Abstract
The painter, carrying his easel, walks leisurely across the meadow that extends up to the limits of the summer sky. Under a chestnut tree he prepares his palette and his colors, then stretches and smiles. He is wearing a cotton shirt and slacks; a straw hat covers his curly hair. He walks barefoot because he likes the feel of the grass under his feet. This painter loves nature; he loves nature as an artist and as a scientist. This painter is a nuclear physicist, and his job consists in harnessing the elementary power of the atom, the one that makes the stars glow, in order to generate the power and hydrogen his town uses.
Oxymoron (from Greek oxymoros, “pointedly foolish”). A combination of contradictory or incongruous words, as cruel kindness. (Merriam-Webster).
Oxymoron (from Greek “sharp dull”). A figure of speech that combines contradictory terms. (Wikipedia).
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Notes
- 1.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a scientific intergovernmental body created by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). It is made up of hundreds of scientists from all the world, with the goal of studying climate change and its consequences.
- 2.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is made up of 30 countries, mostly developed countries; its aim is to stimulate economic progress and world trade.
- 3.
A gigaton or Gt is a billion tons, see Chap. 2.
- 4.
Which has inspired the title and the cover of this book, see http://www.ecolo.org/.
- 5.
A fuel or coal-fired power plant Chap. 9.
- 6.
Smoking just one cigarette entails the same risk as living next to a nuclear plant for two years Chap. 10.
- 7.
Quite on the contrary, it is growing dramatically Chap. 4.
- 8.
- 9.
Direct emissions are zero. “Indirect emissions”, related to their construction or to uranium mining, are lower than for photovoltaic or thermo solar plants, and in any case ridiculously small Chap. 11.
- 10.
- 11.
Around two thousand latest generation models. If you place them 500 m apart, as needed to be efficient, the row of wind turbines would stretch from Barcelona to Geneva crossing all of France Chap. 12.
- 12.
You have to resort to hydropower or to “reserve” gas plants. Electrical energy can’t be stored.
- 13.
As of today, a photovoltaic park is 10–20 times more expensive, per kWh, than a nuclear plant Chap. 12.
- 14.
A golf ball Chap. 9.
- 15.
A few meters depth is enough Chap. 9.
- 16.
A small percentage of the substances that accumulated in spent fuel have long half-lives. However, after a few thousand years, the activity of the waste is lower than natural uranium radioactivity in a coalmine. Besides, the waste with longer half-lives can be recycled and burnt with fast neutrons reactors Chap. 9.
- 17.
It depends on what you consider little. There’s enough for about seven million years if we use it lavishly Chap. 11.
- 18.
That’s wishful thinking. The solar dream is still impossible, for reasons both physical––variability of sunshine––and technological and economical.
References
EIA Energy Information Administration (2008). Annual energy outlook. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/.
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2008). http://www.ipcc.ch/about/index.htm.
Lovelock, J. (2007).The revenge of Gaia: Earth’s climate crisis and the fate of humanity. UK: Penguin Books. ISBN: 0141025972.
Svensen, H. et al. (2004). Eocene global warming. Nature, 429, 542–545.
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© 2012 Juan José Gómez Cadenas
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Gómez Cadenas, J.J. (2012). All that Glitters is not Green. In: The Nuclear Environmentalist. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2478-6_1
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