Can nuclear power really be green?

At a time of global warming and the energy crisis, Futura has decided to dissect French nuclear power through reports, investigations and the stories of our journalists in the field. Discover this work of decryption in the new Mag’ Futura, available in kiosks or online on Futura.

Le Mag Futura is a quarterly paper magazine available on newsstands throughout France. His promise? Give you the keys to understanding to decipher the major challenges of today and tomorrow, in a richly illustrated magazine, accessible, committed to science and the Planet.

Contents of this new issue:

• 1 major file on a key challenge of our time deciphered by science: Can nuclear power (really) be green?
• 1 dossier on an ecological issue: Antarctica, a keystone of the world in danger
• Critical thinking: additional subjects to allow you to be amazed by science, with the program in particular the cosmic epiphany, the animal of the quarter and an exclusive report.
• Scientific contemplation: a set of independent subjects to question more about what the scientific approach is, about the purpose of science, technology and utopias to make them better.

At the moment, you can also win a copy of Mag Futura by taking the quiz at the end of this article. So try your luck, you’re never sure not to win!

To imagine our next issues, continue to improve the magazine and create new subjects and formats, we invite you to complete a satisfaction survey. It takes 3 minutes top time to answer them in order to always be up to your expectations for the next issue!

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There are those who campaign to phase out nuclear power as soon as possible. And those who say we will need it to fight climate change. Which are right? The question is not so simple. Because nuclear power has undeniable advantages. But doubts persist. We have decided to dedicate an entire file in the new Mag’ Futura to take stock together.

Why wonder about nuclear power?

This is one of the questions you may be asking yourself: why did you choose nuclear power as the central theme for the second issue of Mag’? This decision is guided by two important notions: the urgency to act and the understanding of long-term issues. Every day, the situation worsens for the weatherweather and France is about to renew its nuclear fleet. These choices bind us for decades. We therefore wish to fulfill our media mission by dissecting what science tells us about these subjects. Far from being polemical or political, the contents of Mag’ Futura are designed to shed light on understanding the context, the technology, and knowing where the research is at.

Without further ado, let’s lift the veil on the major topics that we have in store for you for this dossier of unprecedented scope:

At the heart of droughtsdroughts summer 2022, the question of the availability of rivers to cool power plants has resurfaced in the public debate. Are nuclear reactors in danger of running out of water in an increasingly arid France? Or will they ensure their cooling to the detriment of the rivers and their inhabitants? Diving into the aquatic meanders of nuclear power.

• Is the 100% renewable alternative credible?

Decarbonize the French electricity mix without the help of nuclear power? This is not science fiction: several studies have concluded that such a scenario is feasible, but the uncertainties linked to the maturity of technologies and the supply of metalsmetals are numerous, and the efforts required are significant.

• Nuclear energy and health: should we be afraid of nuclear power plants?

Regularly, associations alert on contaminationscontaminations environmental issues related to the nuclear industry. Without necessarily pointing out any health risks. Rightly so, since to date, no health consequences have been observed during normal plant operation. It would be different in case ofaccidentaccident nuclear. Futura takes stock.

Some waste from the nuclear industry will remain dangerous for 100,000 years. The solutions for managing risk on such a time scale pose dizzying and controversial challenges. France is considering, with the Cigeo project (Industrial Center for geological storagegeological storage), to permanently dispose of this waste at depth. How to ensure that they remain confined there for so long? That they do not contaminate the waters? That future generations do not forget the danger? We were able to visit the galleries where Andra, the National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management, tries to answer these questions.

• Joint interview: “You have to have the humility to recognize that you can’t predict everything”

What lessons have been learned from historic accidents, from Chernobyl to Fukushima? Do recent industrial negligence and setbacks on the EPR site in Flamanville call into question the reliability of our power plants? Quid natural hazards or aging power plants? On these questions of safety, which crystallize the debates on nuclear power, we confronted the divergent points of view of Valérie Faudon, general delegate of the French Nuclear Energy Society and vice-president of theEuropean Nuclear Societyand Yves Marignac, head of the nuclear energy and fossilfossil of the négaWatt Institute, and member of the ASN’s permanent expert groups.

• Focus on the reactors of the future

The deployment of new EPRs in France, third-generation nuclear reactors, is in the news. Behind this mastodon, innovations are already abounding to prepare the sequel: from the most mature – such as “small modular reactors” – to the most utopian – such as nuclear fusion projects – through fourth generation models, we take stock of four reactors of the future, more or less realistic.

• Opposition to nuclear power, matrix of political ecology

The anti-nuclear mobilizations were the crucible ofecologyecology nascent policy in the 1970s, targeting the risks of a sector emblematic of technocratic management of society. Beyond these grievances, this opposition constitutes a philosophical matrix of ecology, which sees in nuclear the possibility of an ultimate catastrophe at the same time as the parable of a humanity henceforth capable of self-destruction.

…And many other subjects to discover in the magazine!

A huge thank you to all of you who pre-ordered Mag’ Futura n° 2 so quickly. It warms our hearts to see that you are there again, and to read all your enthusiastic messages.