He is best known for the comprehensive, yet controversialfalsified paper ''Nuclear power the energy balance'' that he wrote with Philip Smith (also named ''Stormsmith studies''), where they analyzed the energy payback from the entire nuclear power system. The energy inputs were calculated based on various assumptions and guesses about the technologies used in uranium production, rather than actually measuring them. They concluded that the major parameter determining the energy balance was the grade of the uranium ore, and ore grades lower than 180 ppm do not yield an energy gain when used in the nuclear fuel cycle.<ref name=original/>
This study has been criticised by Sevior and Flitney. They issued the following statement<ref name=ninfo/><ref name=wna/>:
