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In-Depth Research & Reports

Sep 14, 2020

Innovation in Nuclear Energy Technologies: Implications for US National Defense

By Dr. Robert F. Ichord, Jr. and Dr. Jennifer T. Gordon

The US Department of Defense (DOD) has the potential to play a significant role bringing advanced reactor technology to demonstration and, ultimately, commercialization. Possible US military applications of advanced reactors—especially micro nuclear reactors (MNRs)—include deployment to remote bases that are challenging to supply with fuel; power systems for directed-energy weapons; and nuclear energy systems for space flight and off-world bases. This issue brief explores the challenges and opportunities inherent in DOD’s procurement of MNRs.

Defense Technologies Energy & Environment

Report

May 26, 2020

European energy security and the critical role of transatlantic energy cooperation

By Richard L. Morningstar, András Simonyi, Olga Khakova, Jennifer T. Gordon

Transatlantic cooperation is essential to European energy security, which is and should remain a key national security priority for the United States. European energy security is crucial for the maintenance of a strong European economy and for European political stability, both of which are in the best interests of the United States. This report recommends that the United States and the EU focus their energy cooperation in several areas that will benefit the EU’s efforts to meet climate targets and that, at the same time, will also bolster energy security.

Energy & Environment Europe & Eurasia

New Atlanticist

Mar 24, 2020

The implications of the coronavirus crisis on the global energy sector and the environment

By Jennifer T. Gordon

The current drop in oil demand—caused, in large part, by severe reductions in travel due to the coronavirus—combined with the Saudi-Russia oil price war has simultaneously, if temporarily, lowered greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). However, the drop in GHG emissions is likely to be unsustainable in the long term, and the currently low cost of oil has raised questions about the future of clean energy deployment and climate action.

Coronavirus Energy & Environment
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Jennifer T. Gordon is the director of the Nuclear Energy Policy Initiative and the Daniel B. Poneman chair for nuclear energy policy at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center. Gordon was a co-director of the Atlantic Council Task Force on US Nuclear Energy Leadership. From 2016 to 2018, she was a senior energy policy analyst at National Journal’s Network Science Initiative. Gordon served as a Central Intelligence Agency political analyst from 2005 to 2008, and she has also worked as a freelance writer and TV commentator.

Gordon earned her PhD from Harvard University’s History Department and Center for Middle Eastern Studies after completing a dissertation on early Shia political thought. Gordon graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a major in Middle Eastern studies and a minor in English. Gordon lives in Bethesda with her husband and their two sons.

The Poneman chair was established through a generous contribution from Daniel B. Poneman.