Will Nuclear Ever be a Green Energy Option?

In some regards, nuclear power seems like the perfect clean energy alternative: it can produce huge amounts of reliable power as cheaply as coal or natural gas while producing no emissions. Nuclear power plants require a huge capital outlay to build however, as they are vast and complicated structures full of custom fabricated parts. Then of course there's the problem that the public is terrified of them.

Ever since Three Mile Island in 1979, and Chernobyl in 1986 Americans have not been too keen on nuclear power. A small chance of a catastrophic disaster is enough to turn anyones stomach. Many European countries continue to employ much more nuclear power facilities then the United States, with France leading as the world's largest exporter or electricity and nuclear technology as 77% of their electricity is powered by nuclear. The United States now not only has to overcome a huge hurdle of public distaste for nuclear, but also a great lag in nuclear technology. France, having had lots of practice building nuclear power plants, is able to build much safer ones then the US. But any nuclear power plant eventually has to deal with the largest problem of all - what to do with the leftovers. This problem is so controversial, it has largely gone unaddressed.

There are some creative new breakthroughs in nuclear technology however that would greatly reduce all of these problems. At Oregon State University's Nuclear Radiation Center they are developing 'micro-nuke' technology. Prototypes of a nuclear reactor the size of large van can produce smaller amounts of electricity, but are just as efficient as large scale commercial plants, are simpler, and safer. The micro-nuke functions almost like a large battery - the system totally enclosed and insulated from the outside world and able to run independently for long periods of time. The light water system, which like commercial scale plants uses nuclear fission energy to heat water to drive a steam turbine to generate electricity, is much simpler to build and can be cheaply mass produced. Thus micro-nukes can be easily made, shipped, and stored anywhere, potentially providing power to remote locations and safely keeping the internal nuclear reactor safe from terrorists. When it finally is time to replace the used nuclear fuel, the old fuel can be easily removed and transported and new fuel installed, much like changing a cartridge.

NuScale Power, a commercial spinoff of the OSU center, says it could have commercially marketable models approved and ready by 2016 with a batch of 12 micro-nukes able to replace decommissioned existing commercial plants, so this technology is not far off either. While meltdowns are still a possibility, because of the nukes much smaller size and isolation, any breach would not be nearly so catastrophic and much more easily contained. While effective systems of disposal of used fuel have still yet to be developed, micro-nukes represent one of the first major leaps forward in the potential of clean, green, safe nuclear power. For more details on how a micro-nuke works, check out the Discover article, The Big Potential of Micro Nukes.