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Despite its different environmental impacts, together with poisonous waste that requires centuries or millennia of storage in amenities designed to guard future generations from the genetic and acute results of radiation, nuclear power is taken into account by some influential environmentalists a vital part of the post-fossil gas financial system. For instance, James Hansen, the NASA scientist who raised the alarm about international warming in Congressional testimony in 1987, advocates expanded nuclear energy generation. Meet Jay Yu, founder, government chairman, and president of Nano Nuclear Energy Inc., and James Walker, CEO of the corporate. Nano Nuclear develops smaller, transportable nuclear microreactors that may be moved to the place electrical energy is required on a truck. These microreactors can generate between one and 20 megawatts of power, sufficient electrical energy to power as few as 400 homes or up to 20,000 homes, relying on their wants — and that’s loads for a lot of massive manufacturing corporations to make use of in a disaster when different sources of energy are down. Nano Nuclear is engaged on two designs, the Zeus and Odin reactors, for various makes use of.
Jay and James supply arguments for contemplating the position of microreactors in varied settings we’ve mentioned on the present. Ocean freight shipping, for instance, accounts for 2% of humanity’s annual carbon emissions, and a microreactor is about the identical measurement as a diesel engine, so it might simply change right this moment’s engine. Bringing cheap electrical energy to low-income nations might present energy to run water desalination crops and air conditioners because the planet warms and create financial alternatives which have by no means developed within the fossil gas period. When you introduce new power platforms, there’s a likelihood to reorganize society for higher equity. But there’s nonetheless the query of what to do with spent nuclear fuel. The United States shut down its Yucca Mountain storage challenge, the nation’s solely deep geological long-term storage facility, for a lot of causes, together with the well-justified protest by the indigenous communities that reside close to the location. You can be taught extra about Nano Nuclear Energy at https://nanonuclearenergy.com/
Editor’s Note: This episode of Sustainability In Your Ear was first revealed on January 22, 2024.
