The Appeal of Space and Nuclear Technology Foreign media focused on The technological adventures of Bezos and Gates

The Hindu website published an article titled "The Attractiveness of Space and Nuclear Technology" on August 2 by T.P. Srinivasan, India's former ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The full text is excerpted below:

As billionaire Jeff Bezos prepares for space last month, another billionaire Bill Gates made an equally significant decision — to start his own nuclear reactor and consider the possibility of exporting fast breeder reactors to energy-hungry countries. Both billionaires claim that their move is fundamentally aimed at improving the environment and reversing climate change. In response to criticism of his expensive and wasteful ventures, Bezos insisted that the move was motivated by environmental considerations: "We need to move all heavy industry, all polluting industries, into space to protect the beautiful gem planet of Earth." While the safety of nuclear reactors and the risks of nuclear weapons proliferation are of growing concern, Gates stressed the importance of nuclear energy as a clean energy source that meets global demand.

Back in 2007-2008, then-Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, set up a Committee of Eminent Persons to think deeply about the future of nuclear energy in 2020 and beyond. As Executive Director of the Commission, I assisted in the preparation of a report that concluded that "as the world enters the Seventh Decade of the Nuclear Age, the international community faces both favourable opportunities and important challenges that need to be addressed. The expanded use of nuclear technology offers great potential to meet important development needs. Indeed, there are major opportunities for nuclear energy development in order to meet the two greatest challenges of the 21st century, meeting energy demand and reducing the threat of climate change." The report predicts that a "nuclear renaissance" will not only solve global energy problems, but also mitigate climate change.

However, on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in Japan completely changed the nuclear power situation, hitting plans to rapidly expand nuclear power to combat climate change and meet energy shortages and economic development needs. In an article titled "Nuclear Power After a Decade from the Fukushima Accident: A Long Way Back," the IAEA said that some countries have chosen to gradually abandon nuclear power at a time when the international community is turning its attention to strengthening nuclear safety. After intensive efforts to strengthen nuclear safety, nuclear energy as a climate-friendly energy option has re-emerged as a global warming trend becomes more apparent.

But the clouds of the Fukushima Daiichi accident still hang over the prospects of nuclear power. In addition, some major markets still lack an enabling policy and investment framework that recognizes the contribution of nuclear energy to climate change mitigation and sustainable development. Without such a framework, nuclear energy will struggle to reach its full potential, and the world today remains as predominantly dependent on fossil fuels as it did 30 years ago.

Amid ongoing uncertainty and the prevailing anti-nuclear lobbying forces, Gates-backed Terra Energy has just announced an agreement with private investors, including Warren Buffett, and the U.S. state of Wyoming to build a demonstration project of sodium-cooled fast neutron reactors in the state. In addition, because the project is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's "advanced" small modular reactor program, it will receive $80 million in subsidies from the Department of Energy this year.

U.S. nonproliferation experts Henry Sokolinsky and Victor Gierinski wrote in Bill Gates' Rapid Reactor: Will It Explode? Gates believes that rapid breeder reactors will replace existing reactors. Sokolinsky and Girinski questioned the move on several fronts, such as the failure of earlier efforts to develop such reactors and the risk of turning inert uranium into plutonium and then using it as fuel. They point out in the article that such reactors may even "multiply" too much plutonium. What worries them most is that plutonium is a nuclear explosive that can be used to make nuclear bombs. They fear that obtaining plutonium through commercial channels is fraught with danger. Terra Energy announced in March that it would use 20 percent-abundant uranium-235, rather than explosive plutonium, as fuel for a sodium-cooled fast neutron reactor. But the question to be asked is whether the same restrictions apply once such reactors are successful and ready to be exported.

It has been pointed out that former U.S. Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter have developed policies that discourage the commercialization of plutonium-fueled reactors. Ford has declared that unless "the international community can effectively address the associated proliferation risks," the United States will not support reliance on plutonium fuel and its associated spent fuel reprocessing. Critics argue that the world has not yet reached such a stage.

No one can predict whether Bezos's space adventure or Gates' nuclear adventure will benefit the world. But billionaires have a sixth sense and know how to multiply their wealth.

Source: Reference News Network