Future Explorers 2021

On the 28th and 29th November, cohort 1 attended the Science Museum Future Explorers. The theme of the event was ‘what the world will look like in 2050’ and the focus of our outreach was how electricity consumption and production will have changed by 2050 highlighting the importance of nuclear for the future. 

There were also posters – where the current and expected electricity production could be guessed. This was based on the units of TV’s. The current electricity usage is 280TWh, equivalent to 1.3 billion TV’s being powered constantly for a year. In 2050 the estimated usage is between 550 and 680TWh, between 2.5 and 3.1 billion TV’s being powered constantly for a year. 

Participants got to power their own ‘nuclear reactor’, producing fuel rods (using lentils and test tubes) and placing them in the reactor core. They then watched as the turbine ‘turned’ due to the ‘steam’ produced when the ‘water’ heated up! 

How this electricity will be generated is still undecided. The majority of the electricity will come from low carbon sources - including wind, solar, hydro and nuclear power. There is also the potential for hydrogen to be used as a fuel source, both in fuel cells and as a source for fusion.

The future explorers who visited us will have the power to decide what our energy sources will be!