How Fear of Nuclear Power is Warming Our Planet

The world is presently decommissioning nuclear reactors faster than the increase in the deployment of wind and solar (1). Solar energy is only available 26{\%} of the time and wind 33{\%}. Nuclear is 24/7. To make up for the net nuclear decrease, we are increasing our burning of fossil fuels, raising carbon dioxide emissions, and warming our planet. This is particularly true in Germany. $\backslash $pard Bill Gates is presently funding next generation TerraPower's nuclear pilot plant being built in China. This traveling wave reactor converts depleted uranium, a byproduct of the nuclear-fission process, into usable fuel. Thorium molten salt molten salt nuclear reactors (MSR), demonstrated at Oak Ridge National Laboratory 1965-1970, consume nearly 100{\%} of their fuel, compared with 3{\%} for older reactors with solid uranium fuel (2). MSRs eliminate the need for Yucca Mountain storage by consuming nuclear waste. Thorium fluoride molten fuel for MSRs is of no weapons value. REFERENCES (1) Michael Shellenberger YouTube 2016 TED Talk. (2) David A. Cornell. ``Fracking and the Future of Fuel.''\textit{Physics Today, pgs 10 -11. }February 2017.