Authored by John Cody via Remix News,

Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ), known for its strict stance on immigration and opposition to Russia sanctions, is now the top party in Austria once again after seven years.

Described as a “polling earthquake” by Austrian newspaper Heute.at, the party would win 28 percent of the vote, according to the monthly poll conducted by Unique opinion research Institute for news magazine Profil.

At the same time, the Social Democrats (SPÖ) lost 2-percentage points, dropping to 24 percent. SPÖ fell even farther on the question of chancellor, with only 12 percent of respondents say they would vote for Pamela Rendi-Wagner, while last month that was 15 percent.

Currently, the FPÖ, led by Herbert Kickl, has a 4-point lead over SPÖ. Kickl has gained in popularity, with 17 percent saying they would vote for him, while in December, only 15 percent said they would.

What is fueling the swing towards the FPÖ?

Austria has seen a record number of asylum applications in 2022. In fact, asylum applications nearly tripled from 2021, reaching nearly 60,000. The news has shocked Austria and led to a sharp backlash from a population highly skeptical of mass immigration. The FPÖ, more so than any other major party, has made immigration restriction central to their platform.

At the same time, the FPÖ party is the only major party opposed to Russian sanctions, which it blames for creating inflation and economic turmoil in the Austrian and European economy. Many Austrians are sympathetic with this position.

“It’s finally time to appear in the EU and say: These sanctions harm us much more than Putin. Our people have to foot the bill for them,” said deputy FPÖ chairwoman Dagmar Belakovich in the plenary session of the National Council last year.

The party’s leader, Herbert Kickl, has also pointed to the absolute necessity of Russian energy for Austria’s households and businesses. He blames much of Austria’s inflation woes to economic sanctions on Russia.

“If you were honest, you would have to say to the population: We can’t do without this Russian oil and gas for a long time,” said Kickl. 

“We need this cheap energy for households, for heating, for cooking, for hot water, for manufacturing companies.” 

How do other parties fare?

The poll also showed that incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer is still the most popular pick to become chancellor, with 20 percent expressing confidence in him. His Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) would receive 22 percent of the vote.

The Greens stand at 12 percent while the liberal NEOS remain unchanged in fourth place with 9 percent.

Austria is currently governed by a coalition of the ÖVP and SPÖ.

The poll also asked what people thought should happen to climate protesters of the Last Generation blocking roads. The results show 42 percent of Austrians were in favor of fines, 31 percent for prison sentences and only 19 percent for not punishing the activists.

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via DailyReckoning.com,

The lockdowns of March 2020 shocked the American people and most public health agencies, not to mention infectious disease doctors.

The idea of school shutdowns, business closures, plus mandatory remote work and other restrictions have previously seemed inconceivable. It was especially remarkable to have such an “all-of-government” response to a virus that we already knew posed a threat mainly to the elderly and infirm.

Issues like public-health precedent, American legal tradition, and medical knowledge about dealing with respiratory viruses, not to mention natural immunity and collateral damage of lockdowns, were all thrown out the window.

Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s book The Real Anthony Fauci mentions a tabletop exercise called “Crimson Contagion” that ran from January through August, 2019. I had not previously heard of it and I found the mention remarkable, simply because it proves that not everyone was shocked by lockdowns.

They were not part of official planning documents of either the CDC or WHO but they were clearly in the plans of someone.

This Is Eerie

I’ve only followed up on this report in light of growing focus on the person who coordinated Crimson Contagion: Robert Kadlec, who served in the Trump administration as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, Preparedness and Response. It was he who also ran the Covid response between HHS and the Department of Homeland Security.

Kadlec’s lifetime government service (and, yes, he is said to be CIA) extends all the way back to the G.W. Bush administration when in 2007 he took the position of Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Biodefense Policy on the Homeland Security Council from 2007 to 2009.

The very notion of lockdowns originated in that administration.

The 2019 tabletop exercise involved a huge number of public-sector agencies across all states plus many private-sector associations. It postulated a disease scenario in which a respiratory virus begins in China and spreads around the world by air travelers.

It’s first detected in Chicago. The World Health Organization declares a pandemic 47 days later. But then it was too late: 110 million Americans became sick, with 7.7 million hospitalized and 586,000 dead.

The conclusion of the exercise was that government was not well prepared for a pandemic and urged more planning and fast acting to implement what we now call lockdowns as we await a vaccine. Presumably, the vaccine then fixes everything.

The public knew nothing of this exercise until March 19, 2020, when the New York Times reported on it for the first time. This was one day following the detailed release of stay-at-home orders by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The next day, National Public Radio also ran a report on Crimson Contagion.

A Trial Run

The Times reported:

The Crimson Contagion planning exercise run last year by the Department of Health and Human Services involved officials from 12 states and at least a dozen federal agencies. They included the Pentagon, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Security Council. Groups like the American Red Cross and American Nurses Association were invited to join, as were health insurance companies and major hospitals like the Mayo Clinic.

The war game-like exercise was overseen by Robert P. Kadlec, a former Air Force physician who has spent decades focused on biodefense issues. After stints on the Bush administration’s Homeland Security Council and the staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he was appointed assistant secretary of Health and Human Services for Preparedness and Response.

Also participating were former Trump administration officials Rex Tillerson (Secretary of State, 2017-2018) and John F. Kelly, who was White House chief of staff from 2017 to 2019. The NYT even ran a picture of the two of them at the event.

Here are some direct quotes from the October 2019 report of Crimson Contagion:

The exercise revealed several workforce protection challenges under conditions where medical countermeasures, such as the pandemic vaccine, antiviral medications, and personal protective equipment, are limited. To protect the public prior to vaccine distribution, public health officials issued guidance on the implementation of nonpharmaceutical interventions intended to slow the spread of the virus.

In keeping with non-pharmaceutical intervention recommendations, employers – including government entities – sought to practice social distancing by having a significant portion of their employees work remotely. Employers encountered cascading impacts associated with making, communicating, and implementing such work-distancing decisions.

At multiple levels of government, officials wrestled with identifying employees who are essential and those who are nonessential in the context of an incident forecasted to span many months. In addition, officials faced challenges in determining which employees could perform their duties remotely and hierarchical organizations, such as state and federal departments and agencies, were uncertain as to the process for determining and implementing remote-workforce decisions.

Shut Down the Schools!

Also:

During the exercise, CDC recommended that states delay school openings for six weeks, a follow-up to the initial (pre-exercise) recommendation that states delay the opening of schools for two weeks if the disease is present in the area. Many local jurisdictions and school districts have the authority to decide to close schools (or keep schools open). This distributed approach to school closure decisions caused confusion centered on discrepancies between schools that remained open and those that closed.

In addition, while school delays and dismissals may be necessary over the course of the pandemic response, state participants identified any continued school delays and dismissals as having serious cascading impacts that require a concerted public messaging campaign and government coordination. Multiple states realized that dismissing schools is much more complex than they previously appreciated.

This exercise took place entirely out of the public eye but had strangely prescient foretelling of events only 5 months later. Kadlec, who had organized the entire tabletop exercise, was also later the author of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor and Pensions report: An Analysis of the Origins of the COVID-19 Pandemic, which came out earlier this year.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., reports: “second only to his longtime crony and comrade in arms Anthony Fauci, Robert Kadlec played a historic leadership role in fomenting the contagious logic that infectious disease posed a national security threat requiring a militarized response.”

It’s the Law!

By the time of this letter, US intelligence already knew of the Wuhan virus. Four months later, US lockdowns began, starting with the March 8th cancellation of South-by-Southwest by the Austin, Texas mayor, and extending to the March 12th imposition of travel restrictions, the March 13 takeover by FEMA, and the March 16th press conference by Trump, Fauci, and Deborah Birx, which announced nationwide lockdowns.

The same day, Politico ran an article about another pandemic exercise from 2017 in which some incoming Trump officials participated, including Kelly and Tillerson. The article claims that such exercises are required by law.

By the time of Covid lockdowns, they had both been pushed out, only to reemerge as key participants in Crimson Contagion along with most national-security and health-related agencies of the federal government.

The lockdowns — to which Trump agreed only reluctantly and were extended far past the point in which he believed they would control the virus — were the most ruinous of the administration. Trump’s pollsters for 2020 all agreed that these lockdowns created the conditions that drove him from office.

What does it all mean? Perhaps it is all just a series of coincidental data points, that what is called the worst pandemic in 100 years came only a few months after an elaborate multi-agency trial run of the same in which former high officials of the Trump administration participated.

And perhaps the best person to run the Covid response also happened to be the very person who organized and managed the trial run in the previous season.

Many people will surely say there is nothing to see here. There is so much not to see these days.

What do you think?

After a tough 2022, China’s economy is poised for growth – as households are now sitting atop the biggest pool of new savings in history – having deposited $2.6tn in 2022.

The bull case revolves around the notion of ‘revenge spending’ – an anticipated wave of pent-up demand fueled as consumers open their wallets for the first time in years.

Last week the IMF indicated that it would upgrade its global economic forecasts based on China’s reopening following three years of zero-Covid, while Morgan Stanley points to “sizeable excess household savings” to underpin their bull case.

Economists at Morgan Stanley recently forecast that China’s economic growth would be more front-loaded this year, “mainly supported by consumption amid excess savings, improving household balance sheets . . . and recovery in the job market and income expectations”.

They point to “sizeable excess household savings” of Rmb3tn to Rmb4tn built up “from an inability to spend amid Covid restrictions and/or precautionary savings”. -FT

The bear (or at least less-bullish) case

Tempering expectations, however, both the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times have their doubts over the level of ‘revenge spending’ in store.

“There’s overestimation on the splash of Chinese consumers,” said Alicia García-Herrero, chief Asia Pacific economist at French investment bank Natixis in a comment to the Times. “The excess savings won’t be easily spent.“

The WSJ, meanwhile, suggests that “Several key pillars of China’s labor market—exports, the internet technology sector and the housing market—still face structural or cyclical headwinds. And finally, financial conditions remain relatively tight: Overall credit growth in December was weak, and bond yields and money-market rates have risen in recent weeks.”

All of this means that while Chinese “revenge spending” will give a jolt to the economy this year, those expecting a U.S. 2021-style consumption bacchanalia might be disappointed. -WSJ

Also in the bear camp is analyst Lin Qingqi of state-run China International Capital Corp, who says that the “excess” savings in 2022 was more due to cautious households redeploying riskier investments – pulling cash out of underperforming equities and stashing it in the bank.

Luo Zhiheng, Yuekai Securities chief economist, has a similar prediction – and expects that some savings will be redeployed in “revenge spending,” but that “There’s still lingering uncertainty on the economic outlook, and people have a strong desire to save.”

“China needs a strong force to drag the economy out from the vicious circle of weak demand and low expectation of income growth,” said Zhang Jun, dean of the School of Economics at Fudan University. “If that can’t [come from] exports in 2023, then fiscal stimulus such as strong government spending should step up and be that force.“

Authored by Jamie Joseph via The Epoch Times,

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Jan. 20 to make some COVID-era protections for renters permanent, less than two weeks before they were set to expire.

“Today was a huge victory,” recently-elected Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky posted to Twitter after the vote.

 “The Los Angeles City Council just unanimously adopted several common sense tenant protections that will protect thousands of Angelenos facing eviction, and help make our work around homelessness and reducing poverty that much easier.”

The council approved moratoriums for renters – including no-fault evictions and nonpayments – beginning at the height of the pandemic and were to expire Feb. 1.

Previously, tenants eligible for such protection were those who had experienced a loss of income due to COVID, including reduced work hours, and who needed financial assistance with childcare and medical expenses.

The new rules will give protections for renters living in non-rent controlled units—meaning those built after 1978—and include preventing landlords from evicting tenants unless there is unpaid rent or evidence of breaking a lease’s rules. That “just cause” policy provision—which states that a landlord must have a valid reason, such as a violation of a lease, for evicting a tenant—goes into effect after six months or when a lease is expired, whichever comes first.

But some, including small-scale landlords, are wondering how they can keep covering property, utility costs, and mortgages without rent paid by tenants.

Stickers for rent cancelations are pasted to a light fixture in front of Los Angeles City Hall on Nov. 8, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The Coalition of Small Rental Property Owners founding member Diane Robertson told The Epoch Times the council’s vote has “additional handcuffs” on small mom-and-pop landlords.

“There are so many of us who are strongly considering leaving the housing industry in Los Angeles … and to be frank, if that happens, properties are going to be sold to corporate owners more than likely and in the long run, that is not going to bode well for renters,” she said.

Property owners in rent-controlled areas, Robertson said, also struggle to keep up with rising inflation costs.

“Prices for everything needed to maintain our properties have increased,” Robertson said.

“Plumbers, electricians, gardeners—these things are essential for us to provide housing that tenants want to live in.”

Most renters in Los Angeles already have “just cause” protections, but the council’s vote expanded the number of households covered.

The new provision also prevents landlords until February 2024 from evicting tenants who have prohibited pets and additional residents not listed on their lease.

Despite their support, Councilmembers Traci Park, Monica Rodriguez, and John Lee expressed concern over the new provisions, arguing small landlords will need to have a fair pay-back program for unpaid rent.

“I’d like to dispel the notion heard so often that this council has done nothing to help tenants throughout this pandemic. In my opinion, that could not be further from the truth,” Lee said during the meeting.

“… [But] we can also set up a timeline for rental repayment that is fair and manageable,” for landlords and tenants alike.

In response, the council added an amendment for when landlords must receive rent that went unpaid during the pandemic.

For such incurred between March 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021, tenants will have until Aug. 1 to pay. For that between Oct. 1, 2021, and Jan. 31, 2023, until Feb. 1, 2024.

The council additionally voted for the city administrator to provide recommendations within 30 days for a relief-assistance program for small mom-and-pop landlords.

Days ago Facebook, which is now Meta, announced it is welcoming Ukraine’s Azov Regiment to its platform. Azov had up until recently, and throughout the Russian invasion of Ukraine, been on Meta’s of “dangerous organizations” list. 

It was on this banned list because the militia’s members regularly display Nazi symbols and signs on their uniforms and as part of the their media content. But now, pro-Azov content can be freely posted, and the group can create its own official accounts on Facebook and Instagram for the first time.

The Washington Post recently detailed that the change “will allow members of the Azov Regiment to create accounts on Facebook and Instagram and post content without fear of it being removed unless it breaks the company’s content rules.” Additionally, “The move will also enable other users to explicitly praise and support the group’s work.”

The company headed by Mark Zuckerberg still sought to emphasize that “Hate speech, hate symbols, calls for violence and any other content which violates our Community Standards are still banned, and we will remove this content if we find it.”

Ukrainian officials have especially since the summer lobbied hard for Facebook/Meta’s Oversight Board to loosen up its restrictions on Azov, saying it was ‘unfair’ and that it’s keeping Ukrainian media organizations from sharing accurate information about the war in real-time.

Exclusive: Meta told the Kyiv Independent that the U.S. tech giant, owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, no longer designates Azov Regiment as a “dangerous organization.”

Meta to allow publishing content about the Azov Regiment and its members. https://t.co/lU5CD9Zo1C

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) January 19, 2023

Facebook’s changing approach started about a year ago, when it began allowing some pro-Azov posts in instances where they were fighting the Russian invasion, as The Intercept reported in Feb. 2022:

According to internal policy materials reviewed by The Intercept, Facebook will “allow praise of the Azov Battalion when explicitly and exclusively praising their role in defending Ukraine OR their role as part of the Ukraine’s National Guard.” Internally published examples of speech that Facebook now deems acceptable include “Azov movement volunteers are real heroes, they are a much needed support to our national guard”; “We are under attack. Azov has been courageously defending our town for the last 6 hours”; and “I think Azov is playing a patriotic role during this crisis.”

The materials stipulate that Azov still can’t use Facebook platforms for recruiting purposes or for publishing its own statements and that the regiment’s uniforms and banners will remain as banned hate symbol imagery, even while Azov soldiers may fight wearing and displaying them. In a tacit acknowledgement of the group’s ideology, the memo provides two examples of posts that would not be allowed under the new policy: “Goebbels, the Fuhrer and Azov, all are great models for national sacrifices and heroism” and “Well done Azov for protecting Ukraine and it’s white nationalist heritage.”

Azov’s formal Facebook ban goes back to 2019, when the US social media giant acknowledged it as a hate group.

An example of the type of imagery that’s long filled Azov social media channels in general…

Oops… from Bellingcat in 2020:

Now that Azov is fully free to create accounts and post on Facebook, one wonders what changed? After all, there are still endless examples of Azov members sporting neo-Nazi imagery, as well as ongoing public displays of support for historic Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.

Authored by Ross Pomeroy via RealClear Wire,

Strokes commonly strike the old.

The average age for the devastating condition – in which blood supply to a part of the brain is blocked or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts – is around 71.4 years in men and 76.9 years in women.

Millennials, however, are starting to bring those averages down.

Now ranging in age from 27 to 42, Millennials are suffering strokes at higher rates than their forebears did at the same age, reversing a 40-year decline in stroke deaths.

Between 2003 and 2012, there was a 32% spike in strokes among 18- to 34-year-old women and a 15% increase for men in the same age range, according to CDC researchers.

When Scientific American further parsed the data, they found that the hike was mostly centered in the West and Midwest, where stroke rates among young people rose 70% and 34%, respectively, with particularly sharp increases in urban areas. Now, about one in ten people who has a stroke in the U.S. is under the age of 45.

Younger stroke victims

There are many potential explanations for this disconcerting trend. Rising stress, falling physical activity levels, and fewer doctor visits among Millennials could all play a role. One narrative rises to the forefront, however. As cigarette use in the U.S. declined from an alarming high of around 45% in the 1950s to just 12.5% in 2020, all Americans collectively reaped the benefit of less smoke in public places, which manifested in reduced rates of lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke. But since the 1970s, the public health benefits from reduced smoking are being eroded by rising obesity and its related health complications.

Childhood obesity is particularly noxious in regard to early stroke, and Millennials were the first generation to truly be affected by this alarming trend. The rate of childhood obesity more than tripled from 5% in 1978 to 18.5% in 2016, leaving many more children burdened by associated conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, which can lead to a stroke.

There is good news. Thanks to improved medical care, stroke fatality rates have fallen significantly between 1975 and 2019, about 65% for hemorrhagic stroke (caused by a burst blood vessel) and 80% for ischemic stroke (caused by a blood vessel blockage). And with greater brain plasticity, young people are more apt to recover. Still, strokes can leave Millennials with lasting complications, such as occasional seizures, incontinence, cognitive impairment, hindered speech, and diminished muscle control, not to mention a sharply elevated risk of a future stroke.

Increased stroke isn’t the only health issue that Millennials are contending with. The rates of many cancers, especially those tied to poor diet, are rising for people under age 50.

Diet and exercise

The best solution to reverse the rise in early stroke is for Millennials and future generations to eat right and exercise, especially from a young age. Schools and parents have a vital role to play here.

Obesity’s grasp can be hard to break if it takes hold at a tender age, but if healthy lifestyle practices are instilled early, it’s likely they will remain second nature.

This article was originally published on Big Think.

As expected Turkey on Tuesday announced it has indefinitely postponed any future rounds of talks with Sweden and Finland regarding their NATO membership bids. 

A major meeting was expected to take place in Brussels in February, but this has been dramatically canceled, Turkish state broadcaster TRT reported based on diplomatic sources. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was supposed to attend the talks, and when it was planned the two countries were widely perceived as very close to their NATO accession being approved.

President Erdogan himself on Monday lashed out at Sweden in particular, blasting Swedish authorities for allowing a far-right activist to burn a Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm over the weekend. 

Erdogan stated bluntly that Sweden should no longer expect support from Turkey to join NATO given it allows “terrorists” in its midst. Turkey has also expressed deep dissatisfaction at both Nordic countries’ failure to crack down on Kurdish groups banned by the Turkish state.

Amid continuing Turkish anger, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto has said a diplomatic “time-out” is now needed in order to reassess. 

At the same time, Finland has suggested it could seek NATO membership without Sweden, after the two earlier indicated a joint membership bid process.

Authored by Anne Zhang and Lynn Xu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Chip sales in China have tumbled at a whopping rate, as productivity in the semiconductor-related sector has contracted dramatically, indicating that the country’s manufacturing industry is shrinking, according to the latest industrial report.

The Washington-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released data on Jan. 9 indicating that compared to the same period in 2021, China’s chip sales plummeted by 21.1 percent in November of 2022. Meanwhile, in the United States, chip sales rose by 5.2 percent; sales in Europe increased by 4.5 percent year-on-year; and sales in Japan went up by 1.2 percent.

China’s Industrial Recession Buffets Global Data

According to SIA statistics, in 2021, China alone made up $192.3 billion, or 34.6 percent, of $555.9 billion in global semiconductor industry sales, ranking first in the world.

As the world’s largest chip market, the Chinese market’s sharp decline has dragged down the yield of the global industry, with November 2022 seeing global semiconductor industry sales slide to $45.5 billion. That is 2.9 percent less than the previous month and 9.2 percent less than the same period of the previous year, respectively.

“Global semiconductor sales decreased in November [2022], largely due to market cyclicality and macroeconomic headwinds,” said John Neuffer, president and CEO of SIA.

The SIA represents most U.S. semiconductor companies and nearly two-thirds of non-U.S. semiconductor companies.

Chip Imports Decline

China’s chip imports have faced a serious decline since last October when the United States imposed sanctions on Chinese semiconductor companies.

Chinese customs data showed that China imported 40.5 billion integrated circuits in November 2022, a 25.3 percent drop from 54.22 billion units in November 2021.

Last October, the United States issued a semiconductor and equipment export control order against the Chinese Communist regime. The new ban restricts exports to China of logic chips below 14/16 nanometres, DRAM memory chips below 18 nanometres, and NAND flash memory chips above 128 layers, as well as related manufacturing equipment.

The move could be a heavy blow to a wide range of manufacturing areas, including automobiles, mobile communications equipment, and computers.

Industry Output Declines

In November 2022, China’s output of microcomputer equipment plunged by 27.9 percent; and mobile communication handheld devices dropped 13 percent, including a 19.8 percent decline in the production of smartphones from the same period last year, according to data released by China’s Statistical Bureau.

In addition, the manufacturing of railroads, ships, aerospace, and other transportation equipment, computer, communication, and electronic equipment, and general equipment manufacturing declined 0.9–2.9 percent year-over-year.

Manufacturing Prospects Fall to Record Low

A Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) reading below 50 indicates a contraction in manufacturing and service sectors, according to industrial statistics methods. This gloomy data was seen for most of last year in China.

China’s Bureau of Statistics published a report on Dec. 31 saying that China’s PMI remained under 50 for most of last year, with the exception of January, February, June, and September, which were slightly higher than 50. In the fourth quarter of last year, China’s PMI fell sharply for three consecutive months, with its December PMI hitting a record low of 47.

Read more here…

Nuclear power generation is an integral part of the electrical grid landscape, and it’s a critical pillar in decarbonizing the energy sector to achieve net-zero greenhouse gases. 

The evolution of nuclear power generation from traditional, giant, light-water reactors to advanced light-water small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) could be a reality by the end of the decade. 

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently certified a design for NuScale Power’s SMR. The certification allows utilities to use the design when applying for licenses to build a nuclear power plant. The rule becomes effective next month. 

“The rule takes effects February 21, 2023 and equips the nation with a new clean power source to help drive down emissions across the country,” NRC wrote in a statement. 

This is the first design for an SMR to be certified in the US. The other six designs are for large traditional reactors. 

“The design is an advanced light-water SMR with each power module capable of generating 50 megawatts of emissions-free electricity,” NRC continued. 

President Biden has prioritized advancing nuclear technologies to power the grid of tomorrow. His administration has also announced funding to extend the lifespans of nuclear power plants nationwide. 

Recall we have stated if President Biden wants to obtain a carbon-free future, his ability to do so will be through the expansion of nuclear power generation, not unreliable solar and wind energy that fluctuates with the weather. 

NuScale’s small design, about a third of the size of a traditional reactor, allows it to be built almost anywhere. 

There’s even a floating version of the reactor built on a barge that can be towed to grids that need to expand power capacity quickly. 

The DOE and NuScale will build a demonstration power plant with SMRs in 2025, with the first power module operating by 2029. 

What’s become very evident is the US’ thirst for boosting nuclear capacity by adding SMRs to the grid to realize a carbon-free future. To do this, the US will also need to kick its reliance on nuclear fuel from Russia, indicating a need to increase domestic mining supply chains and enrichment facilities.