November 15, 2024:Kate Gamble and Sarah Richardson discuss the evolving landscape of energy reliance in healthcare, exploring critical questions of sustainability, reliability, and environmental responsibility. As nuclear power gains traction as a low-carbon energy solution, healthcare leaders might find themselves at the forefront of a surprising energy revolution.
01:28 The Importance of Energy Reliability in Healthcare
03:45 Nuclear Energy's Role in Modern Healthcare
05:02 Challenges and Considerations of Nuclear Power
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Today in Health IT, we are discussing U. S. Nuclear Regulator kicks off review on Three Mile Island restart. I'm Kate Gamble, Managing Editor at This Week Health, where we host a set of channels and events dedicated to transforming healthcare. One connection at a time. I've spent the last 12 years interviewing healthcare leaders, and I'm excited to bring that knowledge into this community.
So today we are discussing US nuclear regulator kicking off its review of the Three Mile Island restart. I am joined by Sarah Richardson, president of This Week Health 229 Executive Development Community. Sarah, thank you for being here. Happy Friday, Kate. Thank you, happy Friday to you. So here we go. This is such an interesting story, particularly for people who happen to be in our age bracket.
t closed after an incident in:There's a lot to tackle here. There's a lot to unpack. But let's get started for why does this matter so much for the CXOs? Why is this important to them? You have to have energy reliability. If you think about hospitals relying on consistent energy, The nuclear power could support this need for sustainability because even as we saw in these recent storms, most of the time the hospitals are on power grids that stay up all the time and yet sometimes there are catastrophic circumstances where when you can have redundancy of power sources coming into your facilities and supporting communities, then that gives you an extra layer of protection.
Also the environmental impact. Most of these organizations have these ESG campaigns and things that they need to be thinking about and reducing carbon emissions aligns with sustainability goals in health care. And then the regulatory awareness. The evolving energy landscape may impact future healthcare facility planning and the ability to grow with the needs of your populations in some cases, but also having a forethought about what could be the environmental impact on this community that I'm also serving in the aspect of both wellness and illness.
Yeah, it's nuclear energy's comeback. It can support more resilient energy sources for healthcare facilities. And so understanding, as you said, these trends can prepare leaders for the regulatory and operational impacts in power dependent environments. And when you recommended this story, one, I thought of a few people, and one of them is Andy Draper, who is a CIO who has written about Building a carbon zero plan and it's made it a passion.
And even BJ Moore, who was up until recently CIO at Providence, he has spoken about having that as a goal for organizations to go to carbon neutral. And it's interesting to me because it's not what we typically would expect of CIOs, but I feel like CIOs do have some influence in this space. does that sound right to you?
It sounds absolutely in the space that a CIO should think about because some of the areas that require the greatest amount of energy is that of technology. When you start thinking about. Hey, what industries use the most? And you're like, dang, technology is one of them. And so we are the largest provider of technology in our organizations and understanding what that implication could have longer term is going to be really key.
What I found fascinating though, is I get why Three Mile Island is a controversial topic or why it can be a hot button in the conversation for sure. And yet the United States is the largest Nuclear energy producer globally with over 90 reactors. We come in, France is next with 70 percent of its electricity, followed by China, Russia, and Japan.
But you think about where these reactors are located. They're mostly on the eastern half of the United States. Illinois has the most. Next is Pennsylvania. Both South and North Carolina have multiple reactors supporting regional needs. Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama. And then California, we have the remaining reactors like Diablo Canyon.
Though many of ours have been decommissioned, I won't be surprised as I see things come back into play with the ability to have regional power grids near large bodies of water that are critical for cooling systems. For the most part, nuclear power is generally safe, with strict regulations and advanced safety protocols that can minimize risks, and the modern reactors are designed to withstand significant events and major incidents. But you think about some of the longer term concerns. Kate, what for you is top of mind in making sure that the right mitigation is in place?
Yeah, really good question. The first thing that comes to mind is nuclear waste and, being the safe disposal and storage of waste, which remains hazardous for thousands of years. That's a huge challenge. And then you look at accident risk. It's rare, but accidents can have severe environmental and health impacts.
And, unfortunately we've inci incidences. And then you have the cost and decommissioning. These plans are really costly. There's long term financial and environmental considerations. And of course, security. Any discussion, almost all the discussions we have, we point to security in some way, but this is a big one.
And
hydro and while hydropower and solar are generally the most cost effective for powering AI data centers hydropower provides lo reliable low cost energy due to stable water resources and high efficiency, while solar power, which is intermittent, can be cost effective with battery storage and has seen declining costs with advancements in solar technology.
And we've It's probably different in California, but we've seen, things like windmills, we see a lot more use of like solar and water power and it's so interesting and there's so many different, so much potential for it when it comes to healthcare, especially when we're talking about healthcare.
AI, and how much data we're using right now. Absolutely. And that demand will only increase. This is why you saw this, the Microsoft being in the conversation about Three Mile Island. And they're not just turning their reactor back on. There is so much retrofitting and standards that need to be met for today because nuclear energy.
is reliable with minimal emissions, and it really is ideal for meeting baseload demands, and those demands will only continue to increase with our reliance on AI. But if you think about hydro, nuclear, solar, wind, and even geothermal, which can give steady energy output in active regions, these, combining these energy sources and solutions can optimize data center energy use and support sustainability goals.
So what I would really think about as. a consumer of technology, of healthcare, and then that cascading into financial services, automotive, retail, and e commerce. Most of us have retail and e commerce components of our healthcare systems. It's going to be able to have these large scale data centers With uninterrupted power, even if the initial setup and regulatory requirements are higher.
So like any initiative coming through in your organization, you want to think about the environmental impact of AI. It can be as foundational in your conversations as governance about how you're going to utilize the information that's being produced as it is how the energy to produce the information in the first place.
is occurring. And so they're not mutually exclusive. They're actually part of the general conversation and something that with a little bit of extra time and digging into options, you can make sure that you've got sustainable, responsible, and reliable power that is enabling you to advance your AI agenda within your healthcare facility.
Yeah, and just going back a little bit, I think I was surprised that Illinois was the top state with multiple reactors, but it probably shouldn't be a surprise given, the Great Lakes and where it's located, but really interesting. And as we're seeing, nuclear energy has benefits as a low carbon source make it really valuable, but managing these concerns is essential for the sustainable future.
And is there any, anything else that we didn't get to anything you would add in closing? Most important thing about all of this is awareness factor. You may see an article and say, Oh my gosh, I remember three, I'll end almost being a complete meltdown. And then you think everything we have learned since all the advances we have made.
And now here it is available for us at a time when we need more energy and more power than ever. And it could be in some cases. It's harder to obtain based on some of these ESG guidelines and principles. So all of it can come together in an appropriate equation. It's a matter of having the facts in an informed manner that allow you to make the best decisions for your healthcare system.
Yeah, absolutely. And a reminder to, to just take those steps, even if they're small steps in our lives, do what we can to try to limit our carbon footprint and make it a better, a cleaner world. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Exactly. Okay. Don't forget to share this podcast with a friend or colleague.
Use it as a foundation for daily or weekly discussions on the topics that are relevant to you and the industry. They can subscribe wherever you listen to 📍 podcasts. Sarah, thank you so much for your time and your input and your discussion. Likewise. Thank you for listening. And that's all for now.