Site icon The Indian Wire

Sustainable and limitless Nuclear energy through Oceans? Possible through Hydrogel

Human necessity and intellect can extract anything from the plentiful resources available for our use on Earth.

We are engulfed by the inexhaustible clean-energy sources around us- the Sun, the Earth, the wind, the ocean, plants, atoms. However, the problem lies in the fact that technology and financial assistance needed for tapping the green energy forms, have lagged behind than expected.

But the need to find Energy forms for a hungry population cannot be jeopardized by this inability to exploit more. Therefore, we continue to test and conduct researches in order to discover an energy resource that can equally sustain the world’s insatiable and destructive appetite for energy as well as maintain the Nature’s critical balance.

Nuclear power has the capacity to facilitate this transition for world’s energy supply toward carbon neutrality.

Therefore, a recent study published in the journal Nature Sustainability, suggests extracting Uranium from a new hydrogel i.e. effectively “straining” uranium from seawater.

Already existing challenges to the wide extraction of Nuclear Energy:

There are inherent safety issues and uranium supply gets disrupted from land sources having 7.6 million tons of the element in toto. These ores have its limits as it can cater to nuclear power industry for a limited number of years, amidst the growing rates of consumption.

The problem of Geographical consolidation: global Uranium deposits are not equally disbursed, with just 8 countries possessing 80% of worldwide resources of the element.

The Potential lies in the Oceans:

However, Ocean deposits contain nearly 1,000 times more uranium reserves but there are associated problems to its extraction and usage. In water, Uranium deposits face Biofouling i.e. deposition of Microorganisms as well as other metal ions get accumulated to the surface.

Sustainability and Clean Energy

Hydrogel with its diverse uses:

Hydrogels are three-dimensional (3D) cross-linked polymer networks, able to absorb and retain large amounts of water. They have found applications in a wide range of biomedical and engineering applications, be it tissue engineering or regenerative medicine, wastewater treatment or soft robotics.

Nuclear technology has contributed significantly in developing hydrogels that form an important part of treating wounds in many low and middle-income countries including Egypt, especially burn injuries that need coolness of Hydrogels to give scar-free skin.

The IAEA with its continued Nuclear related Research, has supported a number of countries through dedicated projects to raise awareness, train scientists and technicians to develop hydrogels using nuclear technology.

Egypt is a beneficiary of such assistance. An electron beam unit at the NCRRT is currently being upgraded to meet the growing demand for hydrogel production. The nuclear techniques used to create hydrogels have been around for over 30 years and their production is simple and cost-effective”, A professor named Hegazy explains.

Hydrogel finds use in Nuclear Energy:

The report talks of a bifunctional polymeric peptide hydrogel which shows strong inclination for uranium in seawater and also remarkable resistance against biofouling, which needs to be achieved for its commercial access.

The paper mentions: “Detailed characterizations reveal that the amino acid in this peptide material serves as the binding ligand, and uranyl is exclusively bound to the oxygen atoms. Benefiting from its broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, the present polymeric adsorbent can inhibit the growth of approximately 99% of marine microorganisms”.

“Measurements in natural seawater show that this peptide material delivers an impressive extraction capacity of 7.12 mg g−1 and can be reused. This work opens a new direction for the design of low-cost and sustainable materials for obtaining nuclear fuel.”

Increasing scope of exploiting Nuclear energy amongst other Sustainable green energy options:

According to World Nuclear Association, Nuclear energy’s competitive position from a sustainable development perspective is robust due to its energy density and internalization of health and environmental costs.

An analysis of nuclear energy’s characteristics within a sustainable development framework shows that the approach adopted within the nuclear energy sector is consistent with a central goal of sustainable development of passing a range of assets to future generations while minimizing environmental impacts and burdens.

Nuclear power plants producing low-carbon power, require less land utilization than other energy sources. Coupled with the need to preserve land to prevent loss of biodiversity and habitat, nuclear energy’s unique land-use advantages are attracting interests.

precentage of Nuclear Energy in Energy sector

A large two-unit nuclear power plant can provide electricity for 4-5 million people from a generating footprint of just 2 square kms. The land use of biomass, hydro, wind and solar are between one and three orders of magnitude greater than nuclear.

land usage by various Energy forms

It protects air quality. Due to its adoption in US, more than 476 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions could be avoided in 2019 which is equivalent to removal of 100 million cars from the road.

Also, Nuclear fuel has high density and barely releases any waste in Biosphere.

Any breakthrough in such a green-clean Energy Technology itself provides enough optimism and impetus to further advancement in sustainable and limitless energy source.

Exit mobile version