Author(s)

Romney B. Duffey¹, Francesco D’Auria²

¹Senior Retired Scientist, Idaho Falls, USA.
²University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.

An attempt is made to locate nuclear technology within a logical context considering history, risks, societal catastrophes and perspectives: the need is identified for a new direction in the exploitation in order to restore the role in energy production. We depict the situation coming from a marvelous history of discoveries started at the beginning of the XX century; heroes are recalled who made possible something that is inconceivable today: design, construction and production of electricity in a few years; that history was tainted by intentional nuclear explosions, i.e. the original sin that we are now paying. Then, we attempt to show that the societal risk is an inherent part of the civilization. Restoring the public trust (towards nuclear fission technology) by matching nuclear safety with the current technological status and advancers in risk assessment is the key objective. The “independent assessment”, or a principle for the exploitation of nuclear energy already stated in the 50’s of the previous century, shall then re-appear. This is used to erect the signpost for a “dynamic barricade” to further reduce the risk of operation of nuclear reactors and to match the design with current technological capabilities and with the frontiers of the research.

Societal Risk, Risk and Probability, Catastrophes, Nuclear Fission, Nuclear Reactor Technology, Dynamic Barricade, Cost of Safety

Duffey, R. and D’Auria, F. (2020) Nuclear Energy and Its History: Past Consequences, Present Inadequacies and a Perspective for Success. Energy and Power Engineering, 12, 193-236. doi: 10.4236/epe.2020.126014.