Clean and Renewable? A Look Into a Future of Nuclear
Looking at past temperatures across the world, over the last 40 years the Earth has been warming at the rate of 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade, which means that we have risen in total around 0.8 degrees. Our global surface temperatures in 2021 show that we are still currently on that trajectory (Lindsey & Dahlman, 2021). While 0.8 degrees Celsius does not seem like a large change, it is important to understand that changes in global temperature make a massive impact on different parts of the world and can alter weather patterns as well as change severity of our natural disasters. Extreme weather patterns are likely to become more extreme and more common. New record disasters are being set every year and one such recent notable record can be seen in late 2019 to early 2020 with Australia having its worst ever bushfires in history which was intensified with a prolonged drought. This resulted in burning of over 46 million acres of land, over 3500 homes lost with an estimated 1.9 billion dollars in costs to repair (“2019–2020”, 2019). The total damage does not even begin to include the habitat destruction as well as the millions of wildlife that were displaced or destroyed. This example goes to show that climate change is an issue that cannot be left for later, because the consequences are very real and devastating, and could happen at any time.
Fortunately, we have many ways in which we can combat climate change. The primary goal is to reduce our carbon emissions, of which the majority is a result of burning fossil fuels. The main focus of the current debate for climate change is around whether or not renewables can replace fossil fuels. These renewable forms of energy include wind, hydropower, geothermal, and finally solar energy. Many of these forms of renewable energy have already been put into practice in many different countries, with major support from investors, which has helped cut down on carbon emissions in the last few years. However, recent data from 2021 shows that our efforts are not enough to reach projected goals by 2023 and the Earth is still seeing its warmest periods on both land and ocean (Hausfather, 2022).
Furthermore, at our current level of investment into renewable energy may indicate that the world actually may not be fully ready to transition off non-renewable energy. For example, Germany is one of the leading countries in terms of renewable energy commitments, with their project called Eigenweinde, whose goal is to cut emissions by 65% by 2030 and be completely carbon neutral by 2050. Their plan to become carbon neutral by 2050 was to be 88% reliant on renewable energy by that time. Unfortunately, even after investing 36 billion dollars, in 2019 Germany was already unable to meet one of the earlier set targets for 2020 and had to increase fossil fuel usage to meet power supply demands. On top of that, reports show that much of their infrastructure for renewable energy still has not been fully completed and will take an estimated 3.8 trillion more dollars to complete (Shellenberger, 2019). These data are important because it indicates that completely switching away from natural gas and coal using only renewables may not be feasible given the current timeframe and the goals that many countries seek to achieve. There are still drawbacks to renewables that need to be addressed before the world can become fully reliant on them.
The first drawback to renewable energy is the ability to have a ready supply and stream of energy throughout the day. For energy sources like wind and solar, there are only limited hours in the day that energy can be produced, and there are also tighter constraints on where these energy farms can be placed. Solar farms require areas of high sunlight to produce energy, and during nighttime there is no sunlight for the solar panels to absorb. Wind power requires areas that have relatively consistent wind. Batteries are a potential solution to these problems, as they can store excess energy produced during the daytime for later use at night. However, a study done by researchers at MIT and Argonne National Lab reveal that the marginal increase in storage decreases as more batteries are used (Sisternes, et al, 2016). This means that large scale utilization of solar and wind sources become increasingly difficult to deploy as storing energy is a problem. Furthermore, the commonly used lithium-ion battery is not only expensive, but also has a limited battery life, which means it will need to be constantly replaced. It is estimated that a battery big enough to sustain California would cost around 2.5 trillion dollars (Temple, 2020). Other forms of renewable energy like hydroelectric power from dams have their drawbacks as well. Dams are extremely costly to build and maintain and displaces local wildlife. In addition, dams create a water reservoir which, when flooded, submerges nearby plants and causes them to drown which results in a lot of greenhouse gases as well (Rinkesh, 2020).
The data presented however is not to say that renewable energy is not at all viable or not worth developing further. Renewable energy should continue to be researched and developed, and should be the long term goal for clean energy. The more important issue currently should focus on the shorter term. Climate change is a complex problem and should be viewed in two different parts. The first is to focus on curbing emissions, and the second is to focus on making the energy renewable. Curbing emissions should hold priority over all other aspects of the climate change debate because the world is facing irreversible climate change due to the pollution from carbon emissions. If changes are not made soon, then it will be too late to fix. The problem that the world faces right now is that natural gas, oil, and coal, are not only non-renewable, but also produce massive amounts of greenhouse gases. Renewable energy tries to tackle both parts of the problem at the same time but is not completely viable to sustain on its own. Our resources are not being efficiently utilized if we do not consider other alternatives to renewable energy, even if the alternatives are not yet renewable.
Thus, the answer to the current struggle against climate change could potentially lie in nuclear energy. The way nuclear fission reactors operate is that they take atoms of uranium and split them, which generates a massive amount of heat that is then used to heat water into steam, which then finally turns a turbine to generate electricity. The entire process produces zero carbon emissions, so it is completely clean energy, however it is generally perceived as a non-renewable energy source because unlike solar or wind, the uranium needed for fission is finite. However, there are some who argue that nuclear fission could be considered renewable because there is technically enough uranium to last the world until the sun dies out (Cohen, 1983). Although whether nuclear fission is or is not renewable should not be our current concern, because again what it does offer is clean energy, while addressing some of the drawbacks to renewable energy.
Unlike renewable energy, nuclear power provides a constant energy source during both night and day. If the uranium is being provided, there is no shortage of energy produced. So, in terms of reliability and consistency, it is the better option. Additionally, nuclear energy’s land usage is much smaller compared to that of wind or solar. The amount of energy that can be produced from one nuclear power plant is far greater than that of a single wind or solar farm. It is estimated that wind farms need 360 times more land and solar farms need 75 times more land to produce the same amount of electricity that nuclear power generates (“3 Reasons”, 2021). In 2017 there were over 1700 solar farms, nearly 1000 wind farms, and over 1400 hydroelectric plants which produced around 15% of US’ electricity (Muyskens et al., 2017). In comparison, in 2020 there were only 55 nuclear plants and together they generated 20% of US’ total electricity (U.S EIA, 2022). This shows that the difference in the amount of land and power plants needed to generate electricity is quite significant, and the current lack of scalability in renewables. Nuclear power plants also do not have the same geographic restrictions as renewable energy sources and can ideally be built anywhere. In comparison to other sources of energy, nuclear fuel is also extremely dense. A uranium pellet the size of less than an index finger can produce the same amount of energy as 17000 cubic feet of natural gas, 120 gallons of oil, or 1 ton of coal (“3 Reasons”, 2021). This also results in minimal waste produced as a result of nuclear power.
Regarding waste however, there are downsides of nuclear energy that need to be addressed. The first being the radioactivity of the waste, as depleted uranium from nuclear fission plants is extremely radioactive. Fortunately again, nuclear reactors do not produce a lot of waste, and the amount produced in the US is roughly equal to the size of a football field (Wagner, 2022). Additionally, developing research has shown that radioactive waste can be recycled and reused as it retains much of its potential energy after each use in a nuclear reactor (Touran, 2009). The final resulting waste can then be put to storage. Another common fear of nuclear plants as mentioned earlier is the fear of reactor meltdowns and releasing radioactive fallout everywhere. Again, the commonly cited examples are of Chernobyl and Fukushima. While the events of Chernobyl were shocking and tragic, the actual death toll because of the meltdown was stated by the UN to be 50 confirmed, with estimates up to 4000 people (“Chernobyl”, 2005). In the case of the Fukushima reactor meltdown, there were actually 0 deaths that were attributed to both the meltdown and radiation (“Fukushima Daiichi Accident”, 2021). These numbers are dwarfed in comparison to the thousands of deaths resulting from fossil fuels every year. In fact, nuclear energy actually results in 97.5% fewer deaths than natural gas, our most common source of energy (Ritchie, 2020). Furthermore, these reactor meltdowns are very rare and most nuclear plants today have many more safeguards built in to prevent a full meltdown from occurring as opposed to Chernobyl which was opened in 1977.
Overall, nuclear power is a very strong replacement for fossil fuels and addresses the issue of curbing emissions without the significant costs that are associated with renewable energy. However, why should more resources be pushed into nuclear energy if the long-term goal is to eventually phase out non-renewable energy entirely? The answer to that lies in the long-term goal of nuclear fusion, which may be the final answer to all of the climate change debates. Unlike the current nuclear fission power plants that split uranium to produce heat and generate electricity, nuclear fusion combines two atoms (usually hydrogen) to produce energy. What nuclear fusion reactors do is very similar to creating an artificial sun. Our sun releases energy by nuclear fusion and the reactors that scientists are trying to create now are attempts to replicate that process on a much smaller scale. What is most exciting about nuclear fusion technology is that similar to nuclear fission, it produces zero carbon emissions, but unlike nuclear fission, it is also a renewable source of energy because the fuel is nearly unlimited as it can be found in seawater. Recently, a nuclear reactor in China was also able to produce heat that was five times hotter than the Sun. Unfortunately, with our current technology, these levels of energy are not yet sustainable for long periods of time (Turner, 2022). Additionally, as of February 9th, new breakthroughs were yet again made in a smaller lab in the UK which more than doubled power output from the similar conditions in 1997 (Amos, 2022). While this may not seem like a huge step for the amount of time it took, this was simply a smaller test run that confirms that the design choices for nuclear reactors are heading in the right direction. Additionally, the flagship reactor named the ITER, has utilizes similar designs to the UK reactor and is expected to be able to continue to expand on these breakthroughs starting in 2025 (Amos, 2022). As a long-term project, nuclear fusion reactors are a very promising source of energy for the future.
To address the issue of climate change, nuclear energy must not be overlooked. As both a short term and long-term response, nuclear energy holds a lot of untapped potential and is certainly the key to a future of clean and renewable energy. Further research and development are a must, and resources put into our current nuclear reactors are simply a stepping stone for what is to come.
Works Cited
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