Nuclear energy - the safe, environmentally friendly and clean energy - yes and no. There is nuclear fission and nuclear fusion - a vast difference and currently nuclear plants in use are of the former type. Why is nuclear fusion not used?
Fusion is much better than fission in a number of ways. Firstly, nuclear fusion requires less fuel than fission. On top of that, fusion is carried out by using deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen) as fuel, which is quite abundant in nature. In contrast, the fuel necessary for fission (uranium, plutonium or thorium) is very hard to get – and insanely expensive!
Furthermore, unlike fission, nuclear fusion does not produce any radioactive waste; it only produces helium atoms as a byproduct, which we can actually use to our benefit in various ways.
Since fusion doesn’t produce runaway chain reactions the way fission can, there’s practically no risk of a meltdown in the case of nuclear fusion.
Nuclear fusion provides challenges which as yet have not been overcome. There is research but the process of overcoming challenges takes time. But all good things take time - a good drop for instance. The current system of using nuclear fission may be seen as clean but it's anything but:
Currently all nuclear power plants use a nuclear reaction to produce heat which turn water into steam that then drives a turbine to produce electricity. Nuclear power plants have nuclear fission reactors in which uranium nuclei are split part. This releases energy, but also produces radioactive waste which has to be safety stored, effectively indefinitely.
By contrast:
Nuclear fusion makes use of the same energy source that fuels the Sun and other stars. Unlike nuclear fission it does not produce the radioactivity and nuclear waste that is the by-product of current nuclear fission power generation.
Once the power of fusion is tapped and controlled, we’d no longer have to worry about running out of power… ever!
Over to the power of science Einstein Mk2 and those prepared to invest - solve the fusion issues and there will be less need to store radioactive waste forever produced as a by-product thanks to fission plants.
If or when nuclear fusion plants displace nuclear fission plants to provide the energy hungry world needs then the what is a safe radiation level for humans discussions will probably be a thing of the past. AIMO
