Photo: Statue of the Pioneers, Obninsk, Russian Federation (Soviet Statue)
By: Ambrose Begay, written on behalf of the Environmental Commission of the Party of Communists USA & the Party of Communists USA Nuclear Energy Committee
Today we find ourselves amidst perhaps the greatest energy and environmental crisis ever encountered by the human race. At present, fossil fuels and its industry owners hold a monopoly on energy production and distribution worldwide. Its use, especially in developed countries, is the fundamental backbone of modern industrial societies. Simultaneously developing countries are seeking to increase fossil fuel consumption as a means to increasing national economic prosperity. This trend however will prove to be a disaster for the climate and ecological health of the planet. Are there any technological advances which can avoid the disastrous effects of global warming?
The introduction of hydrocarbon fuels at the beginning of the industrial revolution served as a progressive leap for humanity. Fueling industrialization and producing an abundance of material values never before seen. For the first time ever, fossil fuel-produced fertilizer allowed humanity to produce an unprecedented quantity of food crops increasing the carrying capacity of the Earth, feeding billions. However, the rapid burning of fossil fuels is releasing vast quantities of heat trapping greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere warming our planet. Is our modern industrial way of life at odds with the Earth and her ecosystems? At first glance, it may appear that modern society and its characteristics of modernity are in direct contradiction with a healthy vibrant Earth.
Peeking at the energy portfolio for nearly every developed country shows a heavy reliance on fossil fuels for electricity consumption, transportation and commercial industry. Some areas of industrial activity have no technological replacements, which is the case with the international transport sector which accounts for 25% of total global energy alone as it is almost entirely powered by fossil fuels (1). Resolving the contradiction and avoiding the worst effects of global warming will require a revolution in energy production from a carbon-based energy system to one that is carbon-free.
At the end of World War 2, of the two remaining superpowers, sixty-nine years ago the Soviet Union powered-up Obninsk, the first nuclear power station, a watershed moment for humanity. For the first time ever humanity experienced a new type of energy in the form of electricity, of which was entirely combustion-less and carbon-free. A major advancement as all previous historical iterations of energy sources harnessed by humanity were all combustible carbon-emitting fuels. While on the other hand, harnessing uranium fuel for electricity represented a continuation of the historical trend of humans harnessing ever-increasing energy-dense fuels starting from animal dung to wood fuel to fossil fuel, and then to uranium fuel.
Uranium in terms of energy density contains 3.9 million times more energy (MJ/kg) than traditional forms of fuel (2). It is by virtue of this immense ancient supernova energy stored in the elements of Uranium and Thorium, which can liberate humanity from the clutches of fossil fuels forever. Terrestrial and seawater Uranium in nature exists with such great abundance it holds the mantle as a virtually inexhaustible source of fuel (3). The element Thorium too exists in comparative abundance on both Earth and the Moon.
Generating heat energy from nuclear fuel is an entirely carbon-free process only producing minute quantities of technically manageable fission by-products, a mixture of recyclable materials with varying degrees of radioactivity of intensity and duration. These fission products can be recycled and repurposed for other applications such as energy production, food sanitation, medical treatments and instrumentation, and space exploration.
Despite the three major nuclear incidents of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima, civilian atomic energy continually ranks as the safest method to generate electricity alongside solar and wind power. Emissions-free civilian nuclear plants have in fact saved 1.8 million lives by displacing fossil fuel power plants globally (4).
Modern advanced reactors such as the one recently constructed in Waynesboro, Georgia, Vogtle 3, an AP1000 design, have incorporated all the hard-learned lessons from previous iterations of atomic reactor technology starting with an overall simplified design but the added integration of non-human intervention passive safety systems. Advanced reactors have built-in safety systems that rely on the natural laws of physics such as buoyancy, gravity, natural convection, etc. (5). The worst-case scenario of major nuclear incidents is now virtually impossible with modern advanced reactor designs like the AP1000 and ESBWR.
The recent advent and development of Accident Tolerant fuels will also contribute to improving high temperature stability and performance in modern nuclear fuel, further enhancing the safety for all pressurized and light-water reactors, old and new (6).
Proposed and operational fourth generation atomic reactors have the potential to outmode fossil fuels in nearly every sector of industrial society. Fourth generation fast reactors can recycle weapons-grade plutonium and spent fuel or so-called nuclear waste from older reactor generations. For example, Russia’s current BN900 liquid metal fast breeder reactor, which went into commercial operation in 2016, now burns the country’s excess weapons-grade plutonium for peaceful environmental-friendly purposes (7).
High-temperature fourth generation fast reactors, unlike modern advanced reactors, will no longer be limited to generating electricity exclusively and will allow for a multitude of cogeneration applications. For instance, high-temperature fast reactors can displace fossil fuel process-heat widely used in heavy industry. Produce large-scale synthetic carbon-neutral fuels from carbon from the air and water from the world’s oceans to completely displace fossil fuels in the global transportation sector. The large-scale production of synthetic methanol, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel for example. Production of massive industrial quantities of carbon-free fuels like hydrogen, green ammonia (8), and others.
Industry-scale heat can be used to charge molten-salt energy storage to add additional clean energy onto the grid without building additional reactors to cover energy gaps, or to recharge molten-salt storage to displace natural gas peaking plants for grid stabilization and load-following capabilities. This also creates technical compatibility with solar and wind installations.
Large-scale production of desalinated water from the world’s oceans becomes a feasible alternative to our dwindling supply of natural fresh water. Large-scale production of fossil-free green hydrogen steel becomes possible.
The high-temperature reactors of the future are slated to be near-ready for commercial availability with several companies expecting first-of-a-kind plants into the 2030s. Ultimately high-temp fast reactors will give-way for the viable transition of our country, and by extension, our civilization to completely dethroned fossil energy for atomic energy. By unlocking the full potential of the atom and the immense energy contained within it. Humanity can indeed sustain high levels of standard of living for every member of the human race without polluting the atmosphere while simultaneously preserving as much of nature as possible indefinitely. In other words, wielding the power of the atom, we can continue industrial civilization without wreaking havoc to planetary health of the Earth.
Alvin M. Weinberg, American scientist, and former director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory had proposed in the article, “Energy as an Ultimate Raw Material”, that in the future, history will reach a point where humanity’s limitless needs will ultimately come into direct contradiction with the finite supply of planetary resources. He argues that humanity will one day have to resolve this contradiction and “will depend centrally on our capturing an inexhaustible energy supply, either by learning how to burn the seas (fusion) or to burn the rocks (fission) or to trap the sun’s energy in a practical way.” Humanity has indeed arrived at a point where it can no longer subsist on fossil fuels, as the pollution levels of greenhouse gasses have reached the maximum threshold of our finite atmosphere. Global finite natural freshwater is running dry with major water shortages expected in the latter 21st century. It is now time we must transition away from fossil fuels to the next most practical option for long-term sustainability, by burning the rocks.
- https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/ieo/pdf/transportation.pdf
- https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/uranium-the-fuel-for-a-utopian-energy-economy/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/07/01/uranium-seawater-extraction-makes-nuclear-power-completely-renewable/?sh=5e761e10159a
- https://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abs/kh05000e.html
- https://www.iaea.org/topics/design-safety-nuclear-power-plants/passive-safety-features
- https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/5-things-you-should-know-about-accident-tolerant-fuels
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BN-800_reactor
- https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/low-carbon-energy-programme/green-ammonia/