New Nuclear Energy

Nuclear Energy as an Alternative energy source.


On VICE's the future of energy episode I found:

20% of our electricity is generated by nuclear energy. Nuclear power is the largest single source of carbon free electricity. Nuclear fission with its highly radioactive and hard to control which has caused large environmental problems. So what is the trade off? Cleaner energy source that can cause messy and harmful clean ups?

Taylor Wilson a young nuclear physicist has been developing new and safer ways to produce nuclear energy. He has challenged our method of nuclear fission, which we created in the 1950s, this has thus created uranium waste and spent nuclear fuel that is sitting somewhere because we don't know what to do with it. The U.S there is 67,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel and 3 billion tons of uranium waste.

He has created a reactor that is passively and intrinsically safe, they run for 3 yrs without refueling it, 3 meters wide ( can power 10,00 homes+) , and in the event of a emergency they can be drained and immediately stooped. They also leave behind a fraction of the waste traditional nuclear fission.

Nuclear Fusion is the energy source we are moving towards  because it leaves no carbon or toxic waste. Energy is created between a high speed collusion of atoms combining, basically making a star or a sun in a contained way. VICE visited the primer nuclear fusion site in CA to find out how this is being made. The National Ignition Facility is the world's largest laser facility, which is where"Star Trek into Darkness" was filmed because its the most advanced facility of its kind in the world.