Nuclear energy -- L-enerġija nukleari

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Just to be clear, I’ll be discussing nuclear fission, not nuclear fusion.

The latter is a process, still experimental after decades, where atoms of the element hydrogen, or commonly its heavier versions deuterium or tritium, are fused under enormous emounts of pressure and heat, with the product being another element (helium) and the release of lots of energy. The difficulty is that the generated energy needs to be higher than the considerable energy used up to maintain the heat and pressure necessary.

Fission is the process in which the nucleus of uranium, a heavy element, and/or plutonium, is split into at least two smaller nuclei after absorbing a neutron, accompanied by a release of energy, radiation and other neutrons. When this process is uncontrolled, these latter neutrons propagate the process by themselves which quickly ends up in smoke with a familiar mushroom shape, i.e. the process of an atomic bomb.

On the other hand, if the fission process is controlled, it can be used, for example, to heat water, generate steam, turn turbines and generate electricity. It’s for this reason that there are a bit more than 400 centres around the world generating electricity using nuclear fission energy.

Disadvantages abound. One of the largest is the fear that the control mentioned previously is found wanting, or an unplanned condition arises which converts the controllable to uncontrollable, like the scary incidents on Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979 (mechanical problem and human errors)1, Chernobyl in the Ukraine (ex-USSR) in 1986 (design defect and human errors)2 and the one freshest in our minds and still unfolding in Fukushima in Japan (an earthquake that generated a tsunami that knocked out all power sources feeding cooling systems to the reactors)3.

Another big disadvantage is that fission produces radioactive material that can be processed elsewhere to be used in nuclear armaments, as well as the radioactive decay of this material is measured in thousands of years, not in months, and so needs to be stored with great care and protection, as it is highly toxic and absolutely cannot be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. You can say no one wants this in his/her back yard.

Finally one might mention the cost for building a centre for nuclear fission energy is very high – figures of billions of dollars are talked about, not to mention running costs and also the final cost of dismantling when the plant is aged and no longer considered viable. Critics point out that this amount of money should strategically be better spent in sustainable energy industries (sun, wind, waves), and not unreasonably.

Nevertheless I always remain marvelled how a country like Australia, that together with Kazakhstand and Canada have 70% of the world’s production of uranium, and alone has a third of known reserves of this element4, not only don’t have fission energy plants (except for one used for research and medicinal purposes) but doen’t have well known global firms that design and build these plants. You could say that the uranium industry in Australia consists mainly of digging it from the ground and exporting it.

In other words, if Australia has a moral problem with the disadvantages I mentioned earlier, it seems it finds no problem with exporting these problems to other countries, as long as a tidy dollar is pocketed.

Although a number of countries, like Japan and Germany, have decided to press the brakes on the use of this technology, there are others lke China which are still undertaking new installations of fission plants.5

With the situation existing today, this development is happening outside Australia, with plants being built for example by Westinghouse from the US in projects in China, considered to be part of the third generation. To have an idea of developments, the reactors in Fukushima are considered to be part of the second generation, with their cooling system being active. In a third generation system, the cooling system is passive, and so less susceptible to the disaster that has occurred in Japan.

Australia can have a larger role in the industry than it has today. At least it seems to want to collaborate6 in the research and design of fourth generation systems, which include a substantial increase in efficiency, a reduction in radioactivity of the waste by-product and, mostly interesting from my perspective, the use of existing nuclear waste as the main source material of the plant. This latter point will lead to a reduction of the massive stockpile problem that the nuclear energy industry has today.

I don’t see anything wrong with Australia dedicating resources to contribute to increasing the efficiency and reducing the danger of this technology which, with or without us, will continue to progress, until better solutions are found and built for the insatiable needs of mankind for electricity.

As long as, I hasten to add, such a step is not used as an excuse to surreptitiously attempt to hold back the change of direction towards sustainable energy, a change that is globally well on its way!

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Biex niftiehmu, se nitkellem fuq l-enerġija nukleari tal-fissjoni, mhux tal-fużjoni.

Dan tal-aħħar huwa l-proċess, li ilu esperimentali għal għexieren ta’ snin, fejn atomi tal-element l-idroġenu, jew komunement il-verżjonijiet itqal tagħhomtiegħu id-dewuterju (deuterium) jew it-tritjum (tritium), jingħaqdu flimkien taħt pressjoni u sħana enormi, u l-prodott ikun element ieħor (l-elju – (helium) u l-ġenerazzjoni ta’ ħafna enerġija. Id-diffikultà hija li l-enerġija ġġenerata trid tkun iktar għolja mill-enerġija konsiderevoli moħlija biex tinżamm il-pressjoni u s-sħana kbira neċessarja.

Il-fissjoni huwa l-proċess li bih in-nukleu tal-uranju, element imsejjaħ tqil, u/jew tal-plutonju, jinqasam f’mill-inqas żewġ nuklei iżgħar wara li jkun assorba newtronu, u apparti hekk jiġu ġġenerati enerġija, radjazzjoni u newtroni oħra. Meta dan il-proċess ma jkunx ikkontrollat, dawn in-newtroni tal-aħħar jistgħu ikomplu l-proċess waħedhom li malajr jispiċċa f’daħna bil-forma familjari ta’ faqqigħ, ċioe il-proċess tal-bomba atomika.

Mill-banda l-oħra, jekk il-proċess ta’ fissjoni jkun ikkontrollat, jista’ per eżempju jintuża biex isaħħan l-ilma, isir il-fwar, idawwar turbini u jiġġenera l-enerġija elettrika. Għalhekk hawn ftit iktar minn erba’ mitt ċentru madwar id-dinja li jiġġeneraw l-elettriku permezz tal-enerġija nukleari tal-fissjoni.

Żvantaġġi hemm, u mhux ftit. Waħda mill-kbar nett hija l-biża’ li l-kontroll li semmejt qabel ma jkunx biżżejjed, jew ikun hemm xi kundizzjoni mhux ippjanata li tbiddel il-kontrollabbli f’inkontrollabbli, bħall-inċidenti tal-biża’ ta’ Three Mile Island fl-Istati Uniti fl-1979 (problema mekkanika u nuqqasijiet umani)1, Chernobyl fl-Ukraina (dakinhar l-USSR) fl-1986 (difetti tad-disinn u nuqqasijiet umani wkoll)2, u dik tant friska fil-memorja u li għadha għaddejja ġo Fukushima fil-Ġappun (terremot li kkawża tsunami li qered il-kurrent li jħaddem lis-sistemi li kienu jkessħu lir-reatturi)3.

Żvantaġġ ieħor kbir huwa li l-fissjoni tipproduċi materjal li jista’ jkun proċessat iktar x’imkien ieħor biex jintużaw fl-armamenti nukleari, kif ukoll li d-degradazzjoni radjuattiva ta’ dan il-materjal jitkejjel bl-eluf tas-snin, mhux ta’ xhur, li għalhekk irid jiġi maħżun bi protezzjoni kbira, minħabba li huwa tossiku u li assolutament ma jridx jaqa’ f’idejn ħżiena. Tista’ tgħid li ħadd ma jkun iridu wara daru.

Fl-aħħar jista’ jissemma li l-prezz biex jinbena impjant tal-enerġija tal-fissjoni nukleari huwa għoli ħafna – jitkellmu bil-biljuni tad-dollari, biex ma nsemmux il-prezz biex jitħaddem u biex jiġi żmantellat meta jixjieħ u ma jibqax vijabbli. Il-kritiċi jgħidu li dawn huma flejjes li strateġikament aħjar jintefqu fl-industriji tal-enerġija sostenibbli (xemx, riħ, mew[), u mhux mingħajr raġun.

Madankollu jien nibqa’ daqsxejn immeraviljat kif pajjiż bħall-Awstralja, li flimkien mal-Kazakhstan u l-Kanada għandhom 70% tal-produzzjoni dinjija tal-uranju, u fil-fatt għandha terż mir-riżervi magħrufa globali ta’ dan l-element,4 mhux biss m’għandux impjanti tal-fissjoni (ħlief wieħed għall-użu tar-riċerka u tal-mediċina), imma lanqas biss għandu impriżi magħrufa globalment li jibnu jew jiddisinjaw dawn l-impjanti. L-industrija tal-uranju fl-Awstralja tista’ tgħid li tikkonsisti primarjament biex inħaffruh mill-art u nesportawh.

Fi kliem ieħor, jekk l-Awstralja għandha problema morali bl-iżvantaġġi li semmejt ftit qabel, jidher li m’għandha l-ebda problema li tesporta dawn il-problemi lil pajjiżi oħra, basta ndaħħlu d-dollari.

Għalkemm diversi pajjiżi, bħall-Ġappun u l-Ġermanja, iddeċidew li jagħfsu l-brejkijiet fuq l-użu ta’ din it-teknoloġija, hemm oħrajn bħaċ-Ċina li għadhom għaddejjin bl-istallazzjoni ta’ impjanti ġodda.5

Kif inhi s-sitwazzjoni llum, dan l-iżvilupp qiegħed isir barra l-Awstralja, bl-impjanti li qed jinbnew, per eżempju mill-Westinghouse tal-Istati Uniti f’proġetti fiċ-Ċina, meqjusin li qiegħdin fit-tielet ġenerazzjoni. Biex intikom ideja tal-iżvilupp, ir-reatturi ta’ Fukushima jitqiesu li huma tat-tieni ġenerazzjoni, u s-sistema tat-tkessiħ tagħhom hija attiva. F’sistema tat-tielet ġenerazzjoni, is-sistema tat-tkessiħ hija passiva, għalhekk inqas suxxettibbli għal diżastru bħal dak li seħħ ġewwa l-Ġappun.

L-Awstralja jista’ jkollha rwol f’din l-industrija ferm ikbar milli għandha illum. Talinqas jidher li trid tikkollabora6 fir-riċerka u ddisinjar ta’ sistemi tar-raba’ ġenerazzjoni, li jinkludu żieda sostanzjali fl-effiċjenza, tnaqqis fir-radjuattività tal-iskart u, għalija interessanti ferm, l-użu ta’ skart eżistenti nukleari bħala l-materja prima tal-impjant. Dan tal-aħħar iwassal biex inaqqas il-problema manja li għandha l-industrija tal-enerġija nukleari llum.

Jien ma nara xejn ħażin li l-Awstralja tiddedika riżorsi biex tagħti kontribut biex tiżdied l-effiċjenza, u jitnaqqas il-periklu ta’ din it-teknoloġija li, bina jew mingħajrna, se tkompli tavvanza, sakemm jinstabu u jinbnew soluzzjonijiet aħjar għall-ħtieġa insatjabbli tal-bniedem għall-enerġija elettrika.

Basta, inżid ngħid, pass bħal dan ma jintużax bħala skuża biex baxx baxx jipprova jitrażżan il-bidla fid-direzzjoni lejn l-enerġija sostenibbli, bidla li globalment bdiet sew!

1http://www.history.com/topics/three-mile-island, retrieved 1/11/2017

2http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident.aspx, retrieved 1/11/2017

3http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/fukushima-accident.aspx, retrieved 1/11/2017

4http://www.efn-uk.org/l-street/economics-lib/rsources-reports/index_files/AUS-Uranium-facts.pdf, retrieved 1/11/2017