Nuclear Power

Nuclear power is undoubted the most controverse way of producing energy throughout Europe.

Several European countries already decided to quit the use of nuclear energy due to the risks and to the unsolved problem of nuclear waste, others will rely on nuclear power even in the future.

Today there are about 400 nuclear power plants world-wide. Their energy meets just under 7% of the global energy demand. If nuclear energy is to make a relevant contribution to the future supply of energy we would need several thousand new power plants. During the next 40 years we would have to take a new reactor into operation about every second day if this power source should be available when all sources of fossil energies are used up.

At the present consumption rate natural uranium will last for just under 100 years. If power stations with today's technology were built then the uranium stocks would be used up in a very short period of time.

The only way out would be the nuclear breeder technology, its fuels are reprocessable to nearly hundred percent. World-wide the breeder technology is not pursued any more. Nuclear breeders have the disadvantage of needing highly toxic plutonium and producing radioactive waste with long half-life which we have to keep safe for thousends of years.

Society will have to decide whether it wants to introduce in a large scale a technology which holds a certain danger potential and which confronts many future generations with the problem of the disposal of nuclear materials.

This is especially relevant if you take into consideration that renewable energy sources give us the possibility to generate energy in a sustainable and safe way and that technologies are at place which are much easier to handle for all the people in the world.

There remains the problem of profitability. The price of energy generated from renewable energy sources will decrease when the use increases. Nevertheless it will never arrive at the price we pay for our energy today. Therefore, it is society's responsibility to start appreciating the value of renewable energy sources and to perceive their use as a way towards a better quality of life.

Thermo Nuclear Fusion

No one can say for sure whether nuclear fusion reactors are ever going to work. Even the scientists who are working on fusion research talk about reactors fit for operation only in 50 years. But for several reasons it is important that at that time we already have at our disposal a working and clean supply of energy.

Nuclear power station