Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Though sun & wind get all the good press, nuclear energy can replace fossil fuels for our energy needs; not just now but far into the future. Nuclear is already in wide use: Europe has the most reactors, almost 200, followed by Asia with almost 150, and the U.S. holding steady at about 120 because fear has overwhelmed fact. First generation nuclear reactors were used to make atomic bombs but several types of second-generation reactors are what's being used now; technology that's half a century old. Third generation were supposed to be small, disposable reactors that never materialized; but Gen IV nuclear technology can actually solve the world's Climate Change energy controversy.

There are several kinds of Gen IV reactors, with Sodium-cooled-fast ready for commercial use, but the others are just waiting for customers. The advantages Gen IV reactors have over their predecessors are: they create 100–300 times more energy yield from the same amount of nuclear fuel; can use a broader range of fuels, including the ability to consume existing nuclear waste, and any remaining waste is only radioactive for a few centuries instead of millennia; and, of course, they're safer. As archaic as it seems, nuclear reactors still make electricity by boiling water to turn an old-fashioned generator, but electricity is the future, no one disputes that. Nuclear is not inherently expensive nor big, that’s artificial; inexpensive reactors are put into submarines and spacecraft. Nuclear is the fastest, cheapest, most efficient, most eco-friendly way to replace fossil fuels. It's politics that makes it expensive and slow, which ends up making people skeptical of the whole alarmist argument, but as soon as nuclear energy is finally on the table, consider solving Climate Change a done deal.