We can let fission fizzle out in a renewable world

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We can let fission fizzle out in a renewable world

By Jochen Flasbarth
Magazine issue 2917
New Scientist
Monday, May 20, 2013

If Germany can phase out nuclear power and still thrive,
why would other nations pursue a uranium-fuelled future?

AT THE start of this year Germany officially entered the
Dark Ages again � at least according to its state weather
service. A mere 22.5 hours of sunshine were recorded in
January � a 60-year low. Despite this, the country's
power supply, which has a world leading input from solar
panels, firmly stood its ground, even without the eight
nuclear reactors that were switched off in 2011.

There was sufficient energy for charging smartphones,
running dishwashers and the like � and enough for
slightly more essential things such as industry or life-
support systems in hospitals. And people in need of a
fake tan could easily get one.

Such good news probably did not go down well with the
pro-nuclear lobby. Grim and cold spells of this type had
been their favourite doomsday scenario. Talk of a
Stroml�cke, or electricity gap, made headlines after the
2011 decision to shut nearly half of Germany's 17
reactors in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster.

The fear ran rampant that, without a nuclear backbone,
blackouts might push German industry out of business � or
at least out of the country.

This proved groundless. Despite the reactor switch-offs,
Germany was able to help nuclear neighbour France as she
struggled to meet electric heating needs in the winter
immediately after Fukushima. According to recent figures
released by the Federal Statistical Office, German
electricity exports in 2012 hit a four-year high, which
also rebuts the popular fallacy that the country relies
on imported electricity from nuclear plants in France or
the Czech Republic.

When a highly industrialised country such as Germany can
cut a third of its nuclear capacity almost at the flick
of a switch and still export more electricity than it
imports, the pursuit of a nuclear renaissance elsewhere
is puzzling. For example, the UK recently agreed to a new
nuclear plant, Hinkley Point C, in Somerset and work
began on reactors in South Carolina and Georgia in the
US.

Why would anyone choose to reinvest in a form of power
that seems not to have been harnessed properly? At
Chernobyl and Fukushima the world had two very close
shaves. Not a very impressive safety record for a
technology that has been pampered with billions of
dollars of investment over 60 years.

Nuclear power incurs risks and costs beyond the operation
of its reactors: getting uranium out of the ground
devastates the ecology of countries that mine it. Then
there is the risk of nuclear proliferation and of
terrorist attacks on a reactor site. Finally, Germany and
many other countries have no facility for the final
storage of nuclear waste. That's a bit like taking off in
an aeroplane without having a proper landing strip ready.

Fortunately, there are far better alternatives. In 2010
my agency devised a study which showed how Germany could
source all of its electric energy from sun, wind or
water. Now the Energiewende, or energy transition, the
country needs to make is high on the political agenda and
gathering pace quickly. Remaining nuclear power stations
will be shut by 2022 and fossil-fuel dependence reduced
bit by bit.

Some fear carbon emissions will rise. However, Germany is
still way ahead of its Kyoto target. In 2012 emissions
were already down 25.5 per cent compared to 1990 levels.
Under Kyoto only 21 per cent is expected.

Continues at:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829170.200-we-can-let-fission-fizzle-out-in-a-renewable-world.html

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj

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