The future is green, as in green energy. Businesses, cities and just plain ordinary folk realize that we might be able to generate enough power one day from things that don't have to be dug out of the ground and burned.
But that day is still a ways off. For now, we still need fossil fuels to power our lives when the sun isn't shining, the wind isn't blowing and the geothermal isn't . . . well actually, that one stays on if there's not a major drought. But you see the point.
We still burn fossil fuels because there are windless nights, and battery tech just isn't quite strong enough to hold all the energy generated by solar and wind--and then give it back to us when we need it.
Fortunately, there's a solution called nuclear power. It doesn't pollute the air. But it does come with a potent stigma over past mistakes and worst-case scenarios. Arkansas has a nuclear plant in Russellville (one plant, two units) that's done a fantastic job of helping power the state. And the sheer amount of megawatts nuclear power can produce is staggering.
And now, maybe there's a new solution to make the technology more accepted and widely available. Wired had a story the other day on the next generation of nuclear plants that should be smaller and less dangerous. Here's more from the article: "NuScale's reactor won't need massive cooling towers or sprawling emergency zones. It can be built in a factory and shipped to any location, no matter how remote. Extensive simulations suggest it can handle almost any emergency without a meltdown. One reason is that it barely uses any nuclear fuel, at least compared with existing reactors. It's also a fraction of the size of its predecessors."
That all sounds like good news. Nuclear power seems like the best compromise when it comes to energy. It doesn't pollute the atmosphere, and it generates power around the clock.
"NuScale's reactor is 65 feet tall and 9 feet in diameter, and is housed in a containment vessel only slightly larger. About the size of two school buses stacked end to end, you could fit around 100 of them in the containment chamber of a large conventional reactor. Yet this small reactor can crank out 60 megawatts of energy, which is about one-tenth the smallest operational reactor in the U.S. today," Wired reported.
This country isn't exactly putting up new big reactors by the gross. The only two under construction are way behind schedule and several billions of dollars over budget. So every little bit helps.
Until we can invent the perfect battery solution to store all that power that solar and wind generate, nuclear seems more practical. So maybe it's time to rethink the country's renewable strategy, consider the new technology available and consider going green.
Editorial on 12/23/2019