Impact of Nuclear Research on the Future Technology of Nuclear Power

摘要

Policy makers in the developing countries tend to assess the value of any research project by its end-results. As research projects in the field of applied science or technology promise immediate and tangible benefits to the society, high priority is given to such projects in fund allocation by policy makers. On the other hand, basic or ''pure'' science is usually viewed as pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. It has been pointed out that such a view is a mistaken one and there is no real demarcation between basic science and applied science. More often than not, results of research in basic science form the basis of transforming old technologies into better ones and giving rise to new ones. On this background, a case has been emphatically put forward: (1) to identify areas of science, particularly in nuclear science, which may not appear relevant to the immediate problems but look promising in their application and (2) to make investments, even though heavy, for research in such areas. In case of nuclear science, research areas of potential application are high energy accelerators, implosion, fusion reactions, laser fusion, tokamak devices, fusion-fission hybrid reactor systems, breeding of fissile materials from fertile ones by accelerator based neutron sources. Impact of research in these areas on and its relevance to nuclear power generation is indicated and the-state-of-art in these areas in India is described. An appendix lucidly explains generation of nuclear energy from fission and discusses thermal and fast breeder reactors. (Atomindex citation 11:560089)