Powering our Future

An open letter to everyone about accepting nuclear power.

Photo by Markus Distelrath from Pexels

This letter is for our energy dependent society.

In 2017, the International Energy Agency reported that the world’s energy needs have been rising and is expected to rise another 30 percent by 2040. This is fully understandable due to our ever increasing reliance on technology combined with the growing world population.

However, with the current rate of energy output through burning coal and fossil fuels, we will be unable to meet the rising energy needs. If we were increase the energy output by burning even more fossil fuels and coal, there will be a sharp increase in greenhouse emissions and this will almost definitely exacerbate the climate issue we are already facing.

Hence, it is paramount that an alternative energy source is utilised to ensure that the world remains powered and at the same time, hopefully without causing too much harm to the environment.

While most of us would have instantly thought about renewable energy sources (wind, solar and hydropower) when it comes to creating more power at a smaller environmental cost, numerous individuals tend to avoid seeing nuclear power as a viable option. Of course, this is totally understandable with all the negative beliefs surrounding nuclear power in the media.

Yet, there are many compelling reasons for the world to turn to nuclear and I strongly believe that we should stop avoiding it but instead, start to treat it as a viable option

But before we discuss about why we should use nuclear power, what is nuclear power all about actually?

Nuclear power is currently generated by the nuclear fission (a process in which the nucleus of an atom is split into two or more smaller nuclei) of uranium-237 atom. Research is being done on possibly using nuclear fusion to generate harvestable energy (nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined. It is also the reaction that happens in stars). However, the nuclear fusion process currently takes too much energy for it to be commercially viable (amongst other problems that scientists are working hard on finding solutions for).

So why nuclear power?

1. Nuclear power plants are actually much safer than we think they are.

Many people liken generating power from nuclear power plants to summoning a ‘demon’. They tend to link nuclear power generation to radiation and believe that that equates to cancer and death. Similarly, many might also think that the nuclear power plant is an timed atomic bomb waiting to go off.

While, like everything, there are inherent risks that come with employing nuclear power, we have to step back and see that the other power generating industries often have major accidents as well (E.g. coal mine accidents, drill rig fires, dams leading to flooding). At the same time, as a singular accident might lead to devastating results, the nuclear power industry is often scrutinized and has a much higher safety requirement. In around 50 years of nuclear power history, there have only been 3 major accidents and this is with about 500 nuclear plants around the world. If governments continue to enforce stringent safety requirements and detailed planning, I believe that nuclear power plants can be a safe way to provide energy for our future.

Of course, there are still risks when it comes to the power plants and we should ensure that nuclear power plants are not be built on fault lines or near populated areas in the rare case of an accident. Backup contingency plans should be also be created so that the plant can respond to any accidents.

2. There’s a better way to deal with nuclear waste now.

Some of the opponents of nuclear power argue that nuclear power plants create nuclear waste which is dangerous and difficult to dispose of. In the past, the only way of disposing of spent fuel was to bury it in deep geological repositories and storing it until it no longer poses a radioactive threat to life.

However with current improvements to technology, spent fuel rod can now be recycled and used to make usable fuel rods. This allows for us to reduce the amount of waste that needs to be buried deeply for long periods and makes using nuclear energy even more attractive.

3. Combining nuclear power generators and renewable energy sources together can help us reduce our reliance on coal and fossil fuels greatly.

In the battle for the future of power, many often see the fight as dirty energy (burning fossil fuels and coal) vs nuclear energy vs renewable energy. However, it is my believe that we should not see the energy argument as such but instead view it as a dirty vs clean energy (includes both renewables and nuclear) battle.

Nuclear power is able to produce energy more reliably and consistently (as compared to renewable energy sources which rely heavily on the environmental conditions). As such, it might be good for the energy industry to adopt nuclear power as its base load power while using renewable energy sources to provide peak load. This allows for a dependable source of energy that can power the energy-hungry world without doing too much harm to the environment.