“Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a start-up founded by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said on Tuesday that it planned to build its first fusion power plant in Virginia,” near Richmond, reports the New York Times:
The proposed facility is among the first to be announced that would harness nuclear fusion, the process that powers the sun, to produce power commercially, a long-elusive goal that scientists have pursued for the better part of a century.
In theory, a fusion reactor could generate abundant electricity without releasing planet-warming carbon dioxide, and with no risk of large-scale nuclear accidents. But moving the concept out of the lab and onto the power grid has proved immensely difficult.
Commonwealth is the best funded of a crop of start-ups that are hoping to realize fusion’s potential soon. The company is first building a pilot machine in Massachusetts, one it says will demonstrate the feasibility of its technology in 2027.
The company hopes to sell the power produced by its Richmond-area plant to Dominion Energy, the largest electric utility in Virginia. But it currently has no contract to do so.
In other news, Appalachian Power, Virginia’s second-largest electric utility, plans “to bring small modular reactors (SMRs) to Virginia,” reports Daily Energy Insider. Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a new generation of nuclear reactors that are about a tenth to a fourth the size of a traditional nuclear plant. “They consist of factory-built modules that can be assembled in different configurations and transported to the installation site. SMRs use passive systems and inherent safety features, such as low power and operating pressure. SMRs are designed to be more affordable than traditional nuclear plants. SMRs can be sited in locations where larger nuclear plants are not feasible.”
“Nuclear power is the safest form of energy we have, if you consider deaths per megawatt of energy produced,” notes Yale University’s Steven Novella. “Wind turbines, surprisingly, kill more people than nuclear plants,” notes an environmentalist. And “solar panels require 17 times more materials in the form of cement, glass, concrete, and steel than do nuclear plants, and create over 200 times more waste,” such as “dust from toxic heavy metals including lead, cadmium, and chromium.”
Nuclear plants emit no air pollution, only harmless steam. Unlike wind farms, nuclear power plants don’t kill birds. The biggest utility that generates wind power pleaded guilty to federal crimes for killing 150 eagles.
Many years ago, France and Sweden replaced most of their fossil-fueled electricity with nuclear power, and as a result, ended up emitting less than a tenth of the world average of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour.
