A civil super-Manhattan project in nuclear research for a safer and prosperous world

TL;DR

This paper advocates for a large-scale, coordinated global effort akin to the Manhattan Project to revitalize nuclear energy, aiming for safer, more sustainable solutions that can drive economic growth and address long-term nuclear stewardship challenges.

Contribution

It proposes a super Manhattan-type initiative with substantial investment to achieve scientific breakthroughs in nuclear energy for a safer and more prosperous future.

Findings

A 1% GDP investment could significantly boost economic growth.

Targeted research can lead to safer nuclear energy technologies.

A coordinated effort can overcome current dead-ends in nuclear energy development.

Abstract

Humankind is confronted with a "nuclear stewardship curse", facing the prospect of needing to manage nuclear products over long time scales in the face of the short-time scales of human polities. I propose a super Manhattan-type effort to rejuvenate the nuclear energy industry to overcome the current dead-end in which it finds itself, and by force, humankind has trapped itself in. A 1% GDP investment over a decade in the main nuclear countries could boost economic growth with a focus on the real world, epitomised by nuclear physics/chemistry/engineering/economics with well defined targets. By investing vigorously to obtain scientific and technological breakthroughs, we can create the spring of a world economic rebound based on new ways of exploiting nuclear energy, both more safely and more durably.