Energy Reiters – New nuclear power plants: Europe’s radiant future

The Domino Stones collapsed the Bollwerke, built after the disaster in Fukushima in 2011, against nuclear energy. After the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has announced the Nuclear Renaissance and wants to expand Hungary Paks-II-Miler, although the cooling water will heat the Danube to 30 (!) Diploma, polen now sailed on the nuclear course: from 2028 the first miller will be built on the east gland.

Uranium is a finite energy source
“As a risky technology, nuclear energy is an existential danger to humanity. And the radioactive waste is already shining Millennia, ”warn Greenpeace -Baas Alex Egit and Global 2000 Expert Patricia Lorenz. They also indicate a covered problem: “Also uranium, from which nuclear energy plants withdraw their strength, is a fossil and therefore finite energy source. It is broken down under extremely high consumption of resources and horrible health consequences: nuclear energy is anything but clean! “

The danger is increasing
Twelve of the 27 EU member states are currently operating nuclear power stations, most of them in France. From power plants in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungarians, special danger to Austria. A total of 100 Meiler that drives over the EU, a quarter of all global “radiation” systems. Egit in particular indicates the danger in the (Ukraine) war: “The largest nuclear power plant in Europe in Saporischschja, occupied by the Russians, remains electricity to cool the reactor cooling. If the network is destroyed, emergency generators also fail. So a collapse must be feared.

Sayed Ashraf of the International Atomic Energy Organization sees it differently: “The nuclear energy is one of the safest forms of energy generation, can help solve climate change and reduce emissions such as low -carbon.”

Is the solution for the mini -atoom center? Interview with Prof. dr. Georg Steinhauser, Radio Ecologist (Technical University of Vienna)

Prof. Steinhauser, why do Google and Co invest in mini -atomic power plants?
Small, modular reactors fill a gap on that nuclear energy so far has not been able to close: to cover the electricity requirement where it applies, for example industrial centers or smaller cities can be supplied at remote locations. From an electricity perspective, they are interesting and profitable objects: no wonder that large companies in this technology invest.

What is the advantage of smaller reactors?
A small, modular reactor offers countless benefits. He needs fewer staff, or in extreme cases it can even be managed completely autonomously. It can be built underground, which is beneficial from the point of view of terrorist protection. And especially important: unlike a “normal” nuclear power plant, a small, modular reactor does not dominate the entire electricity production of a country. It makes redundancy possible, ie different systems that can replace themselves. This makes this technology interesting, especially for the development of and emerging countries, which so far stand for the dilemma due to a lack of energy supply dismissal: when the large power plant runs, there is electricity throughout the country; If it is switched off for a revision, the electricity will fail for weeks.

What is the technology behind it? Are you operating on thorium reactors?
There are many different designs for such small, modular reactors. Even the nuclear fuel is not the same in every model. They can be operated with uranium, sometimes with uranium enrichment or with a uranium thoral mixture. Due to the small reactorNern, the losses in energy generation can be minimized; The reactors then work more efficiently, ie generate more electricity from the same amount of fuel.

What about security?
Security is very important in the development of these reactors. Before a permit there is always a long and detailed process in which the security of each new Reactor concept is put to the test. Then there is nothing to say that these reactors are building in the vicinity of settlement areas, which means that the losses in electricity transport can be minimized via high voltage lines.

Are this nuclear energy a solution for climate change?
No method for generating electricity can only stop climate change. There is a reasonable energy mix from the possible CO2 sources. The nuclear energy is of course of course an option. With small modular reactors, further steps can be taken in the fight against climate change.