Courage or Perdition? The Fourteen Fundamental Facts of the Nuclear Age

1954 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-411
Author(s):  
Ferreus
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Price Rise ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
Nuclear Fuels ◽  
Nuclear Age ◽  
Coal Deposits ◽  
Present Generation ◽  
Industrial Civilization

However distasteful it may be, nuclear weapons of the fission and fusion types have come to stay. Henceforth, they will be as much a part of human existence as rain and snow, morality and crime, the telephone and the airplane, pacifism and aggressiveness, freedom and tyranny, stupidity and wisdom. It is unlikely that this new invention can be undone except through the destruction of civilization itself. On the contrary, nucleonics sooner or later will provide the foundation of industrial civilization all over the globe. Given the anticipated increase in consumption of our energy resources, it appears that nuclear fuels, on a large scale, will have to be made available to industry within the life span of the present generation. Otherwise economic decline (and hence political catastrophe) must come about as the result of the gradual depletion of oil and coal deposits, the concurrent price rise of mineral fuels, the lack of a mineral energy basis in many countries, the rapidly rising demand for industrial goods, and the uninterrupted increase of population.

New ''Cold War''

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-34
Author(s):  
Vladimir Batiuk
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Arms Race ◽  
Ideological Struggle ◽  
Nuclear Arms Race ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Nuclear Arms

In this article, the ''Cold War'' is understood as a situation where the relationship between the leading States is determined by ideological confrontation and, at the same time, the presence of nuclear weapons precludes the development of this confrontation into a large-scale armed conflict. Such a situation has developed in the years 1945–1989, during the first Cold War. We see that something similar is repeated in our time-with all the new nuances in the ideological struggle and in the nuclear arms race.

Assessment of bioenergy development potential in agricultural enterprises

2020 ◽  
pp. 165-171
Author(s):  
Iryna Hryhoruk
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Waste ◽  
General Structure ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Renewable Energy Resources ◽  
Energy Potential

Exhaustion of traditional energy resources, their uneven geographical location, and catastrophic changes in the environment necessitate the transition to renewable energy resources. Moreover, Ukraine's economy is critically dependent on energy exports, and in some cases, the dependence is not only economic but also political, which in itself poses a threat to national security. One of the ways to solve this problem is the large-scale introduction and use of renewable energy resources, bioenergy in particular. The article summarizes and offers methods for assessing the energy potential of agriculture. In our country, a significant amount of biomass is produced every year, which remains unused. A significant part is disposed of due to incineration, which significantly harms the environment and does not allow earning additional funds. It is investigated that the bioenergy potential of agriculture depends on the geographical distribution and varies in each region of Ukraine. Studies have shown that as of 2019 the smallest share in the total amount of conventional fuel that can be obtained from agricultural waste and products suitable for energy production accounts for Zakarpattya region - 172.5 thousand tons. (0.5% of the total) and Chernivtsi region - 291.3 thousand tons. (0.9%). Poltava region has the greatest potential - 2652.2 thousand tons. (7.8%) and Vinnytsia - 2623.7 thousand tons. (7.7%). It should be noted that the use of the energy potential of biomass in Ukraine can be called unsatisfactory. The share of biomass in the provision of primary energy consumption is very small. For bioenergy to occupy its niche in the general structure of the agro-industrial complex, it is necessary to develop mechanisms for its stimulation. In addition, an effective strategy for the development of the bioenergy sector of agriculture is needed. The article considers the general energy potential of agriculture, its indicative structure. The analysis is also made in terms of areas. In addition, an economic assessment of the possible use of existing potential is identified.

The Four Paradoxes of Nuclear Strategy

1964 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans J. Morgenthau
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
Nuclear Strategy ◽  
Nuclear Age ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
Modes Of Thought ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Middle Ages

The nuclear age has ushered in a novel period of history, as distinct from the age that preceded it as the modern age has been from the Middle Ages or the Middle Ages have been from antiquity. Yet while our conditions of life have drastically changed under the impact of the nuclear age, we still live in our thoughts and act through our institutions in an age that has passed. There exists, then, a gap between what we think about our social, political, and philosophic problems and the objective conditions which the nuclear age has created.This contradiction between our modes of thought and action, belonging to an age that has passed, and the objective conditions of our existence has engendered four paradoxes in our nuclear strategy: the commitment to the use of force, nuclear or otherwise, paralyzed by the fear of having to use it; the search for a nuclear strategy which would avoid the predictable consequences of nuclear war; the pursuit of a nuclear armaments race joined with attempts to stop it; the pursuit of an alliance policy which the availability of nuclear weapons has rendered obsolete. All these paradoxes result from the contrast between traditional attitudes and the possibility of nuclear war and from the fruitless attempts to reconcile the two.

scholarly journals From natural to artificial photosynthesis

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (81) ◽  
pp. 20120984 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Barber ◽  
Phong D. Tran
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Nuclear Fusion ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Chemical Bonds ◽  
Natural Photosynthesis

Demand for energy is projected to increase at least twofold by mid-century relative to the present global consumption because of predicted population and economic growth. This demand could be met, in principle, from fossil energy resources, particularly coal. However, the cumulative nature of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions demands that stabilizing the atmospheric CO 2 levels to just twice their pre-anthropogenic values by mid-century will be extremely challenging, requiring invention, development and deployment of schemes for carbon-neutral energy production on a scale commensurate with, or larger than, the entire present-day energy supply from all sources combined. Among renewable and exploitable energy resources, nuclear fusion energy or solar energy are by far the largest. However, in both cases, technological breakthroughs are required with nuclear fusion being very difficult, if not impossible on the scale required. On the other hand, 1 h of sunlight falling on our planet is equivalent to all the energy consumed by humans in an entire year. If solar energy is to be a major primary energy source, then it must be stored and despatched on demand to the end user. An especially attractive approach is to store solar energy in the form of chemical bonds as occurs in natural photosynthesis. However, a technology is needed which has a year-round average conversion efficiency significantly higher than currently available by natural photosynthesis so as to reduce land-area requirements and to be independent of food production. Therefore, the scientific challenge is to construct an ‘artificial leaf’ able to efficiently capture and convert solar energy and then store it in the form of chemical bonds of a high-energy density fuel such as hydrogen while at the same time producing oxygen from water. Realistically, the efficiency target for such a technology must be 10 per cent or better. Here, we review the molecular details of the energy capturing reactions of natural photosynthesis, particularly the water-splitting reaction of photosystem II and the hydrogen-generating reaction of hydrogenases. We then follow on to describe how these two reactions are being mimicked in physico-chemical-based catalytic or electrocatalytic systems with the challenge of creating a large-scale robust and efficient artificial leaf technology.

Child advocacy in the nuclear age

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 802-804
Author(s):  
Lawrence R. Berger
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Nuclear Test ◽  
Child Advocacy ◽  
World War ◽  
Radioactive Materials ◽  
Nuclear Age ◽  
Nuclear Warfare ◽  
Second World

In 1943, amidst the nation's mobilization for the Second World War, there appeared an article by Dr. William Schmidt of the Children's Bureau on the susceptibility of young people to the hazards of radioactive materials.1 Reviewing the literature, and invoking generally accepted pediatric principles, Dr. Schmidt concluded that young people possess special vulnerability to the hazards of radiation, and that this warranted their exclusion from employment in the gas mantle and radium dial industries. Now, more than 30 years later, there again exists an urgent need to review the topic of radiation and children. With the spread of nuclear weapons technology to many countries, the spectre of nuclear test fallout (not to mention nuclear warfare!) is once again upon us.

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