Even beyond its catastrophic military implications, the peaceful use of nuclear energy also produces strong emotions, fueled by the disasters at the Ukrainian Chernobyl plant in 1986 and at the Japanese Fukushima plant ten years ago.
The summit of the world leaders of the G20 in Rome and the debate in Glasgow about global warming have put the need to lower carbon emissions to zero in the atmosphere around 2060 to avoid a biblical disaster for humanity if the increase in temperature between 1.5 and 2 degrees higher than the pre-industrial era is not managed to contain.
Renewable energies (wind, solar, hydrogen, hydroelectricity, bioenergy) are the fundamental instrument. But the time ahead seems insufficient.
This reality has brought the hypothesis of repower nuclear energy, which does not enjoy a good reputation in the public opinion due to the dangers attributed to its use, although gigantic steps have been taken in terms of safety.
But that of atomic origin is the second of the energies (after hydraulic) with the lowest carbon emission.
An expert measures the radioactivity in the ground in the area of the Chernobyl plant, in Ukraine, in an image from April this year. Photo: EFE
Contribution against global warming?
Immersing himself in a lot of data, studies and controversies, he provided Clarion the impression that in substance the return of nuclear power goes beyond a sometimes heated debate. Using the atom to combat global warming appears as an essential contribution.
In the first place, it must be taken into account that after the Chernobyl disaster a crisis in nuclear power plants and that in recent years the participation of atomic energy in world electricity production has been reduced to 10%, registered in 2020.
In the world there are 443 nuclear power plants plus 53 that are under construction. There is an aging of the facilities that increases maintenance costs. The average age is 31 years, which in the United States rises to 40.1 years and in France, the most nuclearized country with 70% of its atomic electricity production, old age reaches 35.2 years.
The proportion debate
The countries accept that the presence of nuclear power in the energy mix is essential. The question to be solved is how large the proportion should be.
Projections show that in the final decades of the 21st century there will be two billion more inhabitants on the planet. The consumption of fossil fuels (coal, oil, methane gas) should decrease by 75%.
Non-polluting renewable energies must reach 75% and nuclear cover at least the current 10%, but it would be better to climb to 16%.
The gases that pollute the atmosphere. / AFP
For many experts it is necessary to improve the atomic quota, because nuclear power has the advantage of supplying a constant flow of electricityWhile some sources such as hydroelectric, wind, geothermal, photovoltaic, suffer inevitable drops in supplies if it rains or if it does not rain, if the weather is cloudy or the day is bright, if the wind blows or does not blow.
Projections for the future agree that when the year 2100 arrives, emerging and underdeveloped countries will have a powerful fleet of fourth generation reactors and concrete results will have been obtained in nuclear fusion reactors, which will bring “the sun home” without stink the atmosphere like solid fuels.
The best chances of nuclear energy are in its innovations. The fourth generation reactors, already in advanced development, offer quality guarantees, lower costs and above all safety.
Bill Gates, the owner of Microsoft, hopes to dedicate a part of his abundant social donations to the novelty of the small reactors that will allow the fourth generation to use them as the engine of the distribution of electricity in Africa and in the poorest countries of the other continents . It has already entered into negotiations to acquire the first hundreds.
Storage tanks at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. Photo: EFE
Nuclear fusion
The most important leap in nuclear energy for peaceful purposes will come with nuclear fusion, which is still in its long experimental phase. Fusion is no longer done with uranium but with hydrogen, it needs a very high temperature to run its reactors. It does not produce radioactivity or environmental contamination.
The problem is the time, the years or decades until the fusion sun comes down to Earth. The results will be extraordinary. Optimists believe that by 2040-2050 perhaps there will be concrete operational results. An experimental project funded by a dozen countries that are paying $ 10 billion fills scientists with hope.
China’s big bet
The United States has 98 nuclear power plants and two under construction. Much less than twenty years ago. China is the main protagonist. Second in number, with 50, it has a capacity of 50 GWH, which it hopes to raise to 70 by 2025. It is preparing 33 new plants. The US, China, France, Russia and South Korea produce 72% of the world’s nuclear electricity.
In the last twenty years, 95 new nuclear power plants were incorporated and 98 closed that had completed their cycle. China, on the other hand, closed 40 but incorporated 47 more modern atomic power plants and it is the country with the most ambitious programs to expand nuclear development.
Professor Luigi Di Paoli highlighted that the growth from 370 GHw of power to 580 GW in the world by 2035 “will depend on a single country, China, which already in 2011 surpassed the United States for the first time” and that within twelve years it will be affirmed in the first world place.
Japan represents a unique case. Following the nuclear disaster at its Fukushima plant, the Japanese government ordered the closure of 32 nuclear power plants. The only one that is still active is unit 4 of the Oj plant, in the west of the country.
The Japanese power company warned that it risks not producing enough electricity for the population and having to import “dirty” fuels such as oil, coal and gas, to supply common power plants.
The United States and Europe operate 229 plants, which are 212 in Russia and Asia.
In Europe, a referendum in Italy closed the power plants in 1987 after the national shock experienced by the Chernobyl case. The contamination crossed the borders and “rained” in the beautiful country. Hostility to nuclear energy remains in the majority.
In Germany, the government decided to close the only nuclear power plant that continues to operate in 2022. Belgium followed her.
Thirteen member countries of the European Union have 106 nuclear power plants. France produces 70% of the electricity it consumes with nuclear energy.
President Emmanuel Macron announced at the beginning of his mandate that he would reduce the number of plants, but when he was announced that the operation could cost him up to 46,000 million euros, his enthusiasm for atomic development returned and he currently defends it as a “safe and efficient system. ”.
Rome, correspondent
CB
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