Current energy sources pose a significant threat to our civilization. Today, a significant portion of electricity on Earth is produced using coal. This negatively affects the Earth’s climate by emitting greenhouse gases, and if it continues like this, it seems we will destroy our own habitat. The energy sources of the future will allow us to maintain the continuity of our own species until we find another planet to live on and beyond.
First, let’s take a look at the energy sources we use in our country. After hydroelectric power plants with 23%; fossil fuels constitute 74% of our energy production with 45% natural gas, 28% coal, and 1% oil. When coal burns, it releases SO2 along with CO2. This gas causes acid rain and when it reacts with hydrogen it forms H2SO2. This gas, like CO2, creates a greenhouse effect in the atmosphere. Even though natural gas is considered cleaner, when the carbon in its structure burns, it releases CO2 into the atmosphere.
Let’s examine the death rates that occur per unit of energy produced (terawatt/hour). While 100 people die to produce 1 TW/h of electricity from coal, 4 people die with natural gas, 12 people with peat, 12 people with biogas, 0.44 people with solar energy, 0.15 people with wind energy, and 0.10 people with hydro energy to produce 1 TW/h of electricity. To produce 1 TW/h of electricity with nuclear energy, 0.04 people die. That is, coal is 2500 times more deadly than nuclear energy. At the same time, nuclear is currently the only energy source that produces energy with the fewest human deaths.
Unlike coal-fired thermal power plants, in nuclear power plants, the reaction it creates to heat water and turn it into gas takes place isolated from nature, so there is only a trace amount of radiation in the waste materials. After the efficiency of the used nuclear material drops, it continues to be kept isolated. Contrary to popular belief, the area occupied by these nuclear wastes is very small. If the necessary safety precautions are taken, they can be considered a completely clean energy source. Like direct human deaths, let’s also examine the damage done to nature. A human is exposed to 295 mrem of radiation from nature every year. They are exposed to an extra 10 mrem of radiation from the electronic devices they use. People living closer than 50 kilometers to a nuclear power plant are exposed to only 0.01 mrem of extra radiation every year. Meanwhile, people living at a 50-kilometer distance from a thermal power plant using coal are exposed to exactly 3 times more, an extra 0.03 mrem of radiation, than those neighboring a nuclear power plant.
Fossil fuels are energy sources that harm nature slightly (Natural gas) or significantly (Coal). For example, the SO2 released when a coal mine burns does not turn back into coal; it creates acid rain and harms nature and people. Realizing how badly these damages to nature will affect our lives in the long run led us to use renewable energy sources. Currently, 2% of the energy produced in our country is produced from renewable sources. That is, from wind and solar energy. This rate is 16% in Germany and 40% in Denmark. However, these energy sources have a significant problem. It is not possible for them to produce continuously. Solar panels cannot produce energy at night or when the weather is cloudy, and wind turbines cannot produce energy when the weather is windless. To balance these, we currently seem to need continuous energy sources, and nuclear energy because it is cleaner. However, alternative solutions to this problem will come in the near future. There are even solutions that are currently in the trial phase.
The first of these is Tesla Motor placing the battery it uses in its cars into homes. Although not explicitly sold right now, with these batteries they tested in some shopping malls, using batteries charged with solar energy until 15:00, they can stop taking electricity from the grid from 15:00, when energy consumption peaks, until 19:00, or they can reduce their dependence. After the technology gets a little cheaper, when we start using this in homes, our dependence on renewable energy sources will decrease significantly.
Of course, we are not limiting ourselves to just solar and wind energy. The company called Lockheed Martin continues its research to produce completely clean fusion generators and they claim that they can bring this technology to life within 10 years. Fusion, despite being a nuclear reaction, unlike the nuclear reactions currently used practically, uses hydrogen, not radioactive materials. This is also the reaction that occurs in the sun and at the center of the earth. Hydrogen atoms are brought close to each other, and when a certain point is passed, two hydrogen atoms fuse and turn into a helium atom. Thus, a massive amount of energy is released. At the same time, the waste of this process is only helium (these products can also react to form iron, but such intense energy only occurs in the centers of stars). Helium is a gas that does not harm nature. The reason this process has not been realized until today is that this reaction cannot be created in a controlled manner. First of all, because the ambient temperature during this reaction reaches thousands of degrees Celsius, no material can contain this reaction. Therefore, it can only be carried out in a vacuumed magnetic environment while the fuel is in a vacuum (in the air). There is one more thing we are familiar with regarding this reaction. Although it has absolutely nothing directly to do with energy production, it must be mentioned for the sake of awareness. This fusion reaction was used in the making of hydrogen bombs. However, to create enough pressure in the bombs to create the fusion reaction, they first start a fission (splitting) reaction with radioactive materials, then the fusion reaction occurs, and this is followed by a fission reaction that has a much larger impact later. During this time, the radioactives used emit radiation to the environment and create a fallout effect. This is never the case for the planned fusion reactors. Since they want to carry out this reaction in an area the size of a truck, not the size of a city, radioactives are not needed for activation energy and it does not emit radiation into the environment. The only remaining danger can be considered as the reactor being damaged and exploding. When the radioactive (e.g., uranium) used in nuclear power plants is activated, we use the heat it creates to boil water to convert the heat it starts to produce into electrical energy. The principle of electricity production is similar to thermal power plants at this point, only uranium radioactivity is used instead of burning coal to boil the water. Since the volume of the resulting steam increases relative to water, it turns the turbines and this movement produces electricity. Because an activated nuclear core does not have an off button, if the power plant is damaged, a disaster can be faced, as was the case in Fukushima. However, in fusion reactors, the reaction only continues as long as hydrogen continues to be added to the environment. In other words, the reactor can be stopped at the slightest mishap. In this way, the risk of accidents is almost reduced to zero compared to nuclear power plants, which already have a very low risk.
Another method is producing biofuel from algae. When biofuel obtained from algae burns, CO2 is released into the environment again. Normally we would not want to produce CO2. However, since the CO2 released when this fuel burns will be as much as the CO2 the plant will consume during the production of this fuel, it is considered an energy source harmless to the environment. In a land of 4000m2, 5000L of biofuel can be produced every year and its cost can be only 1 dollar per liter. At the same time, there is no obligation to convert this fuel to electricity to use it. Motorized vehicles can also use it as fuel.
Even if wind turbines have no harm to nature, they can disturb people due to their appearance. One of the considered solutions for this is to move these turbines underwater to eliminate this aesthetic concern and to increase the continuity of energy production. Although they will be called wave turbines, their working principles are the same. There are regions where the water does not stop and continues to flow in a certain direction, and the turbines to be installed here can both provide continuous energy production and do not disturb people in their living environments. Of course, this time concerns arise for creatures living in the sea. The measures to be taken for these will become apparent as the realization process of the project approaches.
Technological developments like the ones described here will eventually emerge. However, the biggest obstacle to all these developments taking place in our lives is incorrect information. We have seen and continue to see propaganda against nuclear energy. Even though we can clearly see how clean and healthy nuclear energy is compared to fossil fuels, they are targeted by organizations wanting to create a sensation. We can also be sure that the same thing will be done for nuclear fusion reactors in the future. For this reason, we need to be conscious and informed on this issue. Those who draw a two-headed cat to scare people away from nuclear energy today and say “say no to nuclear if you don’t want it to be like this” in brochures will display the same attitude against fusion tomorrow with images of hydrogen bombs. For example; whether the gas released when fuel produced from algae burns is carcinogenic or not will be the subject of morning programs. Of course, no guest will say that the gas we produce while breathing and the gas produced by that fuel are the same gas. That is why it will be up to us to distinguish science from charlatanism.