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Free MIT Course: Nuclear Energy and Public Policy

Examine nuclear power as an energy-policy choice. The lectures compare costs, decarbonization, industrial heat and accident risk, helping you separate technical constraints from public-policy trade-offs.

Video numbers show the position in this classroom. Lecture and recitation numbers retain MIT’s original numbering.

Video 1 of 19 1:13:09

Lecture 1: Introduction to 22.04 and the History of Nuclear Power

Before you start

Suggested preparation: Basic energy literacy and comfort interpreting numerical comparisons.

About this course

Examine nuclear power as an energy-policy choice. The lectures compare costs, decarbonization, industrial heat and accident risk, helping you separate technical constraints from public-policy trade-offs.

Topics and lesson examples

  • Lecture 3: How Should We Join Climate Change to Energy Policy?
  • Lecture 5: Can Nuclear Compete Given Decarbonization?
  • Lecture 14: Is Nuclear Power Safe? Calculating the Number of Deaths Caused by Nuclear Accidents…
  • Lecture 17: Nuclear Proliferation and the Nuclear Fuel Cycle — Part 2
  • Lecture 19: Why the Public Is Skeptical About Nuclear Power—a Way Forward

Course at a glance

Provider MIT
Platform YouTube · MIT OpenCourseWare
Access Free Video
Level Intermediate — WikiFree study-level assessment
Language English
Available lessons 19
Video duration 23h 26m · self-paced
Details checked 10 October 2026

Preparation and study approach

Suggested preparation: Basic energy literacy and comfort interpreting numerical comparisons.

Follow the available videos in sequence, pausing to summarize the main argument or reconstruct a worked example. Keep a short list of assumptions, unfamiliar terms and questions to revisit. Additional reading, problem solving and practice will take time beyond the listed video duration.

Using this video classroom

Select a lesson from the list, or search for a topic. Previous and Next move through the sequence. You can mark lessons complete; progress is stored in this browser without a WikiFree account.

Free access and course scope

The public MIT OpenCourseWare videos in this classroom are free to watch. This listing provides the available playlist recordings, which may include selected lectures, recitations, demonstrations or supporting discussions rather than every component of the original campus course. Textbooks, equipment, software licenses, supervised labs, graded assignments and instructor feedback are not supplied by WikiFree. No purchase is required to watch the videos or use the note-based study approach above.

WikiFree independently organizes these resources for self-paced study. Watching does not award an MIT certificate, academic credit or admission to MIT.

Video provider and credit: MIT OpenCourseWare on YouTube. WikiFree titles, descriptions and cover artwork are independently prepared.

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