What do you think you know about nuclear power?
Love it or hate it, nuclear power is widely considered as a zero carbon electricity source. There are loads of great explainers about the technology out there, but to really get familiar with it, you need to work with it. I’ve worked in the area of nuclear waste management for about 15 years and I sat down with some other nuclear scientists and engineers to find out what they know about other parts of the industry. We were also joined by an engineer who doesn’t work in the nuclear industry who could ask questions that people outside of the field might want to know.
Reactors that are currently in use cause the atoms in the fuel to split, releasing vast amounts of energy in the process. This energy is used to heat water which turns a turbine. As Amina described it, the main purpose of a nuclear reactor is to boil water. Aneeqa works in nuclear fusion, in contrast to traditional nuclear reactors, fusing certain atoms together also releases energy, and this is also used to boil water and power a turbine.
Since both types of nuclear reactor generate a lot of heat, there are additional benefits beyond zero carbon electricity. They can produce hydrogen so could support the hydrogen economy, can be used for desalination and could also be used for district heating. Cara has recently finished a PhD in social value of nuclear industry projects and…
