All infrastructure, starting with water filtration and sanitation, requires electricity.
Ronald Stein, PE is an engineer, energy literacy columnist for America Out Loud NEWS, energy literacy consultant for the Heartland Institute and CFACT, and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book “Clean Energy Development.”
Oliver Hermes He holds a PhD in physics from the Institute of Radiation and Nuclear Physics of the Technical University of Berlin in Germany. He has served as a physics researcher, executive director of UNLV's Harry Reid Center, and a C-suite executive.
Steve Curtis holds a master's degree in health physics from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He spent decades studying the spent fuel problem in Nevada and served as the technical field team leader for the Department of Energy's nuclear search and characterization mission. He currently educates, speaks, and writes in support of the return of nuclear energy to the United States, specifically recycling spent nuclear fuel in fast reactors.
co-creator Ronald Stein, Oliver Hermes, andSteve Curtis
Published on October 29, 2024, American Out Loud News
https://www.americaoutloud.news/affordable-electricity-can-resolve-worldwide-poverty/
The poorest Americans are richer than 75% of humanity. About 4.56 billion people on the planet live on less than $10 a day, and billions of people have almost no access to electricity.
In the United States, most people have access to the electricity needed for water filtration, sanitation, airports, hospitals, medical equipment, appliances, electronics, communications systems, heating and ventilation, the space program, and the military.
Yet billions of people in other parts of the world do not have access to the infrastructure enjoyed by wealthier developed countries. This is something most Americans cannot believe.
However, the solution is simple. Let the government stop “helping” because innovating products that people love is the job of the American people and free enterprise, not the government. Likewise, basic solutions are rooted in the basic economic principles of free enterprise, unencumbered by government “help.”
The most obvious factor in poverty or basic quality of life is affordable electricity in the modern world. We find it difficult to operate any of our machines without it. Yet 120 years ago, almost no one used electricity. This is the magic of modern innovation. However, access alone is not enough. Electricity must be very cheap or almost free. Don't laugh. Thanks to Free Enterprise, we can now make all the long distance calls we want for one low monthly fee.
The solution for affordable electricity lies more in the hands of “We the People” than you might think. The technology is already there, now all we need is political will. Over the past few years, two factors have highlighted the need for more clean electricity: increased focus on clean air and charging in artificial intelligence, data centers, and electric vehicles.
All of our nuclear power plants have mined, formed pellets on site for future generation of affordable electricity. There are 90,000 tons of energy equivalent in weight to gold (calculated at 1 cent/kWh). Some call it “nuclear waste” and try to spend tax dollars to bury it forever. Fortunately, the anti-nuclear lobby prevented this from happening. It turns out that recycling this material in a fast reactor can extract all of the energy hidden in uranium, not just the 3 percent common in today's reactors.
Ironically, the main obstacle is that the United States has no plan for the disposal of this “waste” material, and many believe, with good reason, that this is detrimental to trust in the nuclear power industry. If this problem is not solved, how good will nuclear power be? It turns out the nuclear power industry had a solution decades ago, but through the “magic” of government “help” it was legally stopped.
Therefore, lightly used nuclear fuel (SUNF) accumulates. Being called “waste” has poisoned public perception. However, with the new name SUNF, we may be able to see a bright new world of full, safe, clean, reliable, strong and most importantly, cheap electricity. All we have to do is get the government to stop regulating it out of affordability.
Looking at this so-called “waste”, the amount of electricity contained in the so-called “waste” materials we have is equivalent to 270 years of our current electricity consumption in the United States, and we generate an additional 2,000 tons of SUNF every year. That’s enough power to meet our growing demand for artificial intelligence, data centers and electric vehicle chargers, and there’s still enough power to export to neighboring states that don’t have enough power.
If we could find ways to move this power production to private enterprise and allow companies to compete for the power business, it's not hard to see the possibilities. Think about it, if processing this material is indeed a priority, then the faster we can process it, the better, right? Therefore, people will be encouraged to use electricity as quickly as possible.
With affordable electricity, billions of people around the world have access to unlimited clean water, unlimited hydrogen, unlimited electricity. In fact, using proven nuclear power generation technology, generating electricity at one cent per kilowatt hour (now well over ten cents) would be profitable. Therefore, low electricity prices every month are not too far away.
In fact, the U.S. military is looking to use its own nuclear power plants as “microgrids” to power its bases, which are all owned by individual bases and do not require power from any outside source. As competition for better reactors intensified and electricity supplies surged, the American people finally gained an advantage in the market. Best of all, today’s technology makes this possible. So, what are we waiting for?
It looks like we need a state governor to see this vision and develop this idea for their own state. Countries lucky enough to seize this opportunity could be at the heart of the next revolution in electricity production. By leveraging existing congressional nuclear waste funds for start-up costs in exchange for reduced regulations and some initial facilities, the state would benefit, the U.S. government would benefit, and most importantly, electric customers would benefit. However, achieving this goal will require significant public support. Our U.S. Government is at your service, so you can inform the Governor of your wishes and the Governor can make recommendations to the U.S. Government.
Since the nuclear power industry has proven to be the safest industry in the world for over seventy years, regulations could easily be reduced to allow such a beneficial industry to flourish in the nirvana of free enterprise.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see the contrast between free enterprise and government regulation spreading around the world. Running water, sanitation and modern appliances will reach the poor centers of South Asia, Africa, the Pacific and East Asia. It just takes leadership.
Please share this message with teachers, students, and friends to encourage energy literacy conversations around the family dinner table.
Click this link to Sign up for Ronald Stein’s Energy Literacy Course
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