Well, good on them. Some major Warmists are all for nuclear energy, such as Michael “Robust Debate (and I’ll block you)” Mann. Most, though, will disagree with Biden and his Comrades. And there’s one tiny tiny problem
To Help Tackle Climate Crisis, White House Touts Nuclear Fusion
President Biden wants the warmth of many suns to power American homes and businesses.
The White House held a summit yesterday on fusion, which could someday become a major source of carbon-free energy. Fusion is made by pressing atoms together to create heavier ones. Nuclear fusion is the energy process that powers stars, with a low radiation and tremendous energy output.
Critics have long claimed that fusion energy, scientifically possible but commercially challenging, is decades away from powering homes or businesses. But the Biden administration, and a growing cadre of risk-taking investors, see fusion as an important tool on the path to an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
“We can lead the world with new energies and innovation and that is exactly what we are doing and why we are gathered here today,” White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy said. “We have to act on climate change so our country can win the 21st-century economy, and that’s what fusion helps to present us with—tremendous opportunities as well as challenges we know.”
Can you see the problem? Yeah, it doesn’t exist yet. It would be decades away. Provided the Usual Suspects do not sue to stop construction. And even experiments. I’ll give Brandon, Gina, and the others the benefit of the doubt that they’re serious, however, in the mean time, we need to be constructing Gen 5 and 6 nuclear power plants. If they’re serious about reducing fossil fueled power, especially coal (which I am not a fan of), let’s go nuclear. It will provide a heck of a lot more power, and be stable and reliable, than wind or solar, and take up a whole lot less land to do so.
The latest $1.5 trillion appropriations bill from Congress included $45 million for a new fusion program in which private companies will partner with DOE to build new fusion energy devices. It’s part of a record investment in fusion that will send more than $700 million to DOE’s Fusion Energy Sciences program.
Doesn’t seem like much, but, at least it’s something. But, consider that Solyndra received a $535 million loan (which pretty ended up flushed down the toilet, with a huge environmental mess left behind).
A Chinese project achieved fusion reactions for 17 minutes at 126 million degrees Fahrenheit, which is five times hotter than the sun, according to the White House. DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved a “burning plasma” reaction, which demonstrated for the first time in any research facility a fusion reaction in which more energy was generated from the process than was required to initiate it (Energywire, Jan. 27). A European effort achieved a five-second, high-power pulse, which broke a 24-year-old record by doubling it.
How about just regular nuclear power plants?
