Left-wing parties and their media in particular have terrified the populace about nuclear power for decades. These players know about fear, it always works. They build up an enemy image and claim that there are no alternatives to a unified opinion. This is of course wrong, as with the alleged ozone hole, the bogus forest dieback, the end of fossil fuels, the invisible corona virus, climate madness and the like. It would be correct to report on the state of the art.
For people who like to research and look behind the scenes, the single truth about nuclear power dictated by the left is extremely painful. It’s a kind of stupidity shaped by media repetition that hurts. Because the “popular opinion” about nuclear power is just as little founded as that about Corona or the Ukraine war. In principle, the debate is reduced to two generalities: 1. Nuclear power plants are generally unsafe and if they all explode like Chernobyl, then the world will be contaminated indefinitely. 2. The resulting waste materials have to be stored in a complex manner, radiate for all eternity and contaminate the earth, so it is not a clean technology.
The Fukushima lie promoted by Greens
Both of these platitudes have one thing in common: They follow the left-wing doctrine of fear and panic mongering – and they are, of course, wrong. In addition, one has to be aware that nuclear power is only frowned upon in some Western countries, where the left-wing media and politicians have been given free rein. The Greens in particular worked after the Fukushima accident with extreme scaremongering and open lies, such as the contamination of the world’s oceans. In fact, Fukushima was not a nuclear disaster, but a tsunami that devastated a coastal region as a result of a seaquake. Around 22,000 Japanese died as a result of the natural disaster. Exactly one fatality is known as a result of the damaged reactor.
Nuclear reaction as a natural event in Africa
In fact, so-called core meltdowns – uncontrollable nuclear reactions – occurred in three reactor blocks in Fukushima. Incidentally, these also exist in nature – and that is probably a circumstance that many readers may not be aware of. A natural nuclear reaction has occurred at 15 sites in Gabon, which has been active for an estimated 500,000 years – perhaps as long as 2 billion years. The planet was neither contaminated nor destroyed as a result – it is unknown whether this might have triggered or promoted evolutionary processes.
Old and new reactors
The fact that a core meltdown could occur in Fukushima is due to the outdated reactor technology used there (boiling water reactors BWR/3 and BWR/4). The Chernobyl disaster had many causes and backgrounds, but an old technology (RBMK-1000) was also used there. The reactor in Chernobyl belongs to the first generation, which hardly had any safety systems. The reactors at Fukushima are early to mid-generation two. However, the state of research is Generation IV and you need to know about the nature of this generation if you want to meaningfully discuss nuclear power.
The characteristics of Generation IV
Imagine that nuclear repositories only have to be tight and safe for a few hundred years. That’s easy for today’s construction technology. Imagine if a nuclear reactor could incinerate the last 80 years of nuclear waste and turn it into energy. Imagine if a nuclear power plant could convert the warheads of atomic bombs into peacefully used energy and thus advance disarmament in the long term. Imagine, no matter what happens, the nuclear power plant can never experience a meltdown, never cause a meltdown, because in the event of a malfunction it simply shuts down and cools down. All of this is possible with the fourth-generation systems – and has been for a very long time. The technology used here has been calculated and tested for decades. Incidentally, much of this is also in Germany – but other countries are now beneficiaries.
In China, the Shidaowan-1 nuclear power plant is in operation and went online in December 2021. The Generation IV technology used is called HTR-PM for High Temperature Reactor Pebble Bed Module. The efficiency is up to 45 percent. Should an accident occur, the fuel can never exceed the critical temperature and melt. He would cool down. The concept is still not the optimal model of the new generation.
In Russia, Rosatom has started construction of the Brest OD-300 reactor. This will work 60 times more efficiently than conventional reactors. At the laying of the foundation stone, the fact that the fuel to be used for this will be practically inexhaustible was celebrated. This generation of reactors solves the problem of long disposal times.
The successful implementation of this project will allow our country to become the world’s first owner of nuclear power technology, which fully complies with the principles of sustainable development in terms of the environment, accessibility, reliability and efficient use of resources.
Alexey Likhachev, General Director von Rosatom
The reactor is scheduled to be activated in 2026.
Another Generation IV project are the Chinese CFR-600 reactors. The first of these is scheduled to go online in 2023 and the second in 2025. Numerous other reactors of this type are planned. It is a pool-type sodium-cooled fast neutron nuclear reactor built in close cooperation with Russia. So anyone who repeatedly claims that the technology is experimental, not mature and not operational is lying to people – but by now we are used to such political tricks.
By the way, the basic principles of these reactors include:
In the event of an accident at the plant, the need to evacuate the population in the vicinity of the power plant should be practically eliminated.
The grace period for power outages and failure of the core cooling systems should be long enough to allow repair and recovery of the system.
The passive safety systems are based on gravity, natural convection, spring or gas force and resistance to high temperatures.
The reactors of the VVER design, for example, are not yet quite as advanced, but much safer than the old accident reactors. If you look at this list, you will find numerous countries around the world using this type of III+ reactor – all in the East. Germany has shut down or given up its plants.
Currently the most sustainable energy source in the world
From these points of view, nuclear power is probably the most sustainable and cleanest source of energy in the world. To face this blindly and to claim that technology and science have not achieved any success in 100 years of research in terms of function and safety is just plain stupid. This stupidity of the West is being exploited by the totalitarian regimes in Russia and China – although there aren’t long discussions with the people there either when new reactors are being built. But one can say with certainty that in these countries, too, no “super meltdown” is desired and millions of deaths are not accepted.
All these nations are interested in maximum energy efficiency and security – and they are pulling away from the West at an incredible speed. And Western technology is also used. Not only those who indulge in the CO2 madness have to admit that with nuclear power no residues from the combustion of fossil fuels escape into the atmosphere.
It is simply outrageous nonsense not to seriously consider the possibilities of nuclear power – to blindly reject it corresponds, on an intellectual level, to the equally blind demands for a worldwide compulsory vaccination with an experimental mRNA concoction. It’s superstition. This is also illustrated by campaigns such as those of the Greens, which in their infantile way portrayed the atom itself as evil – just like the gene in their earlier mendacious campaigns. Only education and your own research help against pernicious, poisonous green ideas.