World`s energy appetite may crave nuclear power
- Institute for Energy and the Environment, Knoxville, TN (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
As scientists come to agree that global warming is a real phenomenon, it may be time to jumpstart the stalled nuclear industry. World population is expected to double by the end of the 21st century, and the lion`s share of growth will be in developing nations. {open_quotes}More people and more economic activity will require more energy,{close_quotes} say William Fulkerson, a senior fellow at the Joint Institute for Energy and the Environment in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Truman D. Anderson, formerly director of planning at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. There are only three viable options to fossil fuel plants, the authors say: nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, and such renewable energy sources as solar and wind. The advantages of nuclear energy are well known, the authors say. {open_quotes}It emits no greenhouse gases, and potentially it can be expanded almost without limit anywhere in the world, providing the controversies that surround it can be resolved.{close_quotes} However, to garner public acceptance, a new generation of supersafe nuclear reactors, invulnerable to terrorism and conversion to weapons, will need to be developed, the authors say.
- OSTI ID:
- 255282
- Journal Information:
- Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy, Vol. 11, Issue 1; Other Information: PBD: Spr 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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