Fossil fuels formed during the Iron Age are a major cause of environmental degradation. But these non-renewable energy sources still power civilization in the 21st century.
Of course, the world has limited options to replace fossil fuels that run out quickly. However, humanity cannot indefinitely rely on non-renewable sources for most of its energy needs.
The emphasis on renewable energies is prudent, but their intermittent nature and low base load factor rewrite their heavy use. In the meantime, nuclear power, with a much higher capacity factor and less impact on the climate, has wrongly not been given enough credit. Safety concerns, rather than absolute facts, have often shaped national nuclear energy policy. The world has to come to terms with the fact that advances in reactor technology have made nuclear energy safer, more practical, and more sustainable than fossil fuels.
A negative perception of nuclear technology has been built due to sporadic nuclear disasters that have caused relatively minor deaths over the past seven decades. Undeniably, fatal incidents in the nuclear sector have resulted in the loss of valuable lives, but the sensitivity of the nuclear sector has given it more negative attention compared to other industries.
Nuclear energy currently provides around one sixth of the world’s electricity needs and has the potential to provide large amounts of electricity with practically no greenhouse gas emissions. After Fukushima, there have been visible moves in some European countries to phase out nuclear projects that are planning a major shift towards natural gas, although they do not know that natural gas consumption will cause more emissions.
According to research by Pushker Kharecha and James Hansen, “If nuclear power hadn’t existed, the energy it provided would certainly have been generated from fossil fuels instead, resulting in much higher environmental mortality and greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy produced. ”
Their results also suggest that nuclear energy prevented an average of 1.8 million net deaths worldwide and an average of 64 gigatons of CO2-equivalent net greenhouse gas emissions between 1971 and 2009. A complete nuclear phase-out would result in an average of 420,000 to 7 million deaths and 80-240 GtCO2-eq emissions worldwide.
In order to minimize the effects of climate change and at the same time meet the increasing demand for cheaper but more sustainable energy, nuclear energy must be expanded rapidly. This cannot be achieved without addressing the safety concerns associated with nuclear technology. With seven decades of operating experience and lessons from past disasters, nuclear technology matures with innovations.
One such technical innovation is the use of liquid sodium instead of water to cool the reactor to a lower pressure, avoiding melting. Other technologies such as the small modular reactor (SMR), Generation IV variants (molten salt reactor), advanced fission and fusion reactors, etc. can revolutionize the nuclear industry. In America, China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia, and elsewhere, a dozen new nuclear reactor designs are in the advanced planning or construction stage while several others are in the primitive research and development phase.
If sincere patronage is given, emerging nuclear technologies will usher in a paradigm shift in the nuclear industry. Such reactor variants were only licensed or used in Russia and China. The Indian nuclear company was reportedly in the final stages of developing a (conceptual) design for the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) as a stepping stone to the third stage of the nuclear energy program.
Safety is touted as a key factor in a country’s nuclear program. India has stepped up its commitment to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and stepped up its cooperation with Russia. The two countries worked well together in building the Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Work on units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam NPP has made considerable headway thanks to the unwavering cooperation of the Russian state energy company Rosatom. Six VVER-1000 reactors are to be built in Kudankulam with Russian support.
The VVER-1000 reactors in particular meet enormous safety standards. It combines various active and passive safety systems, which have led to maximum protection of the system against internal and external risks. Modern VVER devices also have active heat dissipation systems, hydrogen combiners, and core scavengers, all of which help keep the devices safe from natural or man-made hazards.
In addition to the safety aspects, nuclear energy is used for other important tasks such as desalination, hydrogen production, space heating, process heat applications, extraction of carbon from CO2 to combine with hydrogen to produce synthetic liquid fuels, etc. The hour is therefore to accelerate and accelerate the innovation process in nuclear technology not to give up or demonize him. Finally, we have to consider whether nuclear technology has failed or whether nuclear technology has failed.
– Dr. Sitakanta Mishra is Associate Professor of International Relations at Pandit Deendayal Energy University in Gujarat. The views are personal.
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