Learning from Nuclear Power
Fossil fuel burning has a long history of devastation. It is estimated that nearly 9million premature deaths a year are directly attributable to pollution from fossil fuels. The United Nations has identified the end of coal as a priority in the fight to mitigate human caused climate change.
The nuclear power narrative is defined by Hiroshima, Chernobyl and ray guns despite the fact that its impact on the environment and people is negligible when compared to coal and oil. Redefining nuclear power as a relatively safe technology, modernized with current technology and scaled down to be cheaper and easier to deploy will be a significant step to a sustainable world. Those days are coming.
France and the UK have both announced investments and Rolls Royce has now announced a consortium to design and build small safe nuclear power plants.
The sustainable age is about technological innovation, science and the right ethics deployed to solve big problems. Nuclear power is now part of the sustainability conversation along side many other technologies.