Status of nuclear power in the free world Geert de Vries May 2, 2021 The statement “The free world from Japan to Argentina, India to France and Canada has some of the finest scientists and engineers in nuclear energy” sounds good but as they say in German “Das war einmal” ! They are losing that expertise. They still have reactor operators and related personnel. I am worried that one day we will have insufficient Reactor Operators to man the shifts. But the generation with nuclear expertise in South Africa that came together in the half century after 1948, and that did all of the following: - build chemical processes and plant to make U3O8 from the gold mines’ tailings in the 50s - built a 14MeV cyclotron in the 50s, - did serious international level applied and basic research from 1964-1990, - spawned radiation-savvy personnel for all major hospitals - built several small zero-power and prototype reactors in the 60s and 70s - operated a Van De Graaf machine and did tokamak research in the 60 and 70s - built UF6 plant and enrichment plant and then built a PWR Fuel manufacturing plant - reached the 8000 level of staff involved in nuclear business in the 80s - converted a research reactor to become the world’s foremost producer of Mo99, the medical tracer isotope in the 90s - staffed respected nuclear regulators to oversee it all [this is not an audited list, just what comes to mind],
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that generation is no more. Many guys whom I worked with, and remember, have died, or retired, or moved to other industries where there are still jobs, or left for overseas nuclear and non-nuclear jobs. The exodus started when horrendously stupid and corrupt governments closed advanced technology development reactors. There are very few people left to undertake anything of value at present. Nuclear power is sort of moribund. Present governments are so under pressure by the renewables industry that they barely dare declare their nuclear plans if any. Even main opposition parties are stupid believers in renewables. My conclusion is that this wave of madness just has to rage on until it hits the wall fifty years from now. Maybe sanity will then return. “Maybe” because I have doubt about that too. Humanity is not really smart at all; it goes forever from believing some nonsense to believing the next nonsense.
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