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101 Nuclear Energy Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

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Nuclear energy is a controversial topic that sparks debate among scientists, policymakers, and the general public. With the potential for both significant benefits and risks, there is no shortage of essay topics to explore in this field. Whether you are a student looking to write a research paper or an individual interested in learning more about nuclear energy, here are 101 essay topic ideas and examples to get you started:

• The history of nuclear energy development
• The science behind nuclear energy
• The benefits of nuclear energy
• The risks of nuclear energy
• Nuclear energy vs. renewable energy sources
• Nuclear energy and climate change
• Nuclear energy and national security
• The role of nuclear energy in the future energy mix
• Nuclear energy and economic development
• The Fukushima nuclear disaster
• The Chernobyl nuclear disaster
• Nuclear energy and public perception
• Nuclear energy and waste management
• Nuclear energy and nuclear proliferation
• The cost of nuclear energy
• The safety of nuclear power plants
• The role of nuclear energy in reducing carbon emissions
• The ethics of nuclear energy
• Nuclear energy and environmental impact
• The future of nuclear fusion
• The potential of small modular reactors
• The role of nuclear energy in space exploration
• The impact of nuclear energy on wildlife
• Nuclear energy and water usage
• The role of nuclear energy in healthcare (e.g., medical isotopes)
• The social implications of nuclear energy development
• Nuclear energy and energy independence
• The role of nuclear energy in disaster response
• Nuclear energy and the military
• The challenges of decommissioning nuclear power plants
• The role of nuclear energy in developing countries
• Nuclear energy and human health
• The impact of nuclear energy on Indigenous communities
• Nuclear energy and sustainable development
• The role of nuclear energy in addressing energy poverty
• Nuclear energy and the energy transition
• The role of nuclear energy in combating air pollution
• Nuclear energy and job creation
• The impact of nuclear energy on land use
• The role of nuclear energy in achieving energy security
• Nuclear energy and geopolitical considerations
• The impact of nuclear energy on water resources
• The role of nuclear energy in disaster preparedness
• Nuclear energy and social justice
• The role of nuclear energy in urban planning
• The impact of nuclear energy on Indigenous knowledge systems
• Nuclear energy and food security
• The role of nuclear energy in reducing energy poverty
• Nuclear energy and the circular economy
• The impact of nuclear energy on air quality
• The role of nuclear energy in reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• Nuclear energy and energy access
• The challenges of nuclear energy governance
• Nuclear energy and energy justice
• The role of nuclear energy in sustainable development
• Nuclear energy and energy affordability
• The impact of nuclear energy on human rights
• Nuclear energy and energy democracy
• The role of nuclear energy in community development
• Nuclear energy and energy resilience
• The challenges of nuclear energy regulation
• Nuclear energy and energy sovereignty
• The role of nuclear energy in climate adaptation
• Nuclear energy and energy equity
• The impact of nuclear energy on vulnerable populations
• Nuclear energy and energy transition pathways
• The role of nuclear energy in the post-carbon economy
• Nuclear energy and energy infrastructure
• The challenges of nuclear energy policy
• Nuclear energy and energy governance
• The role of nuclear energy in energy sector transformation
• Nuclear energy and energy system integration
• The impact of nuclear energy on energy security
• Nuclear energy and energy sector reform
• The role of nuclear energy in energy planning
• Nuclear energy and energy market dynamics
• The challenges of nuclear energy financing
• Nuclear energy and energy sector regulation
• The role of nuclear energy in energy sector development
• Nuclear energy and energy sector transformation pathways
• The impact of nuclear energy on energy sector sustainability
• Nuclear energy and energy sector resilience
• The role of nuclear energy in energy sector innovation
• Nuclear energy and energy sector disruption
• The challenges of nuclear energy integration
• Nuclear energy and energy sector transition
• The role of nuclear energy in energy sector modernization
• Nuclear energy and energy sector transformation strategies
• The impact of nuclear energy on energy sector competitiveness
• Nuclear energy and energy sector diversification
• The role of nuclear energy in energy sector optimization
• Nuclear energy and energy sector performance
• The challenges of nuclear energy deployment
• Nuclear energy and energy sector transformation initiatives
• The role of nuclear energy in energy sector transformation processes
• Nuclear energy and energy sector transformation trends
• Nuclear energy and energy sector transformation challenges
• The role of nuclear energy in energy sector transformation dynamics
• Nuclear energy and energy sector transformation opportunities
• The challenges of nuclear energy adoption

These essay topic ideas and examples cover a wide range of aspects related to nuclear energy, from its history and science to its benefits and risks. Whether you are interested in exploring the environmental impact of nuclear energy or its role in sustainable development, there is no shortage of topics to delve into. So pick a topic that interests you, conduct thorough research, and start writing your essay on nuclear energy today!

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• Speech Writing /

2 Minutes Speech on Nuclear Energy in English for Students

• Updated on  
• Feb 3, 2024

In a speech on nuclear energy, you are required to describe what nuclear energy is, how it can be used, how it can help in environment sustainability and what is the meaning of nuclear energy for peace. There are two types of nuclear reactions; fission and fusion. Nuclear energy refers to the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. The process of releasing energy generates a large amount of heat, which is then used to boil water and convert it into steam. The steam spins the turbines and generates electricity.

While generating electricity, a huge amount of electricity is generated with minimal emissions of greenhouse gases. Nuclear energy is a clean and efficient source of energy, but it is still a matter of concern in debates about its safety and disposal of waste.

Table of Contents

• 1 Speech on Nuclear Energy: Sample 1
• 2 Speech on Nuclear Energy: Sample 2
• 3 Speech on Nuclear Energy in 10 Lines

Also Read: Essay on Nuclear Energy in 500+ words for School Students

Speech on Nuclear Energy: Sample 1

‘A very warm welcome to all of you. Allow me to present my speech on nuclear energy. The power of nuclear is immense. It provides 10 percent of the electricity across the world and still has the potential to meet much more energy needs. But as every coin has two sides similarly, nuclear energy can meet many more of our needed energy concerns about safety, waste, and the spread of nuclear weapons. 

In my speech, I will try to give a balanced perspective on the pros and cons of nuclear power.

Let us examine some examples of how nuclear energy impacts our daily lives. As we all know, nuclear reactors generate huge amounts of carbon-free electricity. This carbon-free electricity also provides current to our homes and provides us with an alternative way of generating electricity.

So next time, whenever you turn on the lights, charge the phone, tablet, or any electronic device, it might happen that your gadgets are consuming electricity from the nuclear plant. Furthermore, the current also powers major military assets such as aircraft carriers and submarines. In medicine, one cannot imagine treating cancer without the consumption of nuclear energy. Is there any other example of nuclear energy in our everyday lives?

Certainly Yes, the five major uses of nuclear technology include carbon-free powder, scientific research, naval power projection, space exploration, and last but not least, medicine. Learning about the uses a bit comprehensively makes us understand that electricity and nuclear power plants generate 2 to 3 percent more than wind and solar energy.

Using nuclear energy as fuel in scientific research not only boosts the speed of particle accelerators but also helps in the high performance of computer simulations. Whether it is nuclear-powered submarines, radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or radiation therapy to cure cancer, everywhere nuclear energy plays a vital role and marks its presence strongly for the benefit of humans.

So where does this leave us? In my view, nuclear energy is an important part of our energy mix. It provides stable as well as carbon-free power throughout 24 hours and 7 days and in every season or climate. Though nuclear energy has risks too if handled carefully then the technology definitely will come as a boon for us.’

Also Read: First Nuclear Reactor In India: Find List of Nuclear Power Plants In India

Speech on Nuclear Energy: Sample 2

‘Hello everyone, Today I am standing before you all to deliver my speech on nuclear energy. The splitting of uranium atoms helps generate nuclear energy. This split of uranium is called nuclear fission. Nuclear reactors have uranium fuel rods, which are bombarded with neutrons and are the major cause of the splitting of atoms apart. The released heat is used to boil water, which later on helps in the spinning of turbines to generate electricity.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) , As of 2023, there are 413 nuclear reactors for generating electricity across 32 countries. By the end of the year 2022, 12 countries were dependent on nuclear energy to supply at least one-quarter of their total electricity. The United States ranks first in having the most reactors, followed by France. 

It is important to note that nuclear reactors emit no greenhouse gases and, therefore, don´t affect the environment in any way. If we compare it with the burning of fossil fuels, then the numbers are a bit shocking. The lifecycle emissions of nuclear reactors are 8–12 times lower than those of coal and natural gas per unit of generated electricity.

Like every coin, it has two sides, and similarly, nuclear energy provides no harm to the environment but also has some disadvantages. The careless handling of nuclear energy can cause severe consequences for the atmosphere. Accidents such as Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima Daiichi are some of the calamities that don´t want to be repeated. Moreover, the waste of power plants and its impact on the environment, as well as radioactive waste, are some of the disadvantages of nuclear energy that raise our eyebrows and raise our concerns.

Nuclear power helps in generating electricity worldwide. It is reliable, affordable, and emits low carbon dioxide as compared to fossil fuels. But still, some challenges require attention as well as constructive discussion to find solutions to the drawbacks.’

Also Read: How to Become a Nuclear Engineer in India?

Speech on Nuclear Energy in 10 Lines

Let us deliver the speech on nuclear energy in 10 lines: 

1. The release of energy during nuclear reactions, particularly fusion and fission, is nuclear energy.

2. The process of releasing energy generates a large amount of heat, which is then used to boil water and convert it into steam.

3. Nuclear energy generates a huge amount of electricity is generated with minimal emissions of greenhouse gases.

4. Nuclear energy provides 10 percent of the electricity across the world and still has the potential to meet much more energy needs.

5. Carbon-free electricity provides current to our homes and provides us with an alternative way of generating electricity. Next time, whenever you turn on the lights, charge the phone, tablet, or any electronic device, it might happen that your gadgets are consuming electricity from the nuclear plant.

6. The current powers major military assets such as aircraft carriers and submarines.

7. Like every coin, it has two sides, and similarly, nuclear energy provides no harm to the environment but also has some disadvantages.

8. The careless handling of nuclear energy can cause severe consequences for the atmosphere.

9. Accidents such as Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima Daiichi are some of the calamities that should not be repeated.

10. Nuclear power helps in generating electricity worldwide. But still, some challenges require attention as well as constructive discussion to find solutions to the drawbacks. 

Also Read: What is the Full Form of AEC?

Ans: The splitting of uranium atoms helps generate nuclear energy. This split of uranium is called nuclear fission. Nuclear reactors have uranium fuel rods, which are bombarded with neutrons and are the major cause of the splitting of atoms apart. The released heat is used to boil water, which later on helps in the spinning of turbines to generate electricity. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), As of 2023, there are 413 nuclear reactors for generating electricity across 32 countries. By the end of the year 2022, 12 countries were dependent on nuclear energy to supply at least one-quarter of their total electricity. The United States ranks first in having the most reactors, followed by France.

Ans: The release of energy during nuclear reactions, particularly fusion and fission, is nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is important as it provides 10 per cent of the electricity across the world and still has the potential to meet much more energy needs.

Ans: The energy released during nuclear reactions, particularly fusion and fission, is nuclear energy.

Ans: Nuclear energy is used to generate electricity, e carbon-free powder, scientific research, naval power projection, space exploration, and last but not least, medicine.

Related Blogs

For more information on such interesting speech topics for your school, visit our speech writing page and follow Leverage Edu.

Deepika Joshi

Deepika Joshi is an experienced content writer with educational and informative content expertise. She has hands-on experience in Education, Study Abroad and EdTech SaaS. Her strengths lie in conducting thorough research and analysis to provide accurate and up-to-date information to readers. She enjoys staying updated on new skills and knowledge, particularly in the education domain. In her free time, she loves to read articles, and blogs related to her field to expand her expertise further. In her personal life, she loves creative writing and aspires to connect with innovative people who have fresh ideas to offer.

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77 Nuclear Power Essay Topics & Examples

If you’re looking for nuclear power essay topics, you may be willing to discuss renewable energy sources, sustainable development, and climate change as well. With the paper titles collected by our team , you’ll be able to explore all these issues!

🏆 Best Nuclear Energy Essay Topics & Examples

👍 good nuclear energy research paper topics, ❓ questions about nuclear power.

• Pros and Cons of Nuclear Power The first pro of nuclear energy is that it emits little pollution to the environment. The next con of nuclear energy is the occurrence of a meltdown.
• Nuclear Power Advantages and Disadvantages The claim is thought to include cost of installations and time taken to construct the nuclear plants. In this case, they fail to note that the cost of electricity from nuclear energy is cheaper than […]
• Nuclear Power Station Advantages and Disadvantages The use of nuclear power to produce electricity increases the energy dependence of a country. It has demonstrated that nuclear power is capable of producing enough electricity to satisfy the growing global energy demands.
• Why Nuclear Energy Is Not Good? Even those who say net production is cost effective for unit of nuclear energy produced may not be saying the truth because most of these estimate forget that nuclear energy is recipient of many government […]
• Combined-Cycle Gas Plant: The Nuclear Power Plant Replacement This essay will make the case for the use of a combined-cycle gas plant as the best option for replacing a state’s nuclear power plant, as well as explain why a carbon tax or cap-and-trade […]
• The Nuclear Power Passages: Rhetorical Analysis At that, the writer also provides some data utilized by the former vice president and some information to show the negative side of power plants.
• Metropolitan Edison Company vs. People Against Nuclear Energy In addition, the commission published a hearing notice which entailed an invitation to parties that were interested to submit their briefs explaining the impacts of the accident to the psychological harm or any other indirect […]
• Biological Effect of Man-Made Disasters in Nuclear Power Plants When it is disrupted in the reproductive organs, the changes are passed on to the offspring as mutations, which are mostly harmful to the organism and related to many deaths in the course of the […]
• Nuclear Energy: High-Entropy Alloy One of the tools for reducing the level of greenhouse gas emissions is the development of nuclear energy, which is characterized by a high degree of environmental efficiency and the absence of a significant impact […]
• Tsunami Handling at a Nuclear Power Plant The information presented in this research paper has been analyzed and proved to be the actual content obtained by various parties that participate in the study of tsunamis.
• Nuclear Power in India The demand for electricity in India is increasing and there is a need to increase the level of supply to meet the demand and the best option is to invest more in nuclear power, considering […]
• Nuclear Energy: Impact of Science & Technology on Society In spite of the fact that hopes of adherents of the use of atomic energy substantially were not justified, the majority of the governments of the countries of the world do not wish to refuse […]
• Nuclear Power Plants’ Safety Strategy Implementation Thus, incidents that occur on nuclear power plants are critical and pose a significant risk to the life and health of workers.
• Nuclear Power: Is It Sustainable? Another controversial aspect of nuclear power is its effects on human health and the environment. Finally, the use of nuclear energy is a significant political and ethical concern.
• Iranian Public Opinion on Nuclear Power and Economy Other research topics included the Israel-Palestine conflict, the war in Iraq, the Iranian system of government, and Iran’s relation to the US and the West.
• Nuclear Energy: Safe, Economical, Reliable Thus, nuclear energy is viable and safe in meeting the current and future demand for energy across the world. Nuclear energy has significant implications for the environment and population health in case of an accident […]
• Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation: Business Principles The first 3 are enablers of the system of management while the fourth component is process-oriented, which helps in the development, production, and delivery of services coupled with products of an organization to the market […]
• Nuclear Power as a Primary Energy Source The energy crisis the world faces currently is one of the most urgent and disturbing questions countries have to deal with.
• Nuclear Power & Environment The use of nuclear energy is one of the issues that are debated by environmental scientists, economists as well as engineers.
• Nuclear Power Exploitation to Generate Electricity Nuclear power plants expose the society to significant dangers in the event of a major disaster in the nuclear power plant.
• Fossil Fuel, Nuclear Energy, and Alternative Power Sources It is important to keep in mind that the amount of coal is decreasing and there is no guarantee that people will be able to discover more.
• Harmful Health Effects of Nuclear Energy The risk of developing thyroid cancer following exposure to nuclear radiations increased with a decrease in the age of the subject.
• Nuclear Power — Mega Trend The developmental milestone of the discovery of nuclear fission in the early 30’s paved way to the advent of nuclear power as a source of energy.
• Nuclear Power Use Controversies As a result, a person in the industrial world needs to have a wide knowledge of its environment. For example, technological adaptation is tied to interest of the public and the government.
• The Chronicle of North Korea’s Nuclear Power and Diplomacy Lastly, the paper analyzes the Six-Party talk in terms of its successes and failures with special focus on the current status of the nuclear development program in North Korea.
• A Cost Benefit Analysis of the Environmental and Economic Effects of Nuclear Energy in the United States The nature of damage posed to the environment depends on the nature of the nuclear plant being used and also the extraction process of fossil fuel themselves.
• Nuclear Energy Fusion and Harnessing Physicists use the equation E=MC2 to calculate the amount of energy that is generated as a result of the fusion of nucleus.
• Nuclear Energy Usage and Recycling The resulting energy is used to power machinery and generate heat for processing purposes. The biggest problem though is that of energy storage, which is considered to be the most crucial requirement for building a […]
• The Effect of Nuclear Energy on the Environment In response to the concerns, this paper proposes the use of thorium reactors to produce nuclear energy because the safety issues of uranium.
• The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, ENEC, brought together six UAE member states, the International Atomic Energy Agency and other countries such as the United States of America. The assertions made above indicate that UAE relies […]
• Nuclear Power Crisis in Japan and Its Implications Nuclear power is perceived in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand and perhaps somewhere else in Asia as an ingredient in a resolution aimed at achieving the requirement of an exceptionally huge amplification of power manufacturing capacity […]
• Nuclear Energy Benefits and Demerits The aim of the research is to provide substantial proof that nuclear energy is not efficient and sustainable. It is also argued that the whole process and the impacts of nuclear energy production make the […]
• Balanced Treatment of the Pros and Cons of Nuclear Energy Thus, the use of nuclear power presupposes a number of positive short-term and log-term consequences for the economy of the country and the environment of the planet.
• Nuclear Power and Its Effects on Economy, Environment and Safety Of all these, the nuclear power is the latest, realized in the dawn of the 20th century following the discovery some crucial radioactive elements and reactions like uranium and nuclear fission respectively, both of which […]
• The Environmental Impact of Nuclear Energy The country has the opportunity to enhance its capacity to generate electricity from nuclear following the approval of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate between three to four units of the Vogtle […]
• Should Production of Nuclear Power Be Stopped? A good example of a disaster caused by nuclear power accident is the accident in Chernobyl in April 1986, the accident was the worst in history and it led to mass displacement of people and […]
• Sources of Energy: Nuclear Power and Hydroelectric Power The main source of power in the world is the Sun. The Sun is the sole source of energy that plants use in the process of photosynthesis in order to manufacture their food.
• Nuclear Power’ Two Opposing Sides Thus, should possession of nuclear weapons be based on the desired end as to justify the means? It is acceptable to purport that nuclear power may be used if such is meant to promote peace […]
• Japan’s Nuclear Disaster: Fukushima’s Legacy The cladding, the reactor vessel, the containment building, and a dry-wall building were the barriers to protect the nuclear power plant.
• Dangers of Nuclear Power The external supply of power to the nuclear plant was disrupted by the earthquake. In addition, organization of the nuclear plant was responsible for some problems that were experienced.
• Why Developed Countries Should Not Produce Nuclear Power Though nuclear power generation is slowly gaining prominence in the world, especially since the world is seeking more sources of green energy, nuclear energy is a unique source of energy because it bears unique characteristics […]
• Nuclear Energy in Australia The irony of the matter is that Australia does not use these reserves to produce nuclear energy; two main reasons that has contributed to the un-exploitation are availability of rich coal deposits in the country, […]
• Impact of Nuclear Energy in France Through the process, heat energy is released from the bombardment of the nucleus and the neutrons. The need to manage the nuclear waste affected the economic parameters attached to nuclear energy.
• Nuclear Energy Effectiveness Although water is used to cool nuclear plants, we can conclude that nuclear energy is the most cost effective method of producing electricity.
• Nuclear Energy Benefits One of the factors why nuclear energy is an effective source of energy is that it is cost effective. The other factor that makes nuclear energy cost effective is that the risks associated with this […]
• Nuclear Power Provides Cheap and Clean Energy The production of nuclear power is relatively cheap when compared to coal and petroleum. The cost of nuclear fuel for nuclear power generation is much lower compared to coal, oil and gas fired plants.
• Living With Chernobyl – The Future of Nuclear Power: Summary In the documentary, journalist Cliff Orloff and Olga Shalygin made the journey to the affected zone with the aim of establishing the truth of the predictions made.
• What Is Nuclear Power in Simple Terms?
• What Is the Main Purpose of Nuclear Energy?
• What Is a Nuclear Power Plant and How Does It Work?
• How Many Countries Use Nuclear Power?
• What Happens When a Nuclear Power Plant Is Hit?
• Why Should Nuclear Power Plants Be Closed?
• Where Is Nuclear Energy Used?
• Why Is Management of Nuclear Energy Easier Said Than Done?
• Why Nuclear Power Is Hazardous for Both Humans and Nature?
• Why Are Megaprojects, Including Nuclear Power Plants, Implemented Over Budget and Late?
• Why Should Australia Master Nuclear Power?
• Why Did Some People Change Their Attitude Toward Nuclear Energy After the Fukushima Accident?
• Why Does Iran Need Nuclear Power?
• What Are the Implications of China as an Emerging Nuclear Power?
• What Are the Prospects for the Environmental Sciences of Nuclear Energy?
• What Role Can Nuclear Power Play in Mitigating Global Warming?
• What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of a Nuclear Power Plant?
• What Is the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation Employee Training Program?
• What Does Nuclear Energy Require?
• What Are Transaction Costs in Regulation and Subcontracting at a Nuclear Power Plant?
• What Is the Value of Modular Nuclear Power Plants in the Finite Time Horizon of Decision Making??
• How Is Nuclear Energy Stored?
• What Is the Truth About Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant?
• How Strong Is Nuclear Energy?
• Is Nuclear Cheaper Than Solar?
• Hazardous Waste Essay Topics
• North Korea Titles
• Wind Energy Essay Topics
• Evacuation Essay Topics
• Alternative Energy Paper Topics
• Solar Energy Essay Ideas
• Nazism Topics
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, February 29). 77 Nuclear Power Essay Topics & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/nuclear-power-essay-topics/

"77 Nuclear Power Essay Topics & Examples." IvyPanda , 29 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/nuclear-power-essay-topics/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '77 Nuclear Power Essay Topics & Examples'. 29 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "77 Nuclear Power Essay Topics & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/nuclear-power-essay-topics/.

1. IvyPanda . "77 Nuclear Power Essay Topics & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/nuclear-power-essay-topics/.

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A Radical Reboot of Nuclear Energy

A multibillion-dollar effort to build the first in a new generation of american nuclear power plants is underway outside a small town in wyoming..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. And this is “The Daily.”

[THEME MUSIC]

Nuclear power, once the great hope for a clean way to meet the world’s energy needs, fell out of favor decades ago. Today, my colleague Brad Plumer explains how one company with a radical idea is now working to bring it back.

It’s Monday, July 29.

Brad, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

So you cover climate. And you’ve been reporting on something that doesn’t normally come to mind when I think of climate change, and that’s nuclear power. It hasn’t really been part of the conversation about how to fix climate change really at all in recent years. But now you’ve found that is changing. Tell me about that.

Yeah, so there is a ton of innovation and a ton of investment pouring into nuclear power right now. And a big part of the reason for that is there’s this growing sense among experts and policymakers that, in order to fight climate change, we really need a wide variety of clean energy technologies. Right now, we have solar power. We have wind power.

Those are growing incredibly fast and really doing quite well. But they don’t run all the time. The sun’s not always shining. The wind’s not always blowing.

And so having something else like nuclear power that can run all the time would just be incredibly valuable, and might even be necessary, if we want to solve climate change.

And that seems pretty important right now, right? I mean, we’ve got these heat waves across the United States. Storms feel more severe, and wildfires are more and more destructive. So finding new sources of clean energy is a pretty urgent task right now.

Exactly. But also, in addition to fighting climate change, we just need a lot more electricity in general. There’s this enormous growing demand for power from new data centers, from growing interest in artificial intelligence, from electric cars, from all these new factories that are popping up to build solar panels and batteries. And so you have a lot of companies that are just urgently looking for clean energy sources that can run 24 hours a day. So to meet all of these needs right now, there has been a huge push by the US and other countries to figure out how to make nuclear energy, which is emissions-free, really a big part of the solution.

But question — hasn’t the nuclear power industry been around for a long time?

Yeah, it’s a very well-established technology that’s been around since the 1950s. But the history of using nuclear technology to make electricity has been pretty rocky. It’s had a lot of ups and downs, and the country has really fallen both in and out of love with nuclear over time.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

So when nuclear power was first developed in the 1950s and ‘60s, there were incredibly high hopes for it.

Electricity — man’s most versatile source of power. And now, man is using a powerful new source of electric power — the atom.

People saw it as this potentially unlimited cheap energy source.

Two ounces of uranium-235 can produce as much electrical energy as 800 carloads of coal.

It’s clean energy, no air pollution, powering electric cars. There were interviews where officials were predicting that one day, all new power plants would be nuclear, just solving so many of the world’s problems.

So already back then, they had this vision for fossil-free future through nuclear.

Absolutely.

The same atoms that send power surging from huge atomic power stations are also opening new realms, which only the endurance of nuclear power can conquer.

By the end of the 1960s, you had more than 50 nuclear reactors under construction across the United States. And in the beginning, they were actually quite affordable. But as more of these plants got built, people discovered different issues with them, flaws that need to be corrected, safety issues that need to be addressed with regulations. And you had federal regulators, the agency that is now known as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, laying out new rules and safety standards and regulations for these plants.

Right, I wanted to ask you about that, because when I think of arguments against nuclear, I think that it’s not safe. Like, that’s the main obstacle. So can you explain some of that thinking? Like, what are the safety issues here?

So with any nuclear plant, there really are potential risks to people and the environment. Nuclear power plants create radiation that needs to be contained. And if you have a big dose of radiation that leaks out into the environment, that can be potentially very harmful to humans and nearby wildlife.

And then the plants also produce radioactive waste that takes a long time to decay and needs to be safely stored for many hundreds of years. The safety record for nuclear power has been extremely good in the United states, and that’s largely because the plants have a ton of safety features to contain radiation leaks. And a lot of that has come because the plants are very strictly regulated.

So nuclear plants, then, are pretty safe despite the risks. So where did this public perception of danger come from then?

So the reality is, no technology is ever going to be completely risk-free. There’s always the potential for an accident. And then you had this big shock event in 1979.

For many years, there has been a vigorous debate in this country about the safety of the nation’s 72 nuclear energy power plants. That debate is likely to be intensified because of what happened early this morning at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.

A reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania partially melted down.

I heard a very loud noise that sounded like a huge release of steam. Looked out the window, it was a geyser of steam that was raising up in the air.

So that meltdown released some radioactive gases into the environment, which was really concerning. You had hundreds of thousands of people evacuate from the nearby area.

The radiation inside the plant is at eight times the deadly level, so strong that after passing through a three foot thick concrete wall, it can be measured a mile away.

There are no deaths or big health effects that resulted from the meltdown. The leak ended up being relatively small, but it was huge national news.

It’s a lot worse than what they’re telling us. The typical lies. They had to close all those nuclear power plants down.

It really horrified a lot of people across the nation, and it caused enormous disruptions in the industry. And in a lot of ways, it was the beginning of the end of nuclear power in the United States in the 20th century.

There were dozens of reactors still under construction at the time of Three Mile Island. And suddenly, they were all put on pause while regulators reviewed safety rules. They put in place a bunch of new, stricter regulations across the industry, everything from training staff to upgrading piping systems and fire equipment. Some projects ended up being delayed for 10 years, and the cost of building a nuclear power plant really went through the roof after that accident.

In other words, after Three Mile Island, there was legitimately a concern about safety. And the regulations just piled on, and that made building new plants prohibitively expensive.

That’s right. You get a couple different explanations for what happened there. Some blame the industry for poorly managing projects. But you also get a lot of people who say that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had piled on too many rules and driven up the cost of nuclear power.

And you do get an argument about whether those regulations are reasonable. You might say, look, nuclear power is inherently dangerous. We should regulate as strictly as possible. There are others who point out that we have a bunch of different regulatory bodies in the US, like the FDA, that looks at drugs, and they tend to weigh the benefits with the risks of new technology.

A lot of critics of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission say that only focuses on the risks. And when you regulate like that, technologies can become unaffordable. Basically, utilities couldn’t afford to take the financial risk of building a new plant anymore. They didn’t know how long it would take. They didn’t know how much it would cost, and they were scared off.

OK, so that explains how the hopes for nuclear power died. The potential for danger became big enough that simply making these plants became too expensive, too complicated, too unwieldy, and we basically stopped building them. But as we talked about earlier, the need for clean energy has grown enormously since then. So what is happening now? What’s the state of nuclear energy in the US today?

So now what we’re starting to see is a whole bunch of startups and companies going back to the drawing board and completely rethinking nuclear power technology to try to make it more affordable, to try to make it faster, to build. They’re coming up with new ideas for nuclear power plants that are radically different from what we’ve seen over the past 50 years.

And now this summer, we’re actually seeing the construction of the very first of these plants in Wyoming.

We’ll be right back.

So, Brad, you said that new companies are now trying to revive this nuclear industry and update it for The present day, and that we’re seeing that happening in Wyoming. What’s going on there?

So in southwest Wyoming, there’s this coal town called Kemmerer. Outside the town is this giant coal plant that’s scheduled to close in the next 15 years. And then just down the road, this startup called TerraPower has just begun construction on a nuclear power plant in June, which is the only nuclear power plant currently under construction in the United States.

Thanks so much for joining us all here today for the groundbreaking of America’s next nuclear power station — Kemmerer Unit 1.

So I went to the groundbreaking for this plant. And Chris Levesque, the CEO of TerraPower, was there talking about how excited he was to finally start building this new plant.

Not only is this America’s next reactor. It’s the first advanced reactor in the free world.

And the man who started this company is Bill Gates.

I want to acknowledge the great work done by the TerraPower team, starting with Chris. But it’s kind of a dream. And here we are making it a reality.

So Bill Gates — who I think of as a public health guy, not really a nuclear power guy, why is Bill Gates involved in a nuclear power plant?

Yeah, Bill Gates has been interested for a long time in trying to figure out how to solve climate change. And at this groundbreaking, he told the story of how his interest in nuclear power got started.

It was around 2005 when I was talking to some physics friends of mine about the need for electricity and really trying to understand from them why nuclear power had gotten so expensive.

And he said he was talking to his scientist friends, who explained how the economics of nuclear power just weren’t working, basically for all the reasons we talked about earlier.

And they talked to me about how, if you started anew and were willing to embrace innovation, you could build something that was both safer and cheaper. And so we started a company with a very bold idea to revolutionize nuclear power.

So that inspired Gates to start TerraPower around 2008. He hired a team of hundreds of engineers to redesign a nuclear power plant from scratch because he believed the technology was the key to the country’s growing energy needs.

So here we are, standing on what will soon be the bedrock of America’s energy future. And I can’t wait to be here when we turn the reactor on. Thank you.

OK, so what do they come up with?

So I’ll try not to get too technical here.

Most nuclear power plants today basically use the atomic fission to heat up a bunch of water and create steam to generate electricity. They’re basically giant kettles. But the problem with that is, because the water is highly pressurized, these plants often need heavy piping, thick containment shields to protect against things like steam explosions and other accidents. And that makes them very complex and very expensive.

So TerraPower decided, instead of using water, to use liquid sodium — salt, basically, that’s heated up. And the advantage of that is that it operates at lower pressures. And in theory, you don’t need a lot of the same heavy components, the thick shields, other safety features that traditional light-water reactors need.

And what’s the advantage of that, Brad?

So the idea is, if you don’t have as many components, it should be cheaper in the long run. They’re making smaller plants so that you’re not investing as much money up front and the risk is not quite as big.

And how much approximately would it cost to build one of these things?

Right now, they’re estimating that the initial plant will cost around $4 billion. Now, I talked to a lot of people who expect that to rise a lot as they struggle with novel technology. But their hope is that eventually, they can provide nuclear power for around half the cost of traditional nuclear power plants.

Wow, half the cost. But the plant is smaller, right? So does that mean this smaller, cheaper plant actually produces less energy?

It produces a lot less energy than the traditional big plants. But the hope is that you build a bunch of these. And eventually, you get better at building these over time, and the costs come down. And their dream scenario is, in the 2030s and the 2040s, the country has a pretty potent source of clean energy that can supplement all the wind and solar power that we’re building now.

But building that first plant is a gamble. They’ve never done it before. Things could go wrong.

It could be more expensive than they thought. But one thing that’s unique about TerraPower is that they have Bill Gates behind them, one of the world’s wealthiest men. And he can afford to take that gamble on the first few plants.

Right. You can afford to lose $2 billion if you’re Bill Gates, right?

That is more or less what he said. So for this first plant, he’s already invested more than $1 billion of his own money into it. The Department of Energy has pledged up to about $2 billion. And then there are other private investors.

But what he said is, he has pledged to stick with the project even if it goes over budget as they work through some initial growing pains. And that’s pretty unique. There are a lot of electric utilities and power companies out there that have said, we’d love to have a nuclear power plant, once you’ve figured out the technology and bring the costs down. But we don’t want to be the first one to do it.

Right. They don’t want to be the first one in line in the bungee jump, right?

OK, so this company has the vision. It has the money. It’s already started working toward making all of this a reality. You saw Bill Gates out there with a shovel in Wyoming. What’s the likelihood that this will actually work?

So they have to prove that they can build this plant. And it’s going to be tough. There are a huge number of obstacles they face that are pretty daunting.

The plant won’t be finished until 2030 at the very earliest, and a lot of people I talked to thought even that might be optimistic. One big hurdle they face is that their reactor uses this specialized type of enriched uranium fuel that currently, only Russia makes. And that’s a big problem.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, TerraPower said, OK, we’re not going to buy our fuel from Russia. We need to get somewhere else. Congress has stepped in and basically approved billions of dollars to build up a domestic nuclear fuel supply chain. But that’s going to take time.

That’s a very significant hurdle. I mean, years to build up our own supply chain.

It’s very significant and it’s a potential risk for the plant. And maybe a bigger issue right now is that, at the moment, their plant hasn’t been fully approved by the regulators — by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They’ve submitted an application.

They can basically start building all of the parts of the plant around the nuclear reactor where the atomic fission occurs, but they can’t start construction on the reactor itself yet. That approval will take at least two years, and possibly longer. And that’s a big risk for them.

Is that a deal breaker?

So the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has told me that they have received the application and they are very eager to show that they can approve new nuclear technology. But the catch is that, for five decades, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has largely overseen those old light-water reactors. That’s the technology they’re most familiar with. That’s what they’re comfortable with. So now they suddenly have to get comfortable with a brand-new technology and ensure that it’s safe.

That sounds like it’s going to take a long time.

It could take a while. And TerraPower has to convince regulators that their plant doesn’t necessarily need the same expensive safety equipment that other reactors have. The theory behind them is that these reactors should be inherently safer and don’t require as many costly components and safety features. But there are definitely some people worried that regulators may be too inflexible and may not be up to the task.

OK, so this is hard. There are a lot of obstacles. Is there anywhere where these kinds of nuclear reactors are actually up and running?

So no one’s trying to build a reactor exactly like TerraPower’s. But right now, Russia and China are building a large number of nuclear reactors. And they’re also building some advanced models that they hope they can export around the world.

China right now is building at least 23 nuclear reactors. We have one, this one in Wyoming. So a lot of US officials really think of this as a race because they don’t want to see China and Russia exporting their nuclear technology around the world, establishing these long-term relationships with other countries, and becoming the dominant suppliers of a technology that the United States invented in the first place.

In fact, Congress has been pushing a lot of pressure on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They have basically been saying, we want these new advanced reactors. You need to get these approved in a timely fashion. So everyone’s watching to see how this process goes.

So, Brad, if we look at the big picture of what’s going on right now, I wonder if the urgency of the climate crisis — just how acute it’s become, is going to change how we think about the risk-benefit analysis of nuclear power, the one that we were talking about before. Like, do the tight regulations that made a lot of sense in the 1980s and the 1990s, and we put them in place for some very good reasons, do those now make less sense because of the real pickle that we find ourselves in climate-wise?

So there’s always going to be demand for pretty strict regulations around nuclear power, just because there are real risks involved. But I think what we’ve started to see in Washington is both Republicans and Democrats start to rethink whether we’ve struck the right balance. In June, we saw Congress, with big bipartisan majorities, pass a bill aimed at reforming the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to streamline approvals of new reactor designs, to increase staffing at the agency. But also, there was a pretty striking provision in that bill that basically told the NRC to consider not just the safety of reactors, but also the benefits of nuclear energy technology to society. And the idea is that we should really weigh the risks against the benefits of nuclear power.

There are a lot of challenges to building nuclear power. There are technical obstacles. There are financial obstacles. But if nuclear power is going to make a comeback, it will probably require a big shift in how people view the technology and how they weigh the risks of the technology. And I think we’re starting to see that shift.

Brad, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Here’s what else you should know today. On Sunday, diplomats scrambled to contain hostilities between Israel and Lebanon after Israeli forces hit Lebanon with multiple strikes overnight in response to a deadly rocket attack on Thursday that hit a soccer field in an Israeli-controlled town.

Israel blamed Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese group, for the attack on the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams, which killed 12 people, most of them children. It was the deadliest assault on Israeli controlled territory since Israel and Hezbollah began exchanging missile and rocket fire in October. The Israeli response appeared to stop short of a major escalation, but there were still fears that the fallout from the rocket launch would lead to all-out war.

And the flame has been lit for the Paris games.

— on Friday, the 33rd Olympic games kicked off in Paris.

[SINGING IN FRENCH]

Hundreds of thousands of spectators braved heavy downpours to line the banks of the River Seine for the first opening ceremony to take place outside of a stadium.

And can’t forget about China

As the competition got underway —

And it’s the first for Team USA in Paris.

— the US scored its first Olympic gold in swimming for the men’s relay.

— gold. McIntosh takes the silver. And Ledecky gets the bronze.

Swimmer Katie Ledecky scored her first medal in the 400-meter freestyle. Today’s episode was produced by Alex Stern, Diana Nguyen, and Sydney Harper, with help from Shannon Lin. It was edited by Lexie Diao and Brendan Klinkenberg, contains original music by Rowan Niemisto and Pat McCusker, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. See you tomorrow.

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Engineered by Chris Wood

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Nuclear power, once the great hope for a clean way to meet the world’s energy needs, fell out of favor decades ago.

Brad Plumer, who covers technology and policy efforts to address global warming for The New York Times, explains how one company with a radical idea is now working to bring it back.

On today’s episode

Brad Plumer , who covers technology and policy efforts to address global warming for The New York Times.

Background reading

Work is starting in Wyoming coal country on a new type of reactor . Its main backer, Bill Gates, says he’s in it for the emissions-free electricity.

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Michael Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson, Nina Lassam and Nick Pitman.

An earlier version of this episode included a comment that described liquid sodium coolant in TerraPower’s reactor imprecisely. It is a metal, not a salt.

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Brad Plumer is a Times reporter who covers technology and policy efforts to address global warming. More about Brad Plumer

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Majority of Americans support more nuclear power in the country

A majority of U.S. adults remain supportive of expanding nuclear power in the country, according to  a Pew Research Center survey from May . Overall, 56% say they favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity. This share is statistically unchanged from last year.

But the future of large-scale nuclear power in America is uncertain. While Congress recently passed a bipartisan act intended to ease the nuclear energy industry’s financial and regulatory challenges, reactor shutdowns continue to gradually outpace new construction.

Americans remain more likely to favor expanding solar power (78%) and wind power (72%) than nuclear power. Yet while support for solar and wind power has declined by double digits since 2020 – largely driven by drops in Republican support – the share who favor nuclear power has grown by 13 percentage points over that span.

When asked about the federal government’s role in encouraging the production of nuclear energy, Americans are somewhat split. On balance, more say the government should encourage (41%) than discourage (22%) this. But 36% say the government should not exert influence either way, according to a March 2023 Center survey .

To measure public attitudes toward the use of nuclear power in the United States, we analyzed data from Pew Research Center surveys. Most of the data comes from our survey of 8,638 U.S. adults conducted May 13-19, 2024.

Everyone who took part in the survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way, nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the  ATP’s methodology .

Here are the survey  questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and its  methodology .

Links to related Center surveys, including their questions and methodologies, can be found throughout the post.

In addition, we tracked the number of U.S. nuclear power reactors over time by analyzing data from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA)  Power Reactor Information System . The IAEA classifies a reactor as “operational” from the date of its first electrical grid connection to the date of its permanent shutdown. Reactors that face temporary outages are still categorized as operational. Annual totals exclude reactors that closed that year.

Views by gender

Attitudes on nuclear power production have long differed by gender.

In the May survey, men remain far more likely than women to favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity in the United States (70% vs. 44%). This pattern holds true among adults in both political parties.

Views on nuclear energy differ by gender globally, too, according to a Center survey conducted from fall 2019 to spring 2020 . In 18 of the 20 places surveyed around the world (including the U.S.), men were more likely than women to favor using more nuclear power as a source of domestic energy.

Views by party

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to favor expanding nuclear power to generate electricity in the U.S. Two-thirds of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they support this, compared with about half of Democrats and Democratic leaners.

Republicans have supported nuclear power in greater shares than Democrats each time this question has been asked since 2016.

The partisan gap in support for nuclear power (18 points) is smaller than those for other types of energy, including fossil fuel sources such as coal mining (48 points) and offshore oil and gas drilling (47 points).

Still, Americans in both parties now see nuclear power more positively than they did earlier this decade. While Democrats remain divided on the topic (49% support, 49% oppose), the share who favor expanding the energy source is up 12 points since 2020. Republican support has grown by 14 points over this period.

While younger Republicans generally tend to be more supportive of increasing domestic renewable energy sources than their older peers, the pattern reverses when it comes to nuclear energy. For example, Republicans under 30 are much more likely than those ages 65 and older to favor more solar panel farms in the U.S. (80% vs. 54%); there’s a similar gap over expanding wind power. But when it comes to expanding nuclear power, Republicans under 30 are 11 points less likely than the oldest Republicans to express support (61% vs. 72%).

A look at U.S. nuclear power reactors

The U.S. currently has 94 nuclear power reactors, including one that just began operating in Georgia this spring. Reactors collectively generated  18.6% of all U.S. electricity in 2023 , according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

About half of the United States’ nuclear power reactors (48) are in the South, while nearly a quarter (22) are in the Midwest. There are 18 reactors in the Northeast and six in the West, according to data from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The number of U.S. reactors has steadily fallen since peaking at 111 in 1990. Nine Mile Point-1, located in Scriba, New York, is the oldest U.S. nuclear power reactor still in operation. It first connected to the power grid in November 1969. Most of the 94 current reactors began operations in the 1970s (41) or 1980s (44), according to IAEA data. (The IAEA classifies reactors as “operational” from their first electrical grid connection to their date of permanent shutdown.)

Within the last decade, just three new reactors joined the power fleet. Three times as many shut down over the same timespan.

One of the many reasons nuclear power projects have dwindled in recent decades may be the perceived dangers following  nuclear accidents  in the U.S. and abroad. For example, the 2011  Fukushima Daiichi accident  led the Japanese government to greatly decrease its reliance on nuclear power and prompted other countries to  rethink their nuclear energy plans . High construction costs and radioactive waste storage issues are also oft-cited hurdles to nuclear energy advancement.

Still, many advocates say that nuclear power is key to reducing emissions from electricity generation. There’s been a recent flurry of interest in reviving decommissioned nuclear power sites, including the infamous Three Mile Island plant and the Palisades plant , the latter of which shuttered in 2022. Last year, California announced it would delay the retirement of its one remaining nuclear power plant until 2030. And just this summer, construction began on a new plant in Wyoming. It’s set to house an advanced sodium-cooled fast reactor, pending approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission .

Note: Here are the  questions used for the analysis , along with responses, and its  methodology . This is an update of a post first published March 23, 2022.

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Rebecca Leppert is a copy editor at Pew Research Center .

Brian Kennedy is a senior researcher focusing on science and society research at Pew Research Center .

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Boiling-flow multiphase CFD simulations for nuclear reactor conditions without interfacial area transport equation

• Reiss, Corentin
• Gerschenfeld, Antoine
• Colin, Catherine

We develop a two-fluid Euler-Euler CFD framework based on the PolyMAC numerical scheme (Gerschenfeld and Gorsse, 2022) in CEA's open-source TrioCFD code (Angeli et al., 2015). Interfacial momentum closure terms are selected and validated using bubbly adiabatic experiments on vertical flows (Colin et al., 2012; Hibiki et al., 2001). The local experimental bubble diameter is enforced to avoid the use of an interfacial area transport equation, as in Sugrue et al. (2017). Independently, it is shown that in a high-pressure developed boiling pipe flow, changing the entrance temperature while measuring flow characteristics at the outlet is equivalent to changing the distance from the inlet where the flow characteristics are measured. This enables us to simulate the DEBORA experiment (Garnier et al., 2001), an ascending boiling R12-freon flow in a tube, using a 3D map of the experimental diameter, avoiding distortions due to interfacial area modeling. We demonstrate that atmospheric-pressure closure terms are not able to reproduce measured void fraction profiles. We then consider that bubbles are deformed, i.e. non-spherical, in nuclear reactor conditions, characterized by high pressures, void fractions and flow velocities. Taking this deformation into account, we propose a new set of momentum and energy closures that is found to be independent of the bubble diameter. This enables us to run simulations without prior knowledge of the bubble diameter nor the need for an interfacial area transport equation or population balance model, as in system-scale codes extensively used in the nuclear industry (NRC, 2010; Berry et al., 2018). Void fraction predictions are more precise than with the baseline set of closures.

• Multiphase CFD;
• Interfacial forces;
• Interfacial heat flux