Anyone who has known us for a longer time will have noticed: The “reactor”, until recently part of our company name, is gone. Today we are called Dual Fluid. For your peace of mind: The reactor is still there. Our invention, the Dual Fluid Reactor, is and remains the heart of our technology.
Of course there is a reason why we have erased the reactor from our name. We are adressing a public that for decades has only heard and read about the risks of nuclear power: how uncontrollable it is, how durable the residuals are, how dangerous the radiation is. (The fact that many of the fears are irrational should not be further discussed here). So what do perfectly normal people think of when they hear the word reactor? Of the possibilities that modern nuclear technology offers? Or of Chernobyl, nuclear meltdown and evacuations?
Making nuclear cool again
One thing is certain: nuclear power has an image problem. Anyone who wants to bring nuclear technology back after endless discussions of fear in the past will soon realize that it is not enough to rely solely on the power of the better argument. You have to find a new language and new images. Projects like atomic_trends by David Watson show how this can be done. His images of breathtaking nature and cool tech visions clearly show what nuclear power can stand for: The energy of the future, which preserves nature and fulfills humanity’s dreams. Watson has understood the power of symbols and brilliantly implemented it in the visualizations of his “Nuclear Dream Factory”. In this way, he gives nuclear power a completely new, eco-modern look that immediately inspires. (This is also where the above picture comes from – to be found here).
That’s what it’s all about for us too. We want to show nuclear power for what it is today: a huge opportunity to provide clean and cheap energy for seven billion people. It protects nature like no other energy source. This is due to its highly concentrated fuel, which is a million times denser than coal. In this way we can preserve living spaces and at the same time make energy-intensive future technologies a reality.
There are so many opportunities – let’s make them visible!
New nuclear power expands the opportunities: nuclear waste is being turned into electricity in fast reactors – today already. Next-generation reactors, which would do this much more efficiently, could generate energy from it for centuries without extracting a single gram of uranium. Because nuclear power is as low-emission as wind power, we would meet the emission targets – despite air-conditioned homes, more and more electronic gadgets and data centers. New nuclear technology has the potential to decarbonize our entire lives – by using process heat to produce petroleum-free fuels. Have we forgotten anything else? By the way: Nuclear fuels last for hundreds of millions of years thanks to the economical use of resources with Dual Fluid technology. Whether there will still be people who might be afraid of reactors then is another question.
© atomic_trends / David J. Watson