The governments of the world are in a panic about how to meet global energy needs by 2050. Experts suggest that the amount of electricity needed to power the world will double by then, and it will be difficult to get all of the energy from green sources such as solar and wind. Japan is eyeing nuclear energy as a way to make hydrogen, which could be a big mistake if they don’t find a safer way to manage this volatile fuel.
Japan has a traumatic history with nuclear power, but that’s not stopping the country from taking new risks
The Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011 devastated Japan and left the rest of the world terrified of nuclear power. While it wasn’t as horrific as the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion of 1986, it still traumatized both the Japanese people and the government. Yet now, Japan is facing an energy crisis, and nuclear energy may be the only realistic solution.
Japan is one of the countries at the forefront of the green energy revolution. The Japanese government understands that solar, wind, and hydroelectric energy can only produce a portion of the fuel and electricity the country and the world need. Hydrogen will have to make up some of the difference in the industrial sector, for uses in shipping, aviation, and manufacturing. Japan wants to use next-generation nuclear reactors to produce hydrogen with zero emissions.
Next-generation nuclear reactors have lower energy outputs and marginally better safety records
Japan is not trying to build another Fukushima nuclear reactor. The newer models of nuclear reactors are cooled by gas and don’t produce as much energy as traditional reactors. These next-gen reactors run very hot, and the government wants to harness that heat for electrolysis, which is one of the major methods of creating hydrogen. Electrolysis is a process of using electricity to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.
The government of Japan does not want to fund another nuclear power disaster, so the new reactors have to pass strict safety protocols. In March of this year, a government team tested one of these reactors to see if it could cool down from temperatures as high as 850 degrees Celsius.
The results have given scientists hope as the reactor was able to avoid a meltdown and cooled down on its own. However, this is only the first of many safety tests planned. The government said they won’t even think about turning the nuclear reactor on until 2028.
To make hydrogen a viable option for industrial fuel needs, Japan plans to use nuclear reactors
Many companies are already producing hydrogen for the industrial sector, but they often use natural gas or fossil fuels to do it. These methods result in at least some greenhouse emissions, and Japan wants to have a zero-emissions hydrogen production process in place by 2040 to help meet the world’s energy needs.
Nuclear reactors seem to offer a good solution to this problem because they generate a lot of heat, and that heat can be used to break down water for hydrogen harvesting. Hydrogen is the only clean fuel that scientists know of that can power industrial shipping vessels, planes, and large machinery.
To avoid making the climate crisis worse, governments need to commit to making the production of hydrogen a green process, meaning releasing zero emissions. Japan is looking at innovative ways of designing nuclear reactors to keep them safe so that they can power homes and produce hydrogen.
Many people are skeptical of nuclear energy, and Japan could be courting disaster with its plans to use high temperatures to break down water. One more nuclear explosion could mean the end of nuclear power forever. Only time will tell if the next-gen reactors pass all the safety tests required to go online.
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