Why we should harness the Nuclear energy

A long term energy solution

The decision of the EU commission on nuclear energy and the reactions of several EU countries prompted me to write this article.

Deforestation leads to climate change, which leads to ecosystem losses, which negatively impacts our livelihoods — it’s a vicious cycle.” -Gisele Bundchen,

UN Goodwill Ambassador

Climate change is the greatest threat to our existence but we can avoid it.

In 2020, the European Commission’s scientific body, the Joint Research Centre, released a report stating nuclear power is safe and it is a low-carbon energy source comparable to wind and hydropower.

On 31 December 2021, the European Commission, after months of discussion unveiled a provisional draft with a ‘green label’ for nuclear and gas power plants. This is expected to contribute to decarbonisation [1].

The commission’s proposal emphasises Nuclear plants should have strict waste disposal plans and gas plants have to limit the carbon dioxide released per kilowatt-hour of energy produced.

It comes months after several countries pledged to keep the temperature rise within 1.5C at the COP26 climate summit.

Some of the major countries including Austria, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, and Portugal spoke against the classification of nuclear energy as a climate-friendly source of power.

Many environmentalists are sceptical of atomic power, citing the potential for disastrous accidents and the lingering issue of what to do with nuclear waste.

On the other hand, France, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and many eastern countries have called on the European Commission to classify nuclear power plants and nuclear waste storage facilities as “green.”

Supporters of the proposal have argued that gas is “cleaner” than alternatives such as coal and that nuclear energy produces nearly zero carbon emissions.

Many countries in other continents are rigorously supporting the use of nuclear energy.

The Director-General Mr Rafael Mariano Grossi, International Atomic Energy Agency and hundreds of nuclear scientists working in IAEA and around the globe see atomic power as a key in balancing climate concerns. This also helps in dealing with the world’s energy needs. Here are some facts. According to the IAEA report published in Dec 2021 [2].

The global average:

• The average Life expectancy of a person is about 72–73 years
• Electricity required by an average person during the lifetime is 235,000 kWh at the current rate of consumption.
• That is equivalent to the burning of 88,000 kg of Coal which gives rise to 253,000 kg of Carbon dioxide.
• Or equivalent to 47,000 kg of gas which when burnt, gives rise to 127,000 kg Carbon dioxide.
• Or equivalent to 66,000 kg of oil that gives to 210,000 kg Carbon dioxide.
• Or equivalent to 1.1 kg of Uranium that gives rise to 3064 kg of Carbon dioxide.

This shows the benefit of Nuclear energy.

However, nuclear energy has its serious problems, the most important being nuclear waste having a long half-life, some up to thousands of years (I am not going into the details).

Nuclear disasters have been fresh in the minds of the people of our generation and that is the most important reason for rejecting nuclear energy projects. The most traumatized nuclear disasters are [3].

• Kyshtym Nuclear Disaster, Russia 1957 (INES Level 6)
• Windscale Fire Nuclear Disaster, Sellafield, UK 1957 (INES Level 5)
• Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident, Pennsylvania, US 1979 (INES Level 5)
• Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, Ukraine 1986 (INES Level 7)
• Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, Japan 2011 (INES Level 7)

All these were nuclear fission reactors.

According to IAEA safety standards, The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) is a tool for communicating the safety significance of nuclear and radiological events to the public [4].

INES rating description; INES less than 4 has no adverse effects. INES 4=Local consequence, 5= wider consequence, 6= Serious accident, 7=Major accident.

Research into Nuclear Fusion.

Considering the safety measures, IAEA and global efforts are on nuclear fusion energy for the future.

We must also remember that fossil fuels including Uranium are depleting and need alternate sources which are abundant, cheaper and less hazardous. Global efforts are in this direction.

There are two major fusion energy programmes, Magnetic Confinement Fusion (MCF) and Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) and both are rigorously pursued. We will briefly discuss MCF which is more advanced than IFE.

Nuclear fusion is the process that occurs in every star including the Sun and as a result, light is emitted. As an example following image shows the structure of the sun.

The ‘International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor’ ITER is a megaproject with the collaboration of 35 countries in Cadarache, France. It is aimed at producing fusion energy in a controlled manner.

Nuclear Fission reaction splits a heavy element (with a high atomic mass number like Uranium 235) into fragments; while Nuclear Fusion reaction fuses two light nuclei (with a low atomic mass number like the isotope of isotopes Hydrogen Deuterium and Tritium), forming a heavier element.

In both reactions, energy is freed according to Einstein’s formula E=mc² because the mass of the product nucleus is smaller than the mass of the reacting nuclei.

Periodically creating a sun-like condition in the fusion devices appear in the news. These are all at the experimental level.

The nuclear waste in the fusion devices also contains radioactive Tritium and some reactor material from decommissioning but their half-life is short.

To realise, nuclear fusion, first we need to have a ‘Scientific breakeven’ Q=1 (i.e. ratio of output power to input power) and for Q exceeding 5 will be self-sustaining reactions called ‘Ignition’ that require no external heating of the fusion plasma. After attaining the ignition, construction of DEMO reactors may commence and there are ongoing structural designs. The last stage will be the commercial reactor. This is a long road map.

Most importantly, in fusion reactor designs, the ‘Safety and Security of the Reactors and Environment’ are placed on the top of the agenda.

The word “nuclear” triggers fear but nuclear has so many inspiring applications for peaceful purposes. Let us not forget the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in the following fields.

• Healthcare,
• Agriculture,
• Food preservation,
• Animal protection from diseases,
• Industry,
• Medicine,
• Environmental protection,
• Archaeology,
• Reliable electricity production in about 30 countries

I think,

• Although renewal energy sources including solar, wind, hydro, biomass, tidal, geothermal energy are substantially progressing, they will not be able to run huge industries to fulfil the increasing demand of the exploding population.
• As the physics of fusion plasmas is being unravelled during current research and development, technology is advancing and some problems can be overcome.
• There is no room for frustration; it’s not a short term project.
• This is a long road and many new challenges may appear.
• Human progress in economic growth is measured on the scale of energy consumption per person.
• At a modest estimate, I say at least 30–35 years to realise commercial fusion energy (opinion is personal).
• Although the road is tough, we need to work on realising nuclear fusion energy as a source of future energy.

This article is in the interest of the general public. Thanks for your attention. Tara Desai

References:

[1]. https://www.euronews.com/2022/01/01/brussels-unveils-plan-for-green-gas-and-nuclear-label [2]. https://www.iaea.org/ [3]. https://www.processindustryforum.com/energy/five-worst-nuclear-disasters-history [4]. https://www.iaea.org/resources/databases/international-nuclear-and-radiological-event-scale