Given the projected growth in global energy demand as developing nations industrialize, and the need to stabilize and then reduce GHG emissions, it is important to establish fission energy as an acceptable and viable option, if at all possible, and to develop the capability to harness fusion. In the coming era of a fully deregulated electric power industry, decisions on whether to build or continue to operate plants will be driven by economics. Accidents at nuclear plants have the potential to unleash vast amounts of radiation, such as occurred at Chernobyl in 1986. There are concerns that nuclear power could provide terrorists and rogue nations with technical expertise and a source of materials to make a bomb. Nuclear waste remains radioactive and hazardous for many centuries, and no nation has developed a satisfactory long-term solution for disposal. Nuclear fission power is a widely used technology with the potential for further growth, particularly in Asia.However, several problems cloud fission''s potential as an acceptable power source today and into the future: disposal of radioactive waste concern about nuclear weapons proliferation concern about safe operation of plants and noncompetitive economics. The United States has the largest number of operating nuclear reactors (109) and the largest nuclear capacity (about 100,000 MW) of any nation. In 1996, among countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), nuclear power 2 provided 77 percent of the electricity in France, 33 percent in Japan, 26 percent in the United Kingdom, and 20 percent in the United States. If fossil plants were used to produce the amount of electricity generated by these nuclear plants, more than an additional 300 million metric tons of carbon would be emitted each year.Worldwide, 15 countries obtain at least 30 percent of their electricity from nuclear fission power. As of December 1996, 442 nuclear power reactors were operating in 30 countries, and 36 more plants were under construction. The most optimistic timetable for fusion development is half a century, because of the extraordinary scientific and engineering challenges involved, but fusion''s benefits are so globally attractive that fusion R&D is an important component of today''s energy R&D portfolio internationally.Fission power currently provides about 17 percent of the world''s electric power. ![]() Fusion''s fuel is abundant, namely, light atoms such as the isotopes of hydrogen, and essentially limitless. In the case of nuclear fusion, much work remains in the quest to sustain the fusion reactions and then to design and build practical fusion power plants. In the case of nuclear fission-a mature though controversial energy technology-electricity is generated from the energy released when heavy nuclei break apart. Another attractive feature of these energy-producing reactions is that they do not produce greenhouse gases (GHG) or other forms of air pollution directly. For any given mass or volume of fuel, nuclear processes generate more energy than can be produced through any other fuel-based approach. Two distinct processes involving the nuclei of atoms can be harnessed, in principle, for energy production: fission-the splitting of a nucleus-and fusion-the joining together of two nuclei. Many of the technologies that will help us to meet the new air quality standards in America can also help to address climate change.
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