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| Nuclear Reactor being built in China |
Despite the problems that many see with Nuclear power (whether they are actual threats or not) it is still a very viable and efficient solution to the energy problems that the world has. Some countries, like France obtain a majority of their power from nuclear reactors. France gets 80% of their power from low-emission Nuclear plants. There are many improvements that could be made to nuclear power, making it safer, cleaner and more efficient.
One company, is turning away from the usual path in Nuclear power, and towards, a more difficult, possibly more efficient form of nuclear - Fusion. All nuclear reactors in operation today are powered by Nuclear Fission, which is the splitting of heavy atoms to create heat which spins turbines. Fusion, on the other hand is the fusing of hydrogen into heavier elements. This is very similar to how the sun functions. The companies final aim is to be able to put small, stable, fusion reactors into factories and make them energy independent.
Some slightly less adventurous ideas to improve nuclear fission include using Thorium. Thorium could lead to much safer reactors which would have much more public support and would be more likely to be accepted in many states and countries. However, even the Chinese, who are years ahead of us in Nuclear Reactor progress, will still take until at least the 2020's to put Thorium reactors into action. We need to make steps in the right direction before then.
America and other countries need to invest in both t improving our current technologies and developing the next breakthroughs in energy tech as well. What our government could do right now, to make an impact, would be to impose strict rules regulating carbon emissions and replace many coal plants with cleaner natural gas plants. We could implement wind and solar to their fullest potential that we can right now. Right now all our government is doing is waiting, and waiting around never gets anywhere fast.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/science/in-search-of-energy-miracles.html?ref=science&_r=0
(picture) http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/12/science/12GILL/12GILL-articleLarge.jpg
Good article Parker, I've read into the Thorium option quite a bit already. It seems to be quite promising in terms of sustainability. It also appears that the author backs this new push for Thorium based energy. Good job overall and an interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really cool article Parker. It's nice to read about new things that are going to be so important in the coming decades of science. I had never heard of nuclear fusion before, just nuclear fission. The emissions of carbon dioxide in the air reminds me of our unit in class on the carbon cycle. In general, very interesting article, nice job.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really nice post and article. These are the types of things that make many people so anxious to see the future. New technologies, such as the traveling wave reactor, have a massive potential to help out our environment. These ideas are new to me, although I find them very interesting and helpful towards the future. Hopefully ideas like fission will become very popular in the future so we can be more environmentally friendly.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post and I completely agree with you. The world has as a whole has to do something about the carbon emissions we put out. This isn't a fake problem and it is most definitely not one countries problem. New technology has to be developed to make it more environmentally friendly. I also agree that our government has to invest more into nuclear power plants. We need something that can get the job done, and if nuclear power plants can, then we have to use them. They may be dangerous and unstable but if we invest enough into them then we may find ways to make it more stable and reliable. Overall the government has to do something before its too late.
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