What would you do with pollution-free energy?
There’s a clean tech with huge potential that many of us don’t like to talk about. Advanced nuclear power.
by Robby Kile
Life in the twenty-first century is better than at any point in history. The standard of living we have today in developed nations is higher than that of even the wealthiest of individuals from a mere two hundred years ago. But billions of us have yet to gain access to modern energy, sanitation or life-changing manufactured goods such as fridges and washing machines.
While decreasing human suffering is our greatest priority, we must minimise the environmental impact of future growth by choosing technologies that are low-carbon, clean and minimise land use and mining footprints.
Industrial processes and the burning of fossil fuels have made modern living possible, but now they pose a threat to our very lifestyle.
What if there was a reliable way to power modern industrial processes without contributing to climate change?
What if there was a way to improve access to energy, clean water, and all the other essentials we take for granted in rich countries, without putting further pressure on our wild spaces?
There is: advanced nuclear power.
The twenty-first century lifestyle has been made possible by abundant energy access. Access to energy and economic well-being are so inextricably linked that those without modern energy, or with only limited access, are described as being in “energy poverty”.
Global energy access is forecasted by the Energy Information Administration to increase by 41 percent in the next 30 years, mostly in the developing world as growing populations experience economic growth.
This is great news given that energy use correlates strongly with higher standards of living and longer life spans. And those worried about expanding populations need not worry; birth rates always fall as a country becomes richer.
To fight climate change while continuing to increase prosperity across the world, radically different energy systems must be deployed than those currently operating in the world. Fossil fuels currently make up a vast majority of global energy, and they are projected to continue to do so until at least 2050, the last year for which projections are available.
Electricity accounts for less than half of global energy consumption. We use huge amounts of energy as heat for industry and our homes. Agriculture and transport are the other big energy consumers. Preventing climate change therefore requires decarbonizing all these energy sources, not just electricity.
Advanced nuclear reactor technology is uniquely suited to meet this vast decarbonization need. Advanced nuclear reactors ranging from small modular, light-water reactors to large scale high-temperature gas-cooled reactors have the capability to provide for all global energy demands.
With coolant temperatures ranging from 545ºF to about 1832ºF, advanced reactors can provide heat for processes beyond electricity generation, such as hydrogen production, oil refinement, and steel manufacturing, reducing transportation and industrial carbon emissions in addition to providing carbon-free electricity.
Nuclear reactor technology provides benefits far beyond electricity. Reactors produce nuclides such as Technetium-99 which are invaluable in medical diagnosis. There is currently a shortage of nuclear reactors capable of producing them, but deployment of advanced reactors around the globe would greatly improve access to these life-saving isotopes.
Agriculture provides a great example for how advanced reactors could be deployed to “green” whole industries.
The heat output from the reactors could be used desalinate saltwater for irrigation as well as produce low-carbon fertilizer. Electricity from the reactors could then be used to power UV-lit, vertical, soilless farms.
This would dramatically cut food production land footprints and agricultural pollution.
Deployment of Generation IV reactors also promotes peace. Advanced reactors, especially fast breeders, can run on recycled nuclear weapons material, eliminating the most dangerous weapons of mass destruction humanity has ever devised, while simultaneously providing cheap energy.
Advanced reactors can run on more than just recycled weapons. They can also be fueled with something that we currently consider “waste”: spent nuclear fuel.
Advanced reactors burn up parts of the fuel our current reactors have to leave unused. What’s left at the end is something not much more dangerous than what we originally pulled out the ground, effectively eliminating the nuclear waste issue.
The “closed fuel cycle” is the nuclear equivalent of recycling plastic bottles instead of sending them to landfill.
Advanced nuclear reactors will drastically change the landscape of nuclear energy by introducing radically different reactors. Designs range from NuScale’s small modular reactor, which is a simplified, smaller version of today’s reactors, to Terrestrial Energy’s integral molten salt reactor.
Among the most innovative of next generation reactors is the traveling wave reactor, designed by TerraPower, a company founded by Bill Gates. The traveling wave reactor is designed to gradually produce its own fuel meaning it can run for very long periods of time without needing refueling.
The US DOE has announced it will support the deployment of Westinghouse’s eVinci microreactor, which is essentially a plug-and-play nuclear battery that can be shipped to any location where it is needed.
Advanced nuclear reactors have the potential to change everything. Stopping climate change, fighting diseases, alleviating poverty, and promoting peace to name but a few of the possible benefits. Will humanity be able to put aside its fears of nuclear and embrace its full potential? Only time will tell.
Originally published on generationatomic.org.
Robby Kile
About the Author: Robby Kile is a nuclear engineering student and research fellow at Generation Atomic whose interests lie in advanced reactor design, especially the non-power uses of reactors. Robby is a strong proponent of nuclear energy as a tool for fighting climate change and energy poverty around the world.
Like what you’re reading? Check us out at Generation Atomic Magazine!
© Generation Atomic 2019
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
