In a complex and rapidly evolving technological, socio-economic and geopolitical landscape that is focused on a global “sustainable energy transition,” increased electromobility based on lithium batteries is often stated as a key objective. However, unbeknownst to the public, policy makers and most researchers alike, lithium in its enriched isotopic forms (6Li and 7Li) holds tremendous added value beyond its use in batteries. This is especially true in both present and future nuclear technologies. For those countries with large lithium reserves that are being prospected for rapid lithium exploitation in order to fuel the growing global electromobility sector, it is important to be aware of these added value uses when considering plans for expanding lithium extraction (plans that also hold negative environmental externalities, such as prodigious water use and contamination). Argentina – which has an established nuclear energy and research sector, as well as a current administration that seems committed to rapidly depleting the national lithium reserves – serves as a strong and dynamic case study for the importance of crafting long-term, science-based and sustainable policies around the exploitation and isotopic separation of lithium. Argentina owns almost a third of the lithium reserves in South America which, together with those of Chile and Bolivia, represent more than half of the world’s lithium availability. Battery-grade lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) is produced from the Puna brines in the Andes of Northwestern Argentina – it is exported and only a small fraction remains in Argentina as royalties (around 3%) and the declared profits of the mining companies.  This article analyzes the use of lithium isotopes (6Li and 7Li) in fission and fusion nuclear reactors and in nuclear technology devices, such as scintillation plates, neutron detectors and shields. These uses of lithium in nuclear technologies have the potential to add value to Argentina’s limited lithium reserves...

Horacio Corti is an Argentinian physical chemist, a full professor at the University of Buenos Aires, and a researcher and long-time member of Argentina’s National Atomic Energy Commission.  Corti has researched a wide range of condensed matter and material physics phenomena over his long and productive career, from membranes and nanoscale microscopy, to applications of density functional theory and energy storage systems.  Much of his recent research has been focused on Lithium, both its extraction and isotopic separation, as well as its applications beyond batteries, especially within nuclear technologies.  Our interdialogue spanned a range of topics, though focused a good amount on the complex environmental, economic and geopolitical landscape around the lithium supply chain, and how lithium has tremendous added value within present and future nuclear technologies. 00:00 Argentina’s Nuclear Energy and Technology Development 02:00 The Status of Nuclear Power Reactors in Argentina 06:10 The Development of Small Modular Reactors in Argentina 09:24 Preserving Argentina’s Lithium Reserves for Nuclear Technologies 45:43 Beyond Batteries: Lithium-6 and Lithium-7 in Nuclear Technologies 47:05 Separation and Enrichment Methods for Producing Lithium-6 and Lithium-7 01:16:10 Geopolitics and Policy Decisions in Lithium Research

Ernesto Julio Calvo is an Argentinian chemist and full research professor at the University of Buenos Aires, where he directs the Institute of Physical Chemistry of Materials, Environment and Energy. He is also a member of Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), a federal agency that coordinates scientific research. For the past several years Calvo’s research has focused on direct lithium extraction methods by electrochemical processes, with a geographical focus on the salt flats of northern Argentina, northern Chile and southern Bolivia, which is known as the “Lithium Triangle”. He has also helped to found LitiAR, a spin-off company focused on developing clean, sustainable and scalable direct electrochemical lithium extraction methods, to address growing demand for lithium batteries. In 2017 Calvo won the prestigious Bright Minds Challenge for his work on direct lithium extraction by electrochemical processes.  In our interdialogue, which was recorded during a visit to Calvo’s laboratory at the University of Buenos Aires, we covered a range of timely and important topics related to lithium extraction and the need for more efficient, scalable and sustainable ways of mining, refining and utilizing lithium within the socioeconomic context of an increasingly prominent global electromobility sector, and a geopolitical context that supports an energy transition away from fossil fuels.  The technology that Calvo and his team has invented and pioneered for lithium extraction, which is based on a direct electrochemical process using a flow-through reactor design, is now being used on the natural salt brines of the Argentinian Puna, with notable success, and it is one promising technology for direct lithium extraction that has the potential to be scaled up.  We began by speaking about the advancements in his research and its applications, since winning the Bright Minds Challenge in 2017. Timestamps 02:30 Introduction and Background 09:09 Progress since...

Carlos Nobre is a prominent Brazilian Earth systems scientist and a professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of São Paulo. He has been calling attention to the global importance of, and threats to, the Amazon rainforest for decades, emphasizing the role of deforestation in climate change and the risk of reaching tipping points in the Amazon, where megadiverse forest will inevitably retreat into savannah. He spearheads the Amazonia 4.0 initiative, while also serving as co-chair of the interdisciplinary and transboundary Science Panel for the Amazon. We had an enlightening InterDialogue in late 2022 focused on his vision for establishing an Amazonia Institute of Technology, and how he believes the Amazon can be sustainably developed into a standing-forest flowing-river bioeconomy. We spoke about the importance of weaving together traditional Indigenous knowledge with technology and modern science, the Science Panel for the Amazon, and the role of decentralized energy in the Amazon, and also about the urgency of fostering evidence-based policy and better science communication. Chapters 00:00 – Introduction 01:25 – The Vision for a Standing Forest Bioeconomy for the Amazon 03:20 – The Importance of Biodiversity 05:16 – Sustainable Infrastructure and the Urban Amazon 09:41 – Merging Traditional Knowledge with Modern Science 25:05 – Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development 35:23 – The Future of Mega Dams in the Amazon 47:45 – The Science Panel for the Amazon