Nuclear energy: Status and future limitations

The status of nuclear energy today and its potential evolution during the next 10-20 years is discussed. Nuclear energy contributes only about 14% of the world's electric energy mix today, and as electric energy contributes itself only about 16% to the end energy use, its contribution is essentially negligible. Still, nuclear energy is plagued already with a long list of unsolved problems. Among the less known problems one finds the difficulties that nuclear plants cannot provide power according to needs, but have to be operated at full power also during times of low demand and regions with large contributions from nuclear power need some backup hydropower storage systems. The better known problems, without solutions since at least 40 years, are the final safe storage of the accumulated highly radioactive nuclear waste, that uranium itself is a very limited and non renewable energy resource and that enormous amounts of human resources, urgently needed to find a still unknown path towards a low energy future, are blocked by useless research on fusion energy. Thus, nuclear energy is not a solution to our energy worries but part of the problem. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.