Nuclear Power And No End?

In writing this, I do not mean electrical power from nuclear fission that will surely come to an end. Given the present catastrophe in Japan, I mean the renewed discussion in Germany on nuclear power. The apocalyptic scenario we watch with great sympathy for the Japanese people, in fact, furnishes no new arguments in the debate about the safety of nuclear power reactors.

The explosion (©AP)

Let me say this clearly: Present power reactors are safe as long as a team of incompetent technicians does not mess around with the cooling system (Three Mile Island), an overambitious engineer does not play with the control rods (Tchernobyl), or a magnitude 8.9 earthquake followed by a tsunami wave of 10 meters height does not hit a nuclear power plant. 

While the last scenario can be excluded in Germany, nobody is safe against human foolishness. This and the unresolved nuclear waste storage are the main reasons Germany has an established timetable for phasing out its nuclear power reactors. Let us face it: Presently, there is no alternative to "cheap" energy, as nuclear fusion is still only in the stars (in both senses).

The industry is propagating a new generation of power reactors that will be more compact and work at higher temperatures, hence being more efficient than those we presently operate. Do not believe the people telling you this new line of power reactors is safer than the old one. 

Due to the higher energy density and the higher neutron flux density inside the nuclear core, the materials used for the reactor vessels will rapidly become brittle and fail much earlier than in present-day reactors. Mother Nature presents us with marvelous elements that we melt into alloys, showing properties our ancestors only dreamt of. We have, however, approached the technological limit of stability of metal alloys as far as the combined influence of neutron bombardment and temperature is concerned.

So please, we want no new nuclear fission reactors and let the old existing ones eventually come to their well-deserved rest. 

What makes me nervous is that most people today are unaware that energy is too cheap. They moan if prices for petrol, gas, and electricity steadily increase. However, the increasing stress on their purses and wallets will hopefully trigger their consciousness of an economical use of our limited resources.

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