Nuclear [Con]Fusion

How nuclear serves as a pivoting point for sustainable energy

We all know that sooner or later fossil-based energy will be replaced by renewable energy. There’s no question about it. But the problem is; our current low-emission energy generators (such as wind, hydro, and solar cells) are still not viable to replace fossil-fuel at scale, and the progress is not fast enough for the transition. Their reliability and consistency still prove to be a huge problem.

That’s where nuclear FISSION comes into play.

While it’s still considered as non-renewable, IT IS sustainable (at least for hundreds of thousands of years). It has a higher energy yield with much less carbon footprint. However, nuclear power plants are still quite expensive to build (for now) and they produce radioactive waste (which surprisingly is still easier to manage — with a proper geological landfill waste management — as opposed to some other alternatives).

With that in mind, nuclear fission reactors are certainly not a long term solution. But instead, it can serve as an excellent transitional stepping stone before we go fully-renewable. It’s a far better alternative than to keep using fossil fuel, while we wait for the tech of renewable energy to be mature enough for mass adoption.

In my opinion, for now, we need to invest in both nuclear and renewables, and use them in conjunction with each other.

For nuclear, we need to get the cost down and make it more modular — like mini reactors — so it can be easier to implement in more places. We also need new tech for a massive (and more efficient) battery/energy storage & distribution system.

“Ok, so how about nuclear FUSION then?”

Nuclear fusion on the other hand, fuses atoms instead of splitting them (as opposed to nuclear fission), which generates much more energy using much less materials. On top of that, it has zero toxic waste compared to fission, as it uses deuterium and tritium isotopes of hydrogen (as well as lithium). It works almost exactly like our sun. It’s the true holy grail of energy resources with near perfect energy conversion.

Unfortunately, our technology still can’t produce a stable nuclear fusion reaction yet, and at the moment, it costs more energy than it can produce. But, in the future, technology may soon catch up (with material breeding as one of its key research), and this “miniature sun” will probably be our next main — and only? — energy source in the next few centuries.

“Now, what happened with COLD FUSION? Is it even real?”

Well, that’s a story (or more of a fairy tale) for another day. This time, let’s settle with nuclear fission first and foremost, and turn every possible energy generated into electricity. One step at a time.

The future is electric.

Cheers!