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Davos-Klosters, Switzerland On January 21, 2025 Following a successful collaboration throughout 2024 between Terra Praxis (nonprofit organization founded by LucidCatalyst's managing partners) and the World Economic Forum, Kirsty Gogan will chair the first-ever public session focused on nuclear energy at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 20-24 2025. ‍ Panel Session: ''The Road to Tripling Nuclear Capacity'' Tuesday, January 21, 2025, 15:00 – 15:45 CET / 09:00 - 09:45am ET The declaration to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050 has been supported by public and private sector stakeholders who view nuclear as a key solution to achieve Net Zero and energy transition goals. How can momentum be turned into action to rapidly scale up the world’s nuclear capacity? ‍The panel will feature: Ebba Busch, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Energy, Business and Industry of Sweden Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Austria Luc Rémont, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, EDF (Electricité de France), France Wen Shugang, Chairman, China Huaneng Group, People's Republic of China Darryl White, Chief Executive Officer, BMO Financial Group, Canada The panel will be livestreamed on the WEF page . Learn more about the collaboration between Terra Praxis with the World Economic Forum .

January 16, 2025 "The Path to a New Era for Nuclear Energy'' is a major new report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA), to which LucidCatalyst staff working with our NGO partner, Terra Praxis, are pleased to have contributed. The report shows the fresh impetus behind nuclear in the form of new policies, projects, investments and technological advances, such as small modular reactors (SMRs). It provides a comprehensive assessment of the current situation, identifying the major challenges that need to be addressed to build on the current momentum and enable a new era to take hold. This includes insights on how to finance new nuclear projects while ensuring reliable and diversified supply chains for building and fueling them. The Path to a New Era for Nuclear Energy by the International Energy Agency (IEA), looks at the opportunities for nuclear energy to address energy security and climate concerns – and the critical elements needed to pursue these opportunities, including policies, innovation and financing. Nuclear energy is a well-established technology that has provided electricity and heat to consumers for well over 50 years and is gaining strength in recognition, with rising investment, new technology advances, and supportive policies in over 40 countries. The electricity demand, projected to grow strongly over the next decades, further underpins the importance of having sufficient new sources of stable low-emissions electricity. This report reviews the status of nuclear energy and explores risks related to policies, construction and financing. It provides the long-term outlook for nuclear power, quantifying nuclear power capacity and the related investment over the period to 2050. With continued innovation, sufficient government support and new business models, small modular reactors can play a pivotal role in enabling a new era for nuclear energy. It highlights potential mechanisms to unlock financing while also emphasizing the critical importance of adequate planning for the required workforce and supply chains. Read Report Watch Webcast Read Press Release LucidCatalyst's managing partners representing Terra Praxis work with the highest levels of government and global organizations like the IEA. On September 13, 2024, Terra Praxis, as the only non-profit organization invited, was honored to participate and contribute to the invitation only IEA conference ' 'Enabling Nuclear Power in Secure and Affordable Energy Transitions'', where the current impediments and potential solutions to enable nuclear power as part of the clean energy transition were discussed. The discussions served as a key input for this report. IEA conference in Paris, France, on September 13, 2024

MIT Club of Northern California & Terra Praxis December 3, 2024 Eric Ingersoll, Managing Partner of LucidCatalyst and Founding Director and Co-CEO of the nonprofit Terra Praxis, presented for the MIT Club of Northern California (MITCNC) webinar, moderated by Ray A. Rothrock, Terra Praxis Board of Directors member, and an American venture capitalist and philanthropist focused on securing energy solutions for the 21st century. Eric shared a strategy and the progress underway to enable 10 TWe of clean energy to be deployed in 10 years, starting in 2030. He described a practical approach for repurposing coal plants — as well as other industrial energy infrastructure — cost-effectively, quickly, and at scale. View the event page

LucidCatalyst is working with Terra Praxis on this U.S. Government-Funded Coal-to-Nuclear Project in Ukraine, which includes Generative AI Capabilities with Microsoft, and Global Framework with the World Economic Forum to Deliver Fast, Low-Cost, and Scalable Nuclear Deployment. November 18, 2024 Terra Praxis press release ‍Brussels, Belgium. November 18, 2024 – Today, with commitments being made by world leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), Terra Praxis announced solutions and progress with partners to help achieve these commitments and meet rising global demand for clean energy. Speaking at the Belgium ‘Together Towards New Nuclear’ event, Terra Praxis announced that it has been awarded a U.S. Department of State grant to help facilitate the transition of Ukraine’s coal-fired power plants to advanced nuclear. Terra Praxis also introduced new AI for licensing capabilities to accelerate repowering of hundreds of retired coal sites with advanced nuclear, following collaboration with Microsoft. It is also launching a framework developed by the World Economic Forum , in collaboration with Terra Praxis and other stakeholders, to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear and SMRs. “These developments with our partners represent concrete steps towards meeting rising global demand for reliable, clean, and competitive energy services including heat and power,” said Kirsty Gogan, Founding Director & Co-CEO, Terra Praxis. “They demonstrate meaningful headway towards scalable solutions needed to support an equitable and clean energy transition.” The U.S. Department of State grant awarded to Terra Praxis and strategic partners aims to accelerate Ukraine’s conversion of coal-fired power plants to reliable and safe zero-carbon nuclear energy with small modular reactors (SMRs). Terra Praxis will demonstrate the capability of a REPOWER innovative standardized building system and digital project delivery tool to dramatically simplify coal-to-nuclear site design and project delivery; and make the investment case for fleet-wide repurposing of coal plants in Ukraine. The U.S. and Ukraine partnership was announced yesterday by Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Bonnie Jenkins, and the Ukraine Minister of Energy, German Galushchenko. The Terra Praxis project is part of a $30 million project in the Foundational Infrastructure for the Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) program that will help position Ukraine to take a post-war leadership role on secure and safe nuclear energy. They were joined by U.S. Department of Energy Acting Assistant Secretary, Michael Goff, and an executive from the Electric Power Research Institute. Terra Praxis also introduced new AI capabilities to the advanced nuclear market that will significantly accelerate the licensing and permitting processes for advanced nuclear energy and other clean energy sources. By integrating with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, Terra Praxis is bringing these transformative capabilities to industry and government, with the potential to advance preliminary license applications to repurpose hundreds of retiring and retired coal plant and nuclear sites for advanced nuclear development.   A recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy identified the opportunity to add up to 174 GWe of new nuclear capacity at 145 retired or retiring coal plant sites, and up to 95 GWe additional capacity at existing nuclear plant sites. Terra Praxis is designing solutions to operationalize this opportunity to maximize existing transmission assets, protect jobs, increase energy security, and massively boost the supply of reliable clean energy. Typically, the cost of producing an Early Site Permit (ESP) application for one site ranges between $25M-$40M, representing a major barrier to clean energy development today. The AI copilot can draft preliminary ESP applications, radically enhancing the productivity of permitting engineers and radically reducing the time and cost to produce those early drafts – potentially from years to hours or days – and for a fraction of the cost. The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Accenture, Terra Praxis, and other stakeholders across the clean energy ecosystem, has released a framework to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear and SMRs to help meet rising global demand for clean energy. The publication A Collaborative Framework for Accelerating Advanced Nuclear and Small Modular Reactor Deployment serves as a tool to align stakeholders on actions within nine priority areas. The collaboration between the Forum and Terra Praxis has consisted of a year-long series of engagements throughout 2024 to forge collaboration around core actions that can increase investment in scalable advanced nuclear and also ensure these investments deliver broader social, economic, and environmental value. The nonprofit Terra Praxis is executing an integrated REPOWER strategy to deploy fast, low-cost, and repeatable solutions for repurposing existing coal plants and other energy intensive infrastructure (e.g., steel, cement, aviation, shipping) to continue operating with emissions-free power, heat, and steam supplied by mass-manufactured heat sources.

On November 7, the World Economic Forum (WEF) published a new blog "Accelerating new nuclear and small modular reactor deployment," authored by Kirsty Gogan, Managing Partner of LucidCatalyst and Founding Director and Co-CEO of TerraPraxis, and Kristen Panerali, Head of Clean Power and Electrification at the World Economic Forum. The blog addresses the growing demand for clean energy, fueled by electrification, the adoption of artificial intelligence, and expansion in emerging markets. As countries work to move away from carbon-intensive energy sources like coal, the urgency for advanced clean energy solutions intensifies. It emphasizes a new global framework designed to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technology, aiming to unite stakeholders around key actions for harnessing carbon-free heat and power.

Read the blog » Kristen Panerali, Head of Clean Power and Electrification at the World Economic Forum, and Kirsty Gogan, Managing Partner of LucidCatalyst and Founding Director and Co-CEO of TerraPraxis

Global Framework Released to Accelerate the Deployment of Advanced Nuclear and SMRs On November 7, the World Economic Forum (WEF), in collaboration with Accenture, Terra Praxis (non-profit organization founded by LucidCatalyst's managing partners), and other stakeholders across the clean energy ecosystem, has released a framework to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear and SMRs to help meet rising global demand for clean energy. The white paper, "A Collaborative Framework for Accelerating Advanced Nuclear and Small Modular Reactor Deployment," serves as a tool to align stakeholders on actions within nine priority areas to accelerate deployment. The framework has been co-developed with stakeholders from across the nuclear ecosystem including experts from large energy-consuming industries, financiers, reactor vendors, supply chain businesses, utilities, government organizations, non-profits/NGOs and academia. Read the press release » Read the Publication »

Atlanta, Georgia, USA 1 - 2 May 2024 Eric Ingersoll and Kirsty Gogan are pleased to attend the upcoming Reuters SMR & Advanced Reactor Conference in May 2024, in Atlanta – Kirsty as Moderator, representing non-profit Terra Praxis, and Eric as speaker representing LucidCatalyst, at the May 1st session on "Decarbonizing the Tough-to-Decarbonize: Supercharging the Industrial Energy Transition."   Title: Decarbonizing the Tough-to-Decarbonize:  Supercharging the Industrial Energy Transition Industrial processes  contribute almost 30% of all carbon emissions . They depend on high-temperature heat and steam 24/7 due to costly ramp-ups, making them difficult to electrify. Many industrial processes can leverage advanced small modular reactors (aSMRs)—and businesses, governments, and regulators are beginning to take note of the versatility and scalability of the technology to support many industries. For example, heat from aSMRs can create clean fuels, power transportation, support mining processes, power data centers, desalinate water, decarbonize aviation and cement production, and more.  This panel is planning to discuss: The massive and growing demand from commercial and industrial energy users that cannot be met with intermittent renewable or conventional nuclear energy. New SMR designs in the context of a standardized product development and delivery system. Digital fast lanes for swift and cost-effective licensing and permitting to pave the way for deploying aSMRs in industry. Fleet-wide feasibility studies to lower development risk and stimulate investment. Speakers: Kirsty Gogan , Co-Founder, Terra Praxis (moderator) P. Todd Noe , Director of Nuclear Technologies & Engineering, Microsoft Eric Ingersoll , Managing Director, LucidCatalyst William Labbe , President and CEO, ARC Clean Technology

LucidCatalyst Insights Report July 2021 LucidCatalyst wrote this Insights Report about high-temperature geothermal, which we believe is an untapped resource that can be configured and delivered to cost-competitively decarbonize global fuels markets. This approach would use proven chemical production processes. Furthermore, the commodities being produced are ‘drop-in’ substitutes such that they do not require changes (or require relatively minor changes) to existing supply chain infrastructure or consumer behavior. Consequently, developers do not need to wait for technological, supply chain, or regulatory changes to take advantage of these opportunities. Highlights Techno-economics analysis suggests that these production facilities can produce zero-carbon hydrogen and value-added, hydrogen-based commodities (ammonia, CO2-neutral synthetic fuels, etc.) cost-competitively and at a scale relevant to target markets. In the scenarios analysed, these strategies enabled the production of commodities for global markets at the following costs: Jet A: $82/bbl (compared to $90/bbl average for past 10 yrs) Ammonia: $230/tonne (compared to $300/t long-term average for ammonia) Equivalent to approximately $420 per metric tonne of very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO), which is within its typical trading range Hydrogen: less than $1/kg Electricity: $24/MWh for baseload and $39/MWh, for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week dispatch, with NH3 and water production Desalinated water: $1.23/m3, comparable to the cost of leading desal projects Few, if any, behavior changes will be required of consumers. In some cases, no change will be necessary to supply chain infrastructure. Market pull could enable radical improvements to plant design and delivery, driving high-volume manufacturing of these production facilities.

International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna International Centre, Austria 14 and 15 November 2023 Eric Ingersoll, Chirayu Batra and Kirsty Gogan (of LucidCatalyst and Terra Praxis) attended and Kirsty gave remarks and opened the session on: The Emerging Potential of Floating Nuclear Power Plants in Vienna. Achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 will require large scale deployment of all low carbon energy sources, including nuclear power. Various studies confirm that nuclear power has a significant role to play in combating climate change and meeting increasing energy demand worldwide, but this will require that nuclear power plants be deployed at a larger scale than is currently the case. The international deployment of FNPPs offers new opportunities but also presents challenges, including the evaluation of international and national legal issues and institutional aspects. The International Atomic Energy Agency hosted the first International Symposium on the Deployment of Floating Nuclear Power Plants – Benefits and Challenge . The purpose of the event has been to explore and discuss the potential deployment of FNPPs to enhance the contribution of nuclear energy to achieving net zero carbon emissions. It focused on different aspects of FNPPs, ranging from their national deployment in territorial waters to more challenging applications that require the transport of fueled FNPPs to other countries or their deployment in international waters.
Themes and Topics included:
Past, current and potential future applications National deployment experiences Overview of national development activities Potential future FNPP deployment scenarios Production of FNPPs using existing shipyards Legal aspects — Safety, Security, Safeguards and Liability Deployment in territorial waters (close to shore and further off shore) Deployment in international waters Licensing, regulation and transport of fueled FNPPs Applicability of international standards and guidance (e.g., IAEA safety standards and security guidance documents) Application of safeguards Further Actions Role of proponents and Member States Role of international organizations ‍
Kirsty Gogan gave expert remarks and moderated the Opening Session:
"THE EMERGING POTENTIAL OF FLOATING NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS"
The session included experts: Ms Aline Des Cloizeaux, Director, Division of Nuclear Power, IAEA Ms Laura Holgate, Ambassador and Resident Representative to the IAEA, USA Mr Sangim Park, Vice President, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd., Republic of Korea (left to right) Kirsty Gogan, Aline DES CLOIZEAUX, Laura Holgate and Sangmin Park
Kirsty Gogan's presentation > Watch video of sessions > View program > Learn more

In this video by Shell’s Chief Scientist, Dirk Smit, on “how we can transform to a net-zero emissions energy system,” he cites LucidCatalyst's work on off-shore production platforms for producing zero-carbon energy and fuels. See 15:20 to view our renderings of this concept. Please scroll to the beginning in order to watch this entire insightful video.

Ballooning size of wind and solar projects draws local ire as they march closer to populated areas By Jennifer Hiller | Photographs by Dominick Williams The Wall Street Journal
May 8, 2023 Note from LucidCatalyst: Our work is cited in this important WSJ article. Our 2022 study of wind ordinances in Iowa "found that 16 of 99 counties had prohibitive ordinances or moratoria against new projects, most of them approved in the previous four years. Accounting for these moratoria and existing setback requirements, approximately half to three-quarters of land with good wind resources would be precluded from project development consideration, according to a study by the nonprofit policy firm ClearPath and consulting group LucidCatalyst." To put a finer point on the range, the lower bound (47%) reflects existing setback requirements and the upper bound (77%) assumes that all Iowa counties ultimately adopt the most "permissive" setback requirement (i.e., the minimum setback requirement that exists and doesn't significantly impact wind development activity). About a 1/3 of Iowa's 99 counties still don't have set back requirements but they're very likely on the way. ... County-by-county battles are raging as wind and solar projects balloon in size, edge closer to cities and encounter mounting pushback in communities from Niagara Falls to the Great Plains and beyond. Projects have slowed. Even in states with a long history of building renewables, developers don’t know if they can get local permits or how long it might take. ... The U.S., though, is a patchwork of state and local governments with different rules on development, and opposition to projects has mounted for myriad reasons. Increasingly, many communities are concerned that the rapidly expanding size of wind and solar farms will irreparably alter the complexion of where they live. ... In Iowa, which has the second-highest installed wind power capacity in the country after Texas, a 2022 study of wind ordinances found that 16 of 99 counties had prohibitive rules or a ban against new projects, most of them approved in the previous four years. Between moratoriums and requirements for setbacks between turbines and things such as neighboring property lines, roads or buildings, developers won’t even consider projects on around half to three quarters of land with good wind resources, according to a study by the nonprofit research firm ClearPath and consulting group LucidCatalyst . Despite soaring demand and available capital even before the Inflation Reduction Act was passed, U.S. clean power installations dipped 16% last year and 12% over 2020, according to the American Clean Power Association. It was the worst year for land-based wind installations since 2018. Many projects will eventually get built, say developers and analysts, but they could take longer and cost more than expected. At the federal level, there is some bipartisan support for speeding up permitting for transmission or pipeline projects, and Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, has relaunched a legislative effort that stalled last year . Some states are pushing back on their own against local roadblocks. ... Some opponents don’t like the idea of locally produced energy getting exported out of the state, or that the government is singling out particular technologies for special tax treatment. Other objections are more tangible. Communities often complain about the rhythmic blinking red lights that flash atop turbines at night or the whooshing noise of blades. They also raise concerns about taking farmland out of production or the impact on wildlife. ... > Read full article > Link to Iowa wind study

The British Museum, London, UK 28th - 29th November 2023 Kirsty Gogan is pleased to be speaking at this summit, which will bring together the energy community to discuss the most exciting opportunities of a low carbon future and the pertinent issues affecting the transition. The aim of the conference is bringing together energy decision-makers to accelerate the energy transition. The Energy 2050 Summit offers a strategic outlook, insight and collaboration to build a bridge towards net zero.Open to senior energy executives and decision-makers, policy makers, investors, strategists, new technology providers and global governments. > Learn More Eric Ingersoll gave the keynote address at the Energy 2050 Summit in 2021: Missing Link to a Liveable Climate about clean synthetic fuels. See the video below.