Climate Capitalism

Peter Henderson of Reuters reports on Microsoft futurist Craig Mundie.  Mundie promotes conservation but also predicts that nuclear power will play a major role in meeting 21st century “green” energy needs.

Mundie mentions traveling wave reactors which is a sub type of breeder reactors.  Also see Adam Smith’s December, 8th, 2008 post: IFR Technology, the Holy Grail of Clean Energy? about the related Integral Fast Reactors (IFR.)  Breader reactors are still largely theoretical, but do promise to help solve another 21st Century problem… what to do with all that 20th century nuclear waste.

Jeremy Hsu of Space.com has an interesting article out today about a project for creating a nuclear fusion reaction using 192 giant lasers focused on a pea-sized fuel pellet at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California.  NIF’s process differs from other experimental fusion reaction methods, which involve containing the intense heat generated by the reaction by suspending it in a magnetic field.  According to the article, the reaction is contained as a result of the fuel being consumed by the reaction quicker than it can expand outward.

Hsu’s article does not address several key practical questions about the technology, what will it cost and will it be capable of generating more energy than is needed to create the reaction in the first place?  Another article by Adam Hadhazy of Scientific American, however, quotes a lab spokesperson as saying that the lab expects the process to generate a net positive amount of energy, which apparently would be a first for fusion reactions.   An ignition test reportedly scheduled for 2010 would involve the use of 500 trillion watts of energy to power the lasers. 

So, whether this is the holy grail of clean energy technology or just a really expensive demonstration of Galactic Imperial power remains to be seen.

Ever hear about Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) Technology?  Mercury News contributor Steve Kirsch says it’s an old nuclear technology that offers a clean energy solution now.  The process involves reusing old nuclear waste as fuel.  Here’s some more links on IFR: 

PBS Frontline interview with Dr. Charles Till.

National Center for Policy and Public Research Q&A with George S. Stafford, Ph.D.

U.S. DOE Newton Ask a Scientist archive entry on IFR technology.

Dr. Charles Till article entitled Plentiful Energy and the IFR Story.

StrongForce.org definitions for next generation nuclear technologies.

Archived newsgroup discussion between Dr. Gregory Greenman and others.

Technical paper on IFR and proliferation resistance by Harold F. McFarlane of Argonne National Laboratory.

Wikipedia entry on IFR.

Atomic Insights blog entry on IFR.