Word: nuclearization
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...unnecessary. Engineers have the know-how to build reactors that are demonstrably safer than those now in operation. Moreover, that basic technology has been available for more than 20 years. It was largely ignored in favor of a technology -- the water-cooled reactor -- that had already been proved in nuclear submarines. But water-cooled reactors are particularly susceptible to the rapid loss of coolant, which led to the accidents at both Chernobyl and Three Mile Island...
...nuclear reactors work by splitting large atoms into smaller pieces, thus releasing heat. The challenge is to keep the core of nuclear fuel from overheating and melting into an uncontrollable mass that can breach containment walls and release radioactivity. One way to prevent a meltdown is to make sure the fuel is always surrounded with circulating coolant -- ordinary water in most commercial reactors. To guard against mechanical failures that could interrupt the transfer of heat, most reactors employ multiple backup systems, a strategy known as "defense in depth...
...that use fuel in such small quantities that their cores could not achieve meltdown temperatures under any circumstances. The fuel would be packed inside tiny heat-resistant ceramic spheres and cooled by inert helium gas. Then the whole apparatus would be buried belowground. Lawrence Lidsky, an M.I.T. professor of nuclear engineering, calls this an "inherently safe" approach: it relies on the laws of nature, rather than human intervention, to prevent a major accident...
Critics are quick to point out that no nuclear reactor, either water-cooled or gas-cooled, is totally safe as long as it produces radioactive waste. The U.S. alone has generated thousands of metric tons of "hot" debris, including enough spent fuel to cover a football field to a height of three feet. Said Sir Crispin Tickell, British Permanent Representative to the United Nations: "The fact that every year there is waste being produced that will take the next three ice ages and beyond to become harmless is something that has deeply impressed the imagination...
...problem that can, and must, be solved. Third World countries do not have the technical or managerial expertise to deal with the complexities of nuclear power. They will be forced, at least for the foreseeable future, to rely primarily on environmentally harmful fossil fuels. That is going to put pressure on the developed world to produce increasing amounts of cheaper, safer nuclear power...