18, 2026 Posted by | climate change | Leave a comment

When “exterminate the world” isn’t a headline

15 April 2026 Michael Taylor, https://theaimn.net/when-exterminate-the-world-isnt-a-headline/

A sitting president speaks of world extermination – and the world barely looks up.

There was a time – not so long ago – when a statement from a sitting president that another nation wants to “exterminate the world” would have detonated across the political landscape. It would have triggered emergency debates, wall-to-wall coverage, and grave discussions about judgment, stability, and the terrifying weight of nuclear rhetoric.

Now, it barely lingers for a news cycle.

When Donald Trump warns of apocalyptic destruction in the context of Iran, the words land with a dull thud rather than a sharp crack. Not because they are any less dangerous – but because the world has been conditioned to expect them. Shock, it turns out, has a shelf life. And we have exceeded it.

This is how democratic norms erode – not always through dramatic rupture, but through repetition. The outrageous becomes familiar. The familiar becomes background noise. And eventually, the unthinkable becomes just another line in a transcript.

There is, of course, always an explanation ready at hand. Analysts speak of strategy, of calculated unpredictability, of the so-called “madman theory” dressed up as geopolitical chess. Perhaps. But even if one accepts that premise, it raises a more unsettling question: what happens when the performance of madness is indistinguishable from the real thing?

The danger is no longer just in the words themselves, but in our diminished reaction to them. A public that no longer flinches at the language of annihilation is a public that has, in some quiet and reluctant way, adapted to it. And a media environment that treats such rhetoric as routine risks becoming an accomplice to that adaptation – not through malice, but through fatigue.

This is the deeper story. Not what was said, but what wasn’t felt in response.

Because when the most extreme language available to a leader of a nuclear-armed state fails to shock, it is not the words that have changed.

It is us.

April 18, 2026 Posted by | culture and arts | Leave a comment

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