TITLE:
Nuclear Energy and Its History: Past Consequences, Present Inadequacies and a Perspective for Success
AUTHORS:
Romney B. Duffey, Francesco D’Auria
KEYWORDS:
Societal Risk, Risk and Probability, Catastrophes, Nuclear Fission, Nuclear Reactor Technology, Dynamic Barricade, Cost of Safety
JOURNAL NAME:
Energy and Power Engineering,
Vol.12 No.6,
June
1,
2020
ABSTRACT: An attempt is made to locate nuclear technology within a logical context
considering history, risks, societal catastrophes and perspectives: the need is
identified for a new direction in the exploitation in order to restore the role
in energy production. We depict the situation coming from a marvelous history
of discoveries started at the beginning of the XX century; heroes are recalled
who made possible something that is inconceivable today: design, construction
and production of electricity in a few years; that history was tainted by
intentional nuclear explosions, i.e. the original sin that we are now paying. Then, we attempt to show that the
societal risk is an inherent part of the civilization. Restoring the public
trust (towards nuclear fission technology) by matching nuclear safety with the
current technological status and advancers in risk assessment is the key
objective. The “independent
assessment”, or a
principle for the exploitation of nuclear energy already stated in the 50’s of
the previous century, shall then re-appear. This is used to erect the signpost
for a “dynamic
barricade” to
further reduce the risk of operation of nuclear reactors and to match the
design with current technological capabilities and with the frontiers of the
research.