Energy's future: the world need never run out of energy. In fact, technology and private enterprise are poised to bring us an abundance of energy—if government will just get out of the way

New American, The, April 4, 2005 by Dennis Behreandt

Fuel cells aren't the only futuristic energy technology that will probably play a significant role in the near future. Another is a technology that has already been producing power for nearly 50 years but still seems futuristic nonetheless: nuclear energy. Prior to the nuclear age, splitting the atom was considered an impossibility. Albert Einstein, the famous physicist, argued, "There is not the slightest indication that [nuclear] energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will." Work completed by Enrico Fermi and others, though, caused Einstein to change his mind.

Nuclear power, an American innovation, has been brought to a virtual standstill in this country, because of political, not technological, obstacles. Yet it is still a viable and important energy source. According to the federal Energy Information Agency, U.S. nuclear facilities had a record year in 2004. The EIA reported: "The U.S. nuclear industry generated 788,556 million kilowatt hours of electricity in 2004, a new U.S. (and international) record. Although no new U.S. nuclear power plants have come online since 1996, this is the industry's fifth annual record since 1998." There are currently 104 licensed nuclear power generating stations operating within the United States. The energy they produce accounts for about 20 percent of the nation's electricity and about 8 percent of the total energy we consume.

These figures could be higher, as evidenced by the fact that many other nations, taking full advantage of the technology the United States developed, are using nuclear technology to produce a much higher percentage of their electricity from nuclear power than we are. (See graph on page 11.)

Japan plans to increase its nuclear capacity so that 41 percent of its total energy needs can be met with atomic energy. What's more, despite setbacks, Japanese industry is committed to advancements in nuclear technology. Japan invested heavily in fast breeder technology, completing the "Monju" fast breeder reactor that would get dramatically more energy out of a given amount of uranium than a conventional nuclear power plant. The Monju reactor suffered a coolant leak and was shut down, but plans exist for bringing the facility back online soon.

Nuclear energy may even play a role in smaller-scale remote installations. The town of Galena, Alaska, suffers from an erratic energy supply and wants to install a small, Japanese-made nuclear reactor. The liquid-sodium cooled, Toshiba-built reactor would produce 10 megawatts of electricity and would run almost unattended and underground. It would not need to be refueled for 30 years. Whether in small-town Alaska or in the lower 48 states, nuclear power can provide a relatively inexpensive, clean, and nearly unlimited source of energy.

The Future Is Bright

The future is not limited to the fossil fuels and nuclear fission of the past century. Just as the last 1 O0 years have witnessed almost unimaginable advances in technology, the next 100 years will almost certainly be just as revolutionary. "[O]ver the next few decades, we are very likely to see all kinds of technological advances that have nothing to do with hydrocarbons, or solar, or wind, for that matter--advances that most of us, brought up in the age of oil, probably can't even imagine," writes journalist Paul Roberts in his book, The End of Oil.