Madam Chancellor
We are writing to you from the southernmost point of Europe as representatives of the Philosophical School of Pythagoras. We are concerned that exactly 100 years after the beginning of the First World War, the world once again stands on the brink of World War. Germany knows all too well what price has to be played in this case.
At the beginning of the 21st century Germany has initiated the construction of a united Europe on the basis of good-neighborhood and cultural and economic cooperation. Today Germany is a symbol of peace and stability in Europe.
It is no coincidence that in Germany a chancellor is a woman. Women have the ability to solve problems peacefully and are able to take care of things holistically as a good house-mistress in her home.
You, Ms. Merkel, as chancellor of an industrially-developed country, know that the economic development of any country depends on its energy supply. In agrarian countries it is mainly a solar energy. Industrially developed countries depend on energy resources accumulated in the earth. Efficiency of the use of these resources is the most important indicator of the level of the industry and economy. Modern financial mechanisms ignore the energy cost of these resources for the sake of a free market economy and political benefits.
Real economic picture can be obtained if we consider the physical processes that occur in the production and use of energy. Modern energy system in industrialized countries is based on burning oil and gas. One kilogram of fossil fuel contains about 10 kWh. If we calculate the amount of energy spent for production, shipping, processing and loss of energy in its production, we will see that the end user gets the same 1 kWh, at best. This means that the energy system itself consumes 90% of the produced energy and the rest of the economy gets at most 10 % of the total energy produced! What kind of economy can be created on this basis? Only a miserable one.
These circumstances lead to obtaining energy by different means – by deception or by force. In order to live in peace and prosperity we have to overcome the all over energy deficit.
In the 20th century, humanity discovered nuclear energy. The miracle is that 1 kg of nuclear fuel gives 100 million kWh! Energy profit is incomparably greater than the expenditure for obtaining fuel, for production and transportation of energy. This becomes obvious when you compare the energy cost of transporting one kilogram of uranium and 100,000 tons of oil.
Unfortunately, humanity was not yet ready for such abundance and used this excess energy for producing weapons of tremendous power in order to appropriate the no longer needed oil. As a result, the modern nuclear industry does not meet the needs of energy system. It uses dangerous reactors intended for the bombs production while electricity they produce is only a by-product. Safety and waste management in this paradigm occupy the last place.
This led to the fact that Germany and some other countries have decided to completely abandon nuclear power. The decision to close obsolete NPP was right. But to believe that the industry can be sustained by the conventional or alternative sources of energy is a utopia. Solar, wind and other renewable energy sources can not meet the needs of heavy industry, even if the whole Europe is covered with solar panels.
United Europe needs a new energy system that meets three criteria: safety, efficiency and safe recycling of waste. Such a system can be built since all necessary conditions for it already exist. These are reserves of fuel and related technologies of production and use of energy and qualified scientific and technical personnel. Let’s consider it.
In Russia a reactor has been developed that uses lead as a coolant. Unlike modern reactors that are similar to pressure cooker because they use water for cooling and could explode, lead protects the reactor itself. Lead is the best protection against radioactivity and solidifies with any violation of the reactor’s impermeability. The reactor’s construction provides that the chain reaction stops with any deviation from the normal operation processes. It means that this reactor is inherently safe and reliably excludes the possibility of the environment’s contamination. This type of reactor has been tested in operation for over 30 years.
France, Russia, the Czech Republic and other countries have technologies that allow purifying nuclear fuel from fission fragments and using it again in the production of energy.
Besides, the so-called “burner-reactor“ have been developed that can recycle radioactive elements that are not used in the production of energy and are hazardous for storage. Burner-reactor takes for processing all kinds of the man-made waste, including hazardous, radioactive and chemical waste. That resolves problem of environmental safety of industry in principal. Reserves of nuclear fuel in the earth crust are sufficient for many thousands of years. And for the next few hundred years we are sufficiently supplied with fuel by the military if they give away their stocks of weapons grade plutonium for energy production.
It is not possible to create such energy system in a single country. Required technologies have been developed in different countries and material resources are scattered across the continent. Energy consumers are concentrated in the densely populated Western Europe, while fuel processing and waste management should be placed in sparsely populated areas. In addition, substantial investments are needed as well as international control. All this can be achieved only in the whole system, in a united Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals. Why not build a united Europe in its natural geographic boundaries by peaceful means, without the horrors of war?
Integrity of Europe is similar to the integrity of the organism where various organs are not involved in issues of profit, blackmail and competition. There is only a question of the proper functioning of the whole organism and all organs. It is necessary to define the specialization of each territory in the united Europe. For example, Russia can play an important role in energy production and waste management for the whole of Europe. Temporary conflicts must be resolved in the interest of the whole Europe. Then sanctions, border closures and other reprisals are no longer needed.
The abundance of energy for the peoples of Europe will create new life conditions where blackmail, hunger, cold, aggression of neighbors, etc. are excluded. People will be able to involve themselves in purely humanitarian issues: art, literature, philosophy, thus, fulfilling the purpose of the human being, rather than fighting for survival like animals.
Dear Ms. Merkel, we, European women, are writing to you as a person, as a physicist and a Chancellor requesting your personal contribution in the process of building a united Europe based on a pan-European energy system jointly with Russia. The future of Europe largely depends on your position. Let's eliminate grounds for all kinds of wars in this world. Let 100th – anniversary of the beginning of the First World War be the beginning of peace and stability on the planet.
Thank you,
with wishes of success and confidence,
Rachel Spiess (Switzerland)
Alla Yavtushenko (Ukraine)
