The news that a team of scientists at America’s prestigious Ohio State University have created a remarkable new battery that captures energy from nuclear waste might once have passed almost unremarked. Our link from Andrew Cuthbertson of the Independent[1] details how the remarkable Professor Cao and his team have taken spent nuclear fuel from reactors and converted the gamma rays into light, which can then power photovoltaic cells. We’ve put in a couple more links if you want to know more[2] [3] But for us, today, our interest lies in a slightly different direction. We suspect that astute readers my guess where.
For this kind of breakthrough used to be commonplace in the American Heartland. Starting after 1865 a vast ecology of Universities, Research Institutes and hopeful start-up companies grew. It gave the USA the economic power to surpass and then destroy the British Empire and to defeat Germany and the USSR in both armed and commercial conflicts. sitting at the centre of it was a belief in Science, at least among a sufficient mass of the population to count.
The current President of the United States looks hell bent to destroy all that. [4] as this link to a Nature main article shows. And look again at Anthony’s article. Which other country gets a mention? China, of course. Slowly ,steadily and with much less noise they steal a march on poor old Uncle Sam and its hapless, impulsive leader. Americans should ask themselves this question: is all this really worth it just to appease the prejudices of 20 million or so voters? Will any of you actually be voting in 2035, anyway?
with thanks to P Seymour
[1]https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/nuclear-battery-atomic-waste-electricity-b2704893.html
[2]https://news.osu.edu/scientists-design-novel-battery-that-runs-on-atomic-waste/
[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_battery
#nuclear energy #china #usa #economics #science #technology
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