Charting the evolution of nuclear energy

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2024-10-04 16:30:06

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Nuclear power has a checkered history, producing abundant, reliable, clean energy for decades, but with several major high-profile accidents marring its public image. As artificial intelligence demands unprecedented amounts of energy, nuclear power—long stalled in its growth—could be poised for a comeback. This issue of Freethink Research looks at the state and safety of nuclear fission today, and explores the possibility that nuclear’s future will lie in an entirely new direction, thanks to advances in fusion.

Since 1985, the global share of electricity generated by nuclear power (i.e., fission) has declined on the world stage, while it has largely held steady in the United States. Despite nuclear fission reactors providing vast amounts of electricity with little air pollution or carbon emissions, the industry has not taken share from competing generation technologies.

Why is that? In part, it is because of historical nuclear accidents. The Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima meltdowns caused fear among the public and influenced policy decisions around the world. Despite these headline-making disasters, the actual data indicate many of the negative perceptions of nuclear fission are misplaced.