From Nuclear Power Plant to Nuclear Power Park Electricity, Fuels, Energy Storage - All In One Place

Once the view will have cleared to allow a more far ranging economic development to be considered, also the role of renewed nuclear power should be clarified. Nuclear power renewed could come into its own when there is an intention to run a truly sustainable economy accompanied by the realization that economic growth is indispensable if all people on earth - the following generations included - are to be enabled to enjoy prosperity, health, and culture. There is only one thing to consider: It will not be the nuclear power we know today, which a large percentage of our fellow citizens seem to regard with an instinctive fear. The nuclear option of the future, albeit a long-term future, is nuclear power renewed. It will no longer be based on the fission of uranium 235, for a drastic reduction of the decay periods of radioactive residues down to roughly one 100 years will be possible. As far as the consequences of plant malfunctioning in continuous operation of nuclear power plants are concerned, they must be, and can be, limited to the respective plant sites even in today’s designs.
Moreover, nuclear power as part of an energy park and a comprehensive energy system can make available not only electricity but also other energy resources for a broad range of applications. Finally, there will be possibilities, and the need, to expand the reserves of nuclear source materials on an immense scale; in a transition period, this can be achieved by using abundant thorium and by splitting uranium 233 and, in the end, by tapping nuclear fusion.