America’s newest, and possibly the last conventional fission nuclear reactor, opened at Watts Barr, Tennessee in 2017. A little-known company that has situated itself close to this plant is Wacker Polysilicon. The company which makes polysilicon for solar panels started investing in Rhea County, Tennessee in 2009 after construction had started on the new unit at the power plant. Gary Farlow, CEO of the Bradley/Cleveland County Chamber of Commerce noted that “the biggest consideration for Wacker when they looked at our area was not only the capacity of the power system but also [it’s] quality and reliability”. The Wacker facility needs so much power that it requires 20% to 25% of the full capacity of a nuclear plant. The Wacker plant provides jobs for approximately 650 full time employees and has invested a total of $2.5 billion into the local area since 2009 and is an intriguing example of how the energetics of human technology even for competing sources of power.
Improving the durability of solar infrastructure would make the initial material investment more purposeful and sustainable and address some of the issues around low power density noted in the film. Solar and nuclear could also find complementarity with the new breed of reactors which would allow for greater valve control of energy production from nuclear fission. Even with excellent battery storage infrastructure, solar power will always need some secondary backup supply to ensure high quality delivery for particular uses. Natural gas or biofuels have the advantage of easy valve control (switching on and off) as compared with conventional nuclear fission power where it takes considerable time to switch a reactor on and off. However, the new generation of molten salt reactors and other innovations will allow for more flexibility in this regard thereby allowing for more effective backup for solar and wind power.
There are many new scientific developments that are happening daily in this arena, and we should sensibly consider them as well as the uncertainties they present. Several science-based international policy primers continue to be published by the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as established research institutions such as MIT, which still maintains a nuclear engineering department. Startup companies are also blossoming in this sector, including one started by a doctoral graduate from the MIT program called Oklo which is the first to get its application in review for an advanced new nuclear reactor design with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in June, 2020.
There are also growing synergies being found between the renewable energy sector and nuclear energy through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (under the banner of Flexible Nuclear Energy for Clean Energy Systems). Even the fossil fuel industry’s publications are recognizing that there is potential for a “green nuclear deal.” The global energy transition will require us to resist positional temptations and be willing to embrace revisionism where needed as some environmentalists and systems scientists such as centenarian James Lovelock have argued with regard to nuclear power. With trepidation and without intransigence, let us keep our eyes on the atom with astute anticipation.
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