Let There Be Light!

Nuclear Energy: A Christian Case

Dutch

• Éditeur: Wipf and Stock
• Année: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781498291507
• Sujet: Theologie & Religion
• Sous-sujet: Theologie

Have you ever wondered what it is like to work on a nuclear power plant? Robert Dutch worked in the UK's nuclear industry for many years as a scientist and then as a tutor at a nuclear training center. He also holds degrees in theology. Drawing upon his qualifications and experience Robert addresses the controversial issue of nuclear power from a Christian perspective. In contrast to a negative nuclear narrative often portrayed, he presents a positive nuclear narrative alongside other ways of generating electricity. Be prepared to be challenged to think seriously about nuclear's merits in providing clean, low-carbon electricity.

1

Our Nuclear and Radioactive Universe

How old are you? Seventeen? Eighteen? No, billions of years old. We are all made from atoms and, apart from hydrogen (there is no helium in our bodies), the nuclei of these atoms were made in nuclear fusion reactions inside stars that exploded billions of years ago. We are, literally, ‘stardust’.

Steve Adams and Jonathan Allday1

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Gen 2:7

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.

Gen 3:19

Introduction

In the Introduction, we identified the importance of understanding nuclear energy’s vital role in a balanced energy mix from the perspective of presenting a Christian case for embracing nuclear energy positively. I mentioned the good work that has been done by Christians, for example on creation care and climate change, but I identified a gap in specific discussions of nuclear energy as an important, and positive, energy source.

This chapter considers our universe as the correct context in which to address nuclear energy from a Christian perspective. Christians believe, because Christian theology teaches (as revealed in the Scriptures), that God is the creator of our universe. This chapter introduces a basic scientific understanding of our universe with a focus on its necessary nuclear resources and natural radioactivity.2

Nuclear energy and radioactivity, as we shall see, are part and parcel of our created universe. Since nuclear energy and radioactivity from nuclear power stations are frequently viewed with suspicion, we should first look wider to understand the essential structure of the universe from the past to the present. How does this understanding relate to nuclear energy? First, let us turn to the book of Genesis.

Genesis 1:1 starts: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and 1:3–4 states: “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” This was the first day. A little later, we read that on the fourth day God put lights in the sky:

God made two great lights–the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. (1:16–18)

On the sixth day, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (1:31).

Christians understand that God is the creator. Reading Genesis in its cultural setting, Ernest Lucas asks why—when there were specific words in Hebrew for them—the sun and moon are only referred to as “lights.” He stated:

The probable answer is that, in the Semitic languages, of which Hebrew is one, the words “sun” and “moon” are also the names of gods. The peoples around the Hebrews worshipped the heavenly bodies as gods and goddesses. Genesis 1:14–19 is an attack on all such thinking.3

Genesis rejects polytheism. The sun and moon are “lights”’ created by God; they are not deities to be worshipped. It is a theological statement. They are part of God’s material creation, which is pronounced “good” and “very good.”4 And these statements appear before what Christians call the “fall” (humankind’s disobedience to God) in Genesis 3. The issue of the fall, some Christians believe, caused bad changes and the restructuring of nature. However, “nuclear” is not a punishment because of humankind’s sin. It was God’s plan in creation to use nuclear energy. I will show that nuclear energy and radioactivity are a normal part of God’s creation in our universe.

Some readers may want to ask about the relationship between science and religion. Although this interesting debate is beyond the scope of my study, I encourage interested readers to read the work of scientists who are also Christian scholars (see Further Reading at the end of this chapter).

This chapter considers the Big Bang, stars, nuclear fusion, nuclear fission, and natural radioactivity. We will see that God uses nuclear fusion to power his universe giving us heat and light. The stars are the origin of the elements from which we are created. Our universe is naturally radioactive. The natural nuclear reactors which generated nuclear energy from fission began about two billion years ago in the uranium mines at Oklo, West Africa. Finally, I introduce natural radioactivity which is present on Earth. In this radioactive environment human beings and non-human species live. Scientists understand that in this nuclear-powered and radioactive universe, life and human beings live and evolve. Christian scholars too support this understanding. Clearly, my focus is specifically on nuclear energy and there is no intention to describe aspects of the universe in the depth discussed by astronomers (fascinating though this is). My intention is much more modest. It is a simple introduction relevant to my particular focus. Let us now begin with the Big Bang.

From the Big Bang to Our Solar System: Origin and Structure of the Universe

Professor Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen, in their volume to accompany the BBC’s spectacular TV series Wonders of the Universe, commented: “At 13.7 billion years old, 45 billion light years across and filled with 100 billion galaxies—each containing hundreds of billions of stars—the universe as revealed by modern science is humbling in scale and dazzling in beauty.”5 Nuclear-powered stars create the chemical elements that form us human beings; as Steve Adams and Jonathan Allday stated in this chapter’s opening quotation, we are “stardust.” Cox and Cohen explain this process of nuclear-powered stars (see below).

After the Big Bang, within fractions of a second, there existed energy, particles, and immense heat. Space expanded and the temperature began to drop. Within about a millionth of a second, protons and neutrons were formed, and then after three minutes helium nuclei were formed. Electrons existed, but atoms weren’t formed because energy levels and temperatures were too high. However, after about 400,000 years, when the temperature had cooled to 2,700°C, electrons began orbiting a nucleus, and atoms were formed.

The simplest hydrogen atom has one proton in its nucleus and it is orbited by one electron. Heavy hydrogen (deuterium) has both a proton and a neutron in its nucleus.6 Helium-4 atoms have two protons and two neutrons in their nucleus. This nucleus is surrounded by two orbital electrons (much like planets orbit the sun). At this stage, most ato...