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| ==Fission== | | ==Types== |
| All of today's nuclear power plants run on nuclear fission.
| | <!-- |
| | * '''[[Conventional nuclear power]]''' - '''status quo''', used by all nuclear power plants today |
| | * [[Breeder reactors]] {{light|(thorium or uranium)}} - not ''quite'' viable yet |
| | * [[Nuclear fusion]] - not viable yet |
| | --> |
| | {|class='wikitable' |
| | !rowspan='2' |Type of nuclear power |
| | !colspan='3' |Problems if scaled up |
| | |- |
| | !Fuel scarcity |
| | !Weapons proliferation |
| | !Nuclear waste |
| | |- |
| | |[[Conventional nuclear power]] |
| | |{{rcell}} Problem |
| | |Low risk |
| | |{{rcell}} Problem |
| | |- |
| | |[[Conventional small nuclear reactors]] |
| | |{{rcell}} Problem |
| | |{{rcell}} High risk |
| | |{{rcell}} Problem |
| | |- |
| | |Uranium-238 [[breeder reactors]] |
| | |Abundant |
| | |{{rcell}} High risk |
| | |Almost none |
| | |- |
| | |[[Thorium]]-232 breeder reactors |
| | |Abundant |
| | |Low risk |
| | |Almost none |
| | |- |
| | |Hydrogen [[fusion]] {{light|(not viable yet)}} |
| | |Abundant |
| | |Low risk |
| | |Almost none |
| | |} |
| | <big>So far, it seems that '''[[thorium]]''' is the only nuclear power that could really [[scale up nuclear power|scale up]] enough to replace all [[fossil fuels]].</big> |
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| ===Supply===
| | [[Category:Energy sources]] |
| Today's nuclear plants get their [[energy]] from uranium-235, which is a scarce mineral. If the whole world was powered this way, we'd start to run out of it in '''less than 4 years''':
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| {{dp
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| |<nowiki>uranium.reserves</nowiki>
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| |<nowiki>8.070 million tonnes uranium_natural</nowiki>
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| |<nowiki>Global uranium mineral reserves, measured in energy units</nowiki>
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| |<nowiki>The calculator understands "tonnes uranium_natural" as an energy unit. It's based on the fact that natural uranium is just 0.7% uranium-235 (the isotope we extract energy from). The rest is uranium-238, which isn't useful for energy unless we use breeder reactors.</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
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| </nowiki><br /><nowiki>
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| Citation:</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
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| Uranium 2020: Resources, Production and Demand ('Red Book')</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
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| "The total recoverable identified resources to $260/kg U is 8.070 million tonnes U."</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
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| </nowiki>
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| }}
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| {{dp
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| |<nowiki>nuclear_power_plant.efficiency</nowiki>
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| |<nowiki>33%</nowiki>
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| |<nowiki>Electrical output divided by the heat energy of the nuclear reactor</nowiki>
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| |<nowiki>Nuclear power plants convert heat (from uranium-235, currently) into electricity. The process is approximately 33% efficient.</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
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| </nowiki><br /><nowiki>
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| Citation: Key World Energy Statistics 2020 (IEA report) - Page 73 - Glossary - Nuclear</nowiki>
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| }}
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| {{dp
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| |<nowiki>energy.tfc</nowiki>
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| |<nowiki>9937.70 Mtoe/year</nowiki>
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| |<nowiki>Global energy usage - total final consumption (TFC)</nowiki>
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| |<nowiki>Includes: fuel (80.7%) + electricity (19.3%) AFTER it is generated.</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
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| </nowiki><br /><nowiki>
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| Does not include the fuel used in generating electricity. See [energy.tes] for that.</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
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| </nowiki><br /><nowiki>
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| Citation: "Key World Energy Statistics 2020" IEA</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
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| - Page 47 - Simplified energy balance table - World energy balance, 2018</nowiki>
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| }}
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| {{calc
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| |<nowiki>uranium.reserves * nuclear_power_plant.efficiency</nowiki>
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| |<nowiki>years energy.tfc</nowiki>
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| }}
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| <small>We'd run out even faster [[energy demand scenarios|if all nations were developed]].</small>
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| Since uranium-235 and uranium-238 occur together in nature{{x|in the following proportion: uranium-238 (99.3%) and uranium-235 (0.7%). The proportion does not vary, no matter what part of the Earth's crust the uranium is mined from.}}, the 238 component ends up as [[nuclear waste|waste]].
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| These two problems could be solved with [[breeder reactors]] that make use of uranium-238 and/or [[thorium]] - both of which are far more abundant fuels. However, major innovations are needed before this is viable and safe.
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| For now, nuclear power is best suited as only a [[baseload]].
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| <small>There is also some talk about extracting [[uranium from seawater]], but the viability of this is questionable (like [[lithium|other trace minerals]]), because the concentration is extremely low.</small>
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| ===Safety concerns===
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| ====Proliferation====
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| If uranium gets into the wrong hands, it can be used to make [[thermonuclear bombs]]. Nuclear power plants need strong redundant security measures to mitigate this risk.
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| ====Meltdowns====
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| This has happened twice in history: [[Chernobyl]] and [[Fukushima]].
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| <!-- TODO: put in perspective the number of lives lost and the amount of land lost, relative to the amount of energy generated (throughout all of history). Compare to fossil fuels etc. -->
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| ==Fusion==
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| [[Nuclear fusion]] is '''not''' currently viable for generating power. It has great ''potential'' solve the [[energy]] crisis{{x|it could power the world for billions of years, from only tiny amounts of abundant material, and with almost no pollution}}, but it is nowhere near ready yet (despite some misleading news headlines).
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| The most recent [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbpUj1-tEhs breakthrough] was in December 2022. Fusion research & development is certainly worthwhile, but we can't "put all our eggs in one basket". [[Climate change]] is near a [[tipping point]], so we need clean [[energy]] sooner than fusion might be available.
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