Variety of International Responses to Energy Crisis
A Work in Progress -comments appreciated
https://e-catworld.com/2019/05/22/e-cat-the-long-view/
"From 1975 to 1985 a total of 12 nuclear
reactors were commissioned in Sweden,---of these, three have already been decommissioned and a further
three will be decommissioned over the next 18 months ...Following Three Mile Island a public referendum led to decommissioning reactors as they aged...
In the long view Leonardo Corp. could bend the
arc of a deserving Swedish nation by providing enterprise scale power on
location … and by so doing provide the world with an exemplar of what a wealthy
high tech carbon and nuclear free future can look like at a national scale."
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The above is an excerpt from an article by Swedish author, Roland Van Nus. This is a must read for CEOs, engineers -and young scientists.
Other responses are Austria, Germany and Japan. The Austrians ended their only nuclear commercial venture by 11th hour referendum on the Zwentendorf plant in the 1970s. Italy closed the last of its 4 reactors in 2008. Germany waited for Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters before scheduling early shutdown of its fleet of old nuclear plants. Japan did not pro-act but, awaited it's own disaster to immediately mothball all its nuclear reactors. With a sense of doomed inevitability of more nuclear accidents, France provides its populace with iodine pills.
Australia has never had nuclear power plants, but is the world's third largest producer of uranium after Kazakhstan and Canada. New Zeland has no nuclear plants.
Canada opts for laying oil/gas pipelines and gambling with refurbishment of old Candu nuclear plants. Our taxpayers might prepare to be non-competitive in world trade, since for most industrial nations, cheap LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reactions) is the major replacement for risky nuclear and polluting fossil fuels.
LENR is the technology to reduce emissions in agriculture, cement, district heating, steel and transportation.
China slows rate of nuclear builds to 25 under construction, and 39 planned. Russia builds floating nuclear plants for deployment along its Arctic coast. France looks to build 6 new reactors while planning to shutter aging ones. India researches "fast breeder" energy designs to keep pace with opulation growth. Isolationist UK goes jumbo nuke at Hinkley Point. The US vacillates on supporting old nuclear while toying with resuscitating coal to make America great again. Only Scandinavia appears eager to leap to affordable and ultra-clean LENR.
UN member nations are slow to support the LENR fix for Co2 damage and radiation dangers. Whereas governments can apply carbon and nuclear levies to deal with out-of-control Co2 emissions and radioactive risks, it's up to the UN member nations and corporations to promote LENR deployment. They have to do much more, and do it faster. Only collective action has significant impact. Needed is a non government Action Network, sponsored by major Think Tanks, NGOs and universities, to push authorities to show serious interest in replacement of polluting and radioactive fuels.
Somehow we have to exercise the power of informal networks to get meaningful action by the UN's member states convening in NYC on September 23rd, 2019:
“UN Secretary-General António Guterres is
calling on all leaders to come to New York on 23 September with concrete, realistic plans
to enhance their nationally determined contributions by 2020."
"Climate change is disrupting national economies, costing us dearly today and even tomorrow. But there is a growing recognition that affordable, scalable solutions are available now that will enable enable us all to leapfrog to cleaner, more resiliant economies."
Meanwhile, Leonardo Corporation and Brilliant Light Power make progress with their electricity and heat businesses. They are now field-testing compact industrial heating reactors, and are capable of leapfrogging coal, natural gas and radioactive nuclear. Still, slow commercial release of the E-Cat SSM and Suncell reactors ensue.
In face of twin catastrophic urgencies (Co2 & nuclear) and the emergence of safe energy alternatives, why the political dithering? Do we have to wait for enlightened leaders of Canada, China, the US and the EU to act in unison to reduce pollutant and radiation risks?
The "LENR solution" is missing from energy projections of influential media. Why so? Partly a fear of sudden financial disruption to their advertisers in auto, coal, oil and nuclear sectors. With media concentrating on defense of nuclear and support of fission research, it’s difficult for the voting public to grasp the significance of affordable and safe LENR.
Regardless of potential job losses in fossil fuel and nuclear sectors, educators, businesses, labour organizations, and NGOs have a moral obligation to work together in keeping the global ark afloat. Conscientious bloggers everywhere have the same obligation.
Amid soaring maintenance costs, the first of four Swiss nuclear power turned off in December 2019 after 47 years of service. Decommissioning is expected to take 15 years, with reuse possible after 2034.
A sea-change is underway. Melting ice and expansion of warming sea water, will within decades, force millions along the US east coast to flee north-west towards the cooler Great Lakes region.
To save humanity from drowning, frying and/or freezing in the dark, let's all hold editor's and politician's feet to the ultra-clean new fire.
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