The future for current energy sources
Does Nuclear Energy Offer a Solution to Global Warming?
For some, energy in the future will undoubtedly include nuclear energy. For others, it represents a serious danger. In fact, after suffering from periodic bouts of unpopularity, nuclear is back in vogue and is again the focus of research and innovation.
Environmental Advantages but Risks Must Be Controlled
Nuclear energy currently accounts for 16% of global electricity production1. As of January 1, 2010, 437 powerful nuclear reactors were operational with a total capacity of 370 GWe. 55 were under construction, a number not seen since 1992.
Nuclear energy is a growing sector, thanks mostly to its environmental advantages. It is capable of producing large quantities of energy with no atmospheric discharge and minimal greenhouse gas emissions. Nuclear energy therefore seems likely to fill much of the energy gap expected in 2050, mostly due to stabilizing fossil fuel production.
However, at the same time, nuclear electricity production is also largely responsible for the increase in the mass of radioactive waste.
Most of this is spent fuel from nuclear power plants (which accounts for almost 95% of radioactive nuclear waste), which amounts to over 250,000 tons worldwide. Reprocessing involves recovering material with residual energy content in order to divide the volume of final waste to be stored by three.
Finally, while there is still a nuclear risk, measures are being taken all over the world to reduce this risk as much as possible, particularly through in-depth cooperation between user states.
Bruno Comby, chairman of Environmentalists For Nuclear Energy (EFN)
False. "The list of the dangers of nuclear energy is as long as it is terrifying. The nuclear industry produces waste it doesn't know what to do with. It discharges highly radioactive substances into water and the air. It provides electricity through a high-voltage transmission network which has worrying consequences on health..."
GreenPeace
Research- Full Speed Ahead
Current research is focused on building safer reactors capable of burning their own waste. However, these fourth-generation reactors will not be operational on an industrial scale before 2035-2040. In the meantime, third-generation transition reactors will be used. These aim to improve safety and profitability without causing a break in technology. The risk of fusion inside the reactor core (which contains enriched uranium) and atmospheric discharges will be reduced by a factor of 10 and the risk of exposure by personnel will be halved.
The solution to the issue of waste may be found in projects such as the Myrrha research reactor (Multi-purpose hybrid research reactor for high-tech applications) designed by the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK-CEN). The aim of this project is to reduce the life span of waste to a few decades through nuclear fission or even to transmute this waste into stable harmless atoms.
The future of nuclear energy could also lie in nuclear (or thermonuclear) fusion instead of fission, the technique currently used in nuclear power plants. The principle is the same as the reactions observed in the sun. Atomic nuclei come together to form a heavy nucleus. Not only is this technique capable of releasing enormous or even infinite amounts of energy (3-4 times more than fission for the same fuel mass), but its products are not radioactive. Nevertheless, research into how to control the reaction produced has not yet succeeded and is not expected to come to fruition for another 40-50 years.
One of the projects currently underway is ITER, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor based in Cadarache in France, which will conduct experiments over the next thirty years.
[1] CEA
[2] IAEA
