About Us
CANDiD - Climate Action through Nuclear Deployment in Developing Countries.
We are "bilingual" nuclear engineers who speak your language and also speak nuclear science.
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There are currently two separate conversations being held around the prospect of nuclear power deployment in the developing world; one is outside the nuclear industry with the broader community and policymakers, while the other is within the nuclear industry between nuclear scientists.
The broader community, which includes stakeholders in developed and developing countries, has expressed reservations regarding the safety and security concerns associated with deployment of nuclear power in the developing world, based on risk perceptions of nuclear power, which is informed by world events and other indirect and sometimes nebulous sources of information.
Nuclear scientists have developed advanced nuclear power plants that address these concerns through innovative technology such as passive cooling, which may prevent a nuclear meltdown through natural processes such as gravity. However, these technologies are often expressed in esoteric terms that are mostly understood by nuclear engineers. Hence, it may be said that two separate languages are being spoken in the nuclear debate; "nuclear-speak" and your language.
CANDiD will bridge the communication gap by using simple language and communication tools to describe nuclear power and how advanced reactors can enable safe and secure deployment in developing countries.
We will show how advanced nuclear power can support two of the biggest problems facing the world today; global energy poverty and global warming.
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What we Believe
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The real and perceived safety and security risks of nuclear power have prevented the societal acceptance required to support its widespread deployment in the developing world, and thereby prevented its use in addressing these two global challenges.
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Advanced nuclear power can address the safety and security challenges, but also present some new risks.
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We believe that when people are presented with objective and evidence-based facts about these risks, they will make the best decisions for their communities regarding the potential deployment of nuclear power.
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We will describe advanced nuclear power to the general public by translating nuclear safety research in a manner that the general public can understand.
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While other nuclear advocacy groups approach this issue from a policy discussion standpoint, CANDiD will uniquely approach it by providing the public with factual research in simplified videos and infographics
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We will also serve as a technology liaison between developing nations and the providers of advanced nuclear reactors, by describing the resource and capability gaps, and mapping technological solutions that close the gaps.
Our Story
CANDiD was established by Dr. Sola Talabi, who is a nuclear engineering researcher from Africa. Sola emigrated to the United States in 1997 to study engineering and power generation, with a goal to assist with full electrification of Africa. After graduating with a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Pittsburgh, Sola joined Westinghouse Nuclear, where he learned about nuclear energy and how the high power density of nuclear reactors can solve global energy poverty. At the same time, he learned about nuclear safety and security risks, and devoted his PhD research focus on how to manage the risks associated with nuclear power to enable safe and secure deployment in the developing world. Sola has conducted several research projects on improving safety and security of nuclear plants. All relevant studies are available on this website. Sola is also a committee member on National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine study on Advanced Nuclear Power. In 2014, he started a nuclear research firm, called Pittsburgh Technical that conducts practical demonstrations of advanced nuclear reactor safety features. Sola established CANDiD as a non-profit entity to help to spread the research to the general public and also help to serve as a liaison between developing countries and suppliers of nuclear technology based on his background and experience with both.