Occasionally, divorced couples reconsider their decision to split up and remarry. The Western world, once enamored of atomic techno-wizardry and promises of cheap, limitless energy, embarked on a lengthy, passionate honeymoon with nuclear power plants. But frightening glimpses of calamities – such as Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima – led to a widespread disavowal of the tattered bride.
Modern nuclear technologies show promise and offer a safer harnessing of the mighty atom. The limitations of renewable energy technologies – particularly a continuing need to power the electric grid with difficult-to-replace fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and natural gas – have caused even left-leaning environmentalists to give the castaway nuclear harlot another gander. And she’s lookin’ good!
Horrors of Atomic Armageddon Abate
Fears of bureaucratic incompetence or corruption in safely maintaining massive1950s nuclear reactors were the stuff of end-of-the-world disaster movies long before the proliferation of real nuclear incidents proved such anxieties were quite sensible. Godzilla was a fictional depiction of lurking real-life anxiety, compounded by justifiable concerns about terrorist attacks against nuclear installations and where to safely store spent radioactive fuel cells forever (if not beneath Yucca Mountain). Other blockbuster flicks teased audiences with nuclear salt for their worried nerves: Damnation Alley, Fail-Safe, Goldeneye, Silkwood, The Hunt for Red October, and The China Syndrome examined various threats of the dawning atomic age.
Hollywood may have to shift its Armageddon themes to climate change, nasty pathogens, or alien invasions; its honeymoon with atomic horror movies has largely ended. Many US reactors have been permanently decommissioned, reducing threats from operation, terrorism, and disposal. Americans just aren’t having nuclear nightmares the way they used to. The promises of future technologies suggest they may finally be able to sleep well.
Novel Nuclear Horizons
The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) has identified six modern nuclear reactor designs that address understandable public concerns and are clean, safe, and cost-effective. Resistance to materials diverting for illegal weapons and security from terrorist attacks are baked into these designs. Most “employ a closed fuel cycle to maximize the resource base and minimize high-level wastes to be sent to a repository” – highly efficient and almost nothing to bury under Yucca Mountain. Sean Connery and Meryl Streep would find fewer Academy Award opportunities with these technologies. Developing safe nuclear power as an alternative to coal plants is no longer a Sophie’s Choice.
Moreover, even smaller nuclear applications are being developed. Westinghouse recently announced a pilot program to develop a five-megawatt microreactor:
“The eVinci nuclear microreactor needs only 2 acres to produce a wide range of power, from several kilowatts to 5 megawatts, and can operate for over eight years without refueling, according to the DOE and a company news release.
“Radiant and Ultra Safe Nuclear are also working toward putting their reactors on trial at the National Reactor Innovation Center. It's another step to the deployment and commercialization of the technology, which promises carbon-free energy.”
Renewables vs New Generation Reactors
The longstanding derision of nuclear power is also fading as public awareness increases about the tremendous environmental costs of manufacturing solar panels, windmills, and EVs. Even without regard to the need to ultimately run cars and trucks off a national grid that must be efficiently energized with fossil fuel alternatives, these rapacious industries spew ecotoxins like there’s no tomorrow.
This growing awareness of the ecological horrors of so-called “renewables” manufacturing may provide fodder for future dystopian movies chronicling the consequences of trusting globalists to “save” humanity with a blank check to manufacture gadgets: The Day the Lithium Ran Out or Net-Zero Apocalypse may soon make the scary movie rounds.
Nuclear power is looking increasingly attractive: Rumor has it that there may be another wedding and honeymoon in the ideological air. Watch for a pro-nuclear energy documentary by Oprah or Michael Moore, coming soon to a theater near you.
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