Question: what is your opinion on nucular fuel

Martin Coath answered on 24 Mar 2010:

Crikey – there are a lot of questions about nuclear fuel in here!

I think that in the next 50 years or so we are going to become more dependant on nuclear fuel – that is fission reactors of the type that we already use now.

I don’t necessarily believe this is a good idea – but the other ways of making electricity that are being proposed are just not ready to take over from the fossil fuels that (we think) are changing the climate and in any case are getting harder to find.

There are many problems with nuclear power generation but the one that most people worry about is how to dispose of the waste. This worries me too! At the moment we can only bury it. This is OK in principle but turns out to be very controversial.

The most interesting aspect of nuclear power is the possibility of nuclear fusion (note spelling) which is what goes on in the sun. We are getting close to being able to build a small “sun” in a metal case which should make the whole thing cheaper and cleaner. When I say “close” I mean close to a demonstration. It could be 20 or 30 years before it is widely available.