A disaster in Chernobyl in 1986 poisoned public perception of nuclear power plants from that time on, only to later be compounded by the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Fear of meltdown, fear of radioactive waste became very present in our imaginations.
If there's any future for nuclear power, questions of safety must be fully addressed with believable safeguards. The image of serious danger is probably at the root of Germany's total rejection of nuclear power.
Funding of plant construction is problematic too, the cost of a new nuclear plant from design to operation is an average of $6 billion U.S. dollars. That's up front money - before it is actually selling energy to customers and generating some income.
But in spite of these challenges, nuclear research goes on because of the big advantages: consistent, dependable energy and no carbon emissions. (Michael Shellenberger summarizes the situation here.)
Tons of money is being spent to solve the issues of safety and cost. Fusion instead of fission, small modular reactors, molten salt reactors, all have potential. Tomorrow's post is about another effort that looks like it might succeed.
(cont'd tomorrow)
No comments:
Post a Comment