Rodrigo Casimiro and André Feliciano, Nuclear Vision Portugal Founders, May ‘24
Rodrigo Casimiro & André Feliciano, Engineering Students, Nuclear Advocates
Rodrigo Casimiro and André Feliciano, the founders of Nuclear Vision Portugal.
Meet the “best friends”, 2 young engineering students, aiming to win the hearts and minds of Portugal for nuclear energy.
Two young engineering physics students at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal have launched a pro-nuclear movement within the country, which hosts a research reactor but has never been home to a commercial nuclear plant. The pair, Rodrigo Casimiro and André Feliciano, who describe each other as best friends, launched Nuclear Vision Portugal to inform people about nuclear energy and motivate the public to participate in energy policy.
A large goal of Nuclear Vision is to allay the public’s fears, and clarify misunderstandings. The organization employs a scientific working team that writes articles, many of which appear in the Portuguese publication, Jornal SOL. Additionally, Casimiro and Feliciano hope to host a Stand Up for Nuclear event in Lisbon late this year, in September or October.
For most of his life, Casimiro said that he held negative feelings towards nuclear. He said many in Portugal are afraid that Almaraz, Spain’s nuclear plant on the Portuguese border, will explode and pose a health risk to the Portugal.
A critical turning point towards nuclear advocacy for Casimiro, however, came a year ago, when he met with Mark Nelson of Radiant Energy Group to discuss energy policy. After discussing Germany’s nuclear phaseout, Casimiro said he became convinced that taking nuclear energy from the energy mix leads to greater coal and gas usage and thus more carbon emissions. He left believing in the environmental benefits of a nuclear baseload and was inspired to form Nuclear Vision Portugal with Feliciano.
Feliciano was involved with pro-renewables environmental groups, inspired by Greta Thunberg, but came to recognize intermittency as a problem. He said nuclear energy will be needed to reach Net Zero goals. Feliciano studies fusion demonstration reactors, but firmly believes in the existing fission technology to fight climate change.
Feliciano’s beliefs are based on successful decarbonization efforts, like the ones seen in Sweden and France – the proven methods have been through large portions of hydro and nuclear energy. For a country like Portugal who is resource poor and who imports electricity from Spain, nuclear energy makes sense and can be a valuable asset.
“We have the tools and the knowledge to transform our wills of helping the world with climate change,” Feliciano said. “And making it into actionable steps to actually decarbonize and make a better world.”
Casimiro shared Feliciano’s belief in nuclear’s capacity to decarbonize grids on large scales.
“I believe it's the only way to decarbonize right now. It's an urgent matter, and if we wait for fusion it will take too long,” Casimiro said. “Renewables might be a good option, a good way to decarbonize, but not entirely, and that's where nuclear comes in.”
Attending COP 28 in Dubai, this past December, served as a formative experience for Casimiro and Feliciano who learned first hand from trained nuclear advocates with years of experience from around the world.
Casimiro said he had never learned so much, so quickly about a single topic and that he learned how to defend the cause from Danish, Swedish, and Polish activists.
Members of Nuclear Vision Portugal, including Casimiro and Feliciano, with international nuclear advocates at Ascó Nuclear Plant in Spain in March. The group joined a protest of the phaseout of Spain’s nuclear reactors.
In November 2023, Nuclear Vision Portugal organized a pro-nuclear conference hosted at the University of Lisbon, covered by the Huffington Post. Founder of the Portuguese chapter of RePlanet, Luis Guimarãis, said “the anti-nuclear bubble is bursting.” Casimiro said he was proud of the event, filled with specialists on energy, and live streamed on YouTube to over 100 people, because it brought nuclear to the forefront of energy discussion in Portugal.
Casimiro and Feliciano said their advocacy model is intended to spark conversation and thought, giving people the necessary information so they can make informed decisions on their own.
Nuclear Vision Portugal utilizes LinkedIn and Social media to provide energy communication. One of the most difficult parts of their advocacy, Casimiro said, is communicating with highly opinionated people that post daily, defending renewables and attacking nuclear, with good arguments.
Feliciano said, similarly, it is difficult to engage people with confirmation bias, who go to great lengths to find ways to discredit nuclear energy. For Feliciano, nuclear is needed as a baseload and renewables cannot stand alone, due to intermittency, as classically shown through the duck curve.
In 1972, Companhia Portuguesa de Electricidade (CPE) announced plans for 4 reactors but never came to fruition due to political turmoil. In 2005, Patrick Monteiro de Barros and other businessmen proposed a 1600 MWe EPR reactor. Public opinion polls around the time were generally negative and the plant never materialized.
Casimiro said he thinks younger generations favor nuclear at higher rates now, and at Instituto Superior Técnico most people support it. Convincing Portuguese politicians to support nuclear energy will be a difficult endeavor, Casimiro said. He said, however, that he is confident he can change public perception of the energy source.
“(Support will come) slowly but surely,” Feliciano said. “With the test of time, nuclear will stand out, as we believe (in it), and eventually we will want more of it.”
Nuclear energy in Portugal would translate to cheaper electricity, less electricity imported from Spain, and the possibility of exporting energy, Feliciano said.
Feliciano said he views nuclear as the “next step” in energy, continuing a natural progression to higher density fuels. “It's good for us, if we apply it carefully.” Feliciano said. It can make us better.”
As an engineer, Casimiro said he is trained to look at the numbers, and that numbers can reveal everything if you treat them correctly. The numbers all point to nuclear energy, Casimiro said. Part of his job entails making a seamless translation to the non-technical public, increasing general understanding of the technology.
Looking forward, Nuclear Vision Portugal hopes to host a nuclear conference and a debate, ideally with Portuguese politicians involved. Casimiro and Feliciano visited the research reactor at the National Nuclear Research Centre at Sacavém this May, engaging in discussions on nuclear energy, ethics, and using atoms for peace, not war.
Much of the organization’s strength and vitality comes from the close friendship between Casimiro and Feliciano.
“When you find the right teammate, the right formula, you just keep applying it until you you get it done,” Feliciano said.
“We're basically best friends, even before we started a group,” Casimiro said. “It just works. We know we're good as a group. Good as a team.”