Israel and the Technological Revolutions of the 21st Century
TELLER, EDWARD
ICPflFl. AND THE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTIONS of the 21st CENTURY EDWARD TELLER In developing these technologies. These advancing technologies could also play a considerable role in Israel's...
...If the uranium gets too hot the rods can crack and melt their casing, ruining the reactor and allowing radioactivity to escape...
...Defense is a short-term answer to the demand for peace...
...The threat of short-range rockets is present whether one is in Europe, in Israel, in Germany, in the United States or in Japan...
...Second, construct the reactors so that they govern themselves automatically...
...Optimistic Israeli scientists believe that the yehib could become a new cash crop of the desert, m the same league as the date Other foods from arid regions are being studied for adaptability and nutritional value in Negev laboratories...
...Reactors are now being designed that cannot even be sabotaged...
...Chernobyl was about as big as a nuclear reactor accident can get...
...In line with Edward Teller's vision, researchers today are modifying nuclear reactors, making them safer and more efficient Central to the success of the new, smaller reactor is a new form of fuel...
...The defensive instruments that Israel develops will be used throughout the world...
...The new reactor would solve only the first problem...
...Biological pollution is just as bad, if not worse, than chemical pollution," says Jeremy Rifkm...
...Such techniques will certainly find widespread use in agriculture...
...Their per capita income is consequently much higher than is usual in the Middle East...
...Research on the new possibilities of genetic engineering is second only to military safety in importance to Israel...
...I estimate, not very reliably but I think reasonably, that the total number of deaths on account of the Chernobyl accident will be comparable to the number of victims in a major airline collision...
...Instead, Israel should look to the Jewish tradition that calls for stewardship over the earth...
...president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, "and the 21st century may see thousands of genetically engineered organisms—including viruses and bacteria—introduced into the environment' Unlike chemical or nuclear products, these organisms are alive, so they are inherently less predictable than chemicals, says RifVurv They can mutate, reproduce, proliferate away from the site where they were released, and they can't be recalled back to the laboratory once they have been released, he adds "These organisms are low probability, high risk...
...Kenyan and Israeli scientists also are working together on a project to create grazing land from desert salt marshes by planting salt-tolerant shrubs Israel is one of the few places on the earth where the desert land area is decreasing not increasing Since one-seventh of the earth's land surface is covered by desert and the majority of the world's hungry live in desert lands, the breakthroughs Israel makes in agricultural genetics create exciting possibilities for the entire world of inheritance...
...Someday African fruits such as the morula, the black sopota or the sapodilia might be as common to Westerners as the avocado...
...For the rest of the world, defense is also a matter of survival, but most people do not realize it...
...Israeli scientists and Thai farmers are raising a strain of algae in Thai paddy fields that will nourish fish cultures...
...Israel has many ingenious people working in science and technology who have an outstanding record in one regard: They can perform fast...
...Israel can and should be in the forefront of this effort...
...In both Israel and the United States, I believe the instrument that can turn our desires for peace and for a true international society into a reality is an obvious one: technology Human values cannot be created by technology, but they cannot be realized without it...
...By making reactors smaller, one can make the safety measures more straightforward...
...In fact, I suspect that research on the new possibilities of genetic engineering is second only to military safety in importance to Israel...
...It can make the world seem more hopeful, more full of opportunities than anyone can imagine...
...It is dangerous," people say...
...Thus, Israel's investment in defense research is apt to pay a second dividend as they sell their new technology around the world...
...Within that development are the seeds of hope for a better, more cooperative future for all...
...Scientists at the Boyko Institute for Agriculture and Applied Biology and the Blaustem Institute for Desert Research-both at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev—have successfully cultivated a new strain of melon, called "BG-84-3," which tastes like cantaloupe and grows as well in brackish water as it does in fresh water...
...Reactors do not have to have human operators, nor do they need complicated electronics or even elaborate valves...
...The safety record of the nuclear industry in the West is a success story, but what does nuclear energy have to do with Israeli technology...
...The U.S...
...New settlements might be established to raise these crops, giving a boost to the economy...
...In Israel, the left wing has been and continues to be wholeheartedly for defense...
...and the radiation dispersed from Chernobyl, in round numbers, was 1,000,000...
...Israel is in need of energy...
...The road is now open for a more refined approach...
...The new reactor could withstand the simultaneous failure of the pumps, the cooling systems and the rods that hold the fuel, according to Lawrence M. Lidsky, professor of nuclear engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in a recent New York Times article...
...I am devoted to the United States for many reasons among which gratitude has a high mark...
...Almost 40 years after the development of the first ballistic missiles, the United States finally began, under President Reagan's initiative, to work earnestly on finding effective countermeasures against ballistic missile attack...
...those on the left are against it...
...The new reactors also have a more efficient cooling system than conventional reactors...
...Israeli scientists are also studying fruits and vegetables from other counA researcher picks two BG-B4-3 melons that were grown in the Negev unrig salt water irrigation...
...That Israel accomplishes this goal is important for the United States...
...A genetically engineered organism may seem perfect designed with every desirable characteristic, but once it's put into an already existing ecosystem, unforeseen problems might arise, says Pimentel...
...Another technology that could and should play a central role in Israel's future is even more controversial in the United States than defense...
...Algae may have another use in the desert, not only in Israel but in African countries Israeli scientists are exploring the virtues of feeding algae to desert herds...
...If defensive devices can be developed, they would do much to assure that such missiles would not be used in the first place...
...I worked on the now-abandoned project of connecting the Mediterranean and Dead seas...
...These advancing technologies could also play a considerable role in Israel's security...
...Today, nuclear reactors are economically supplying 70 percent of the electricity in France, 66 percent in BelgiujVi, 53 percent in South Korea, 49 percent in Taiwan and 45 percent in Sweden...
...The Arabs on the West Bank were given a remarkable opportunity that they have used with great success...
...That project is important for the whole world and incredibly important for Israel...
...The problem of defense certainly will not be solved at one stroke, but it can be solved step by step...
...They form the uranium into tiny grains and cover each with a four-layer ceramic shell that conducts heat The shell can withstand temperatures of up to 3,300 degrees Fahrenheit Since the maximum temperature the grains can achieve during the reaction is 3,000 degrees, the uranium cannot melt through the protective shells...
...Nuclear engineers have come up with a safer alternative...
...Israel should develop a post-modern ecologically-based agriculture, grounded on anthropological information of what has worked m the past drawing up a model system that will work wth the • environment The way agriculture is now, everything is developed in isolation...
...In addition, Israel has performed again and again in a truly economical fashion...
...the second, in the United States in 1979, at Three Mile Island...
...Israel's demand is not to reach the goal in the next 20 years, but to have defense systems that will perform in the next three years...
...Why not find— or develop—organisms, plants and fish that can use salt water...
...Advances in technology can make great contributions not only to the security and welfare of Israel but to the well-being and peace of everyone in the world...
...First, decrease the power demand on the reactor...
...But helium can be heated to a greater temperature than water, which means the system operates at 40 to 50 percent efficiency, as opposed to a water-cooled system, which operates at only 33 percent efficiency...
...Office of Technology Assessment estimates that each year between now and the year 2000, air pollution caused by coal burning will lead to the premature deaths of 50,000 people...
...Supported by an annual grant of $125 million from AID, CALAR was the first joint effort between Israel and Egypt in agriculture after the Camp David accords...
...I am an immigrant, a Jewish immigrant to the United States...
...Reactors today are insanely expensive because they are so large, and the safety measures cost a treasure...
...The only real danger from reactors is connected with the escape of radioactivity...
...I see great prospects for the joint Israel-U.S...
...Genetic engineers are like nuclear engineers...
...The U.S...
...which grows wild m Africa, has proven to be drought-tolerant, and Israeli scientists hope to cultivate a salt-tolerant strain to irrigate with brackish water, making it a perfect desert crop...
...Defensive instruments will help preserve peace not only in Israel but also wherever peace is pursued...
...To survive in today's world, which is full of dangers, we need defense...
...A newly released report by Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project says that the 107 nuclear power plants in the United States experienced thousands of mishaps in 1987, including 430 emergency shutdowns, 492 violations of safety regulations, 104,458 incidents in which workers at nuclear reactors were exposed to measurable doses of radiation, and close to 3,000 incidents categorized as "mishaps...
...Irrigating with salt water means that salts will accumulate in the soil, which will put more stress on plants that already exist in that environment Contaminating the desert with salts would restrict the number of plants the land could support to just a few tolerant strains, says Pimentel We destroy the land when we depend on "quick-fix solutions," says Rifkin...
...The relevant molecules are arranged in a double spiral, capable both of reproduction and of the variations that account for the incredible multiplicity within species...
...Everywhere I found an almost unbreakable rule: Those on the political right are for strategic defense...
...The project which also studies uses of saline water for irrigation and studies arid-zone crops, was begun five years ago and is called Cooper, ative And Lands Agricultural Reseatch ICALAR...
...Make reactors smaller and make the power density lower...
...One of the most significant discoveries of our century was the identification of the explicit chemical structure of the mechanism Tomorrow's Agriculture Starts In Today's Labs Under the Negev desert lies a huge store of brackish water that farmers consider too salty to use for irrigation, yet lack of fresh water is a serious concern for Israel...
...But scientists never know fry sure whether a new crop they introduce into the environment will be harmless...
...Nuclear reactors are extraordinary in many ways, but the most extraordinary thing about nuclear reactors is that they are safe...
...Fish cultures consume the spirulina and proliferate If fish cultures abound, the fish yield will increase and perhaps substitute for poor rice harvests as a food source and for income...
...This project is important to many African countries whose animals have overgrazed much of the land and now lack fodder Algae may be an economical alternative Israeli scientists are exploring other sources of fodder...
...During the past five years, I have discussed the need for and the means of providing strategic defense in a dozen European countries as well as in the United States...
...Israelis have worked hard to make the land arable through desalinization...
...In addition, the project may help the future of Israel economically...
...Every Israeli knows that, because the memories of past misfortunes are fresh and the dangers are close at hand...
...some areas are desert...
...Defense must not only be effective, it must be obtained inexpensively enough so that, in the competition between attack and defense, defense will win because it is more cost-effective...
...Some scientists speculate that nuclear energy may turn out to be safer than fossil fuels...
...Vegeta btes like the bitter gourd and the ridge gourd from Africa have high vitamin content and appealing taste, similar to squash The yehib nut...
...Those nations have already realized that no other energy source can provide the amount of power needed during the next century with equal safety...
...more sophisticated agriculture, it shouldn't rely on 19th-century thinking—wietdmg power over the environment controlling the ecosystem' says Rifkin...
...Third, reactors can be sited underground, covered by enough loosely packed soil that in every circumstance the total amount of energy contained by the reactor would be retained by the earth...
...This type of reactor would be of great value for Israel, not only because Israel needs energy, but because Israel has to worry about sabotage...
...If Israel can repeat that miracle in an even more sophisticated manner, the harsh hunger and poverty that contribute so much to hostilities may ultimately disappear...
...Nuclear-generated electricity today involves a huge industry...
...In the new reactor, however, helium, not water, is the coolant The helium transfers heat from the reactor's core to the turbines just as water does in the conventional reactor, so energy can be harvested from the reaction just as in a conventional reactor...
...Pimentel warns that irrigating with brackish water might pollute the land...
...The radioactivity that was released during the Three Mile Island accident I shall arbitrarily call "1...
...Yet, when I met with Shimon Peres in 1985, he was (and continues to be) a proponent...
...The hundred-some million dollars Congress slated for the joint U.S.-Israel ATBM project are vital for the survival of Israel and also for the stability of the world...
...The safety record of the nuclear industry over the past 25 years should be compared to the coal industry...
...When, after 30 years, the reactor runs out of fuel, it may be shut down and left in place...
...flourish easily while rice does not...
...Design improvements can smooth and speed the transition...
...They were provided with the model of Israeli agricultural practices, and Genetic Engineering: Will It Pollute the Environment...
...Israelis know with certainty that defense is necessary, and consequently they will work on developing better defense without hesitation and with a will...
...BG 84-3" is trie name given by scientists from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev to this genetically engineered Fruit tnes with and climates that could become viable desert crops for the Negev...
...Israel is a dry country...
...According to them, their science is pure and can do no wrong,* says David Pimentel, professor of Insect Ecology and Agricultural Sciences at Cornell University...
...In the British and American accidents, not a single person was hurt...
...A group of Israeli scientist at Sen-Gunon University of the Negev and at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa are using genetics to augment me salt tolerance of crops such as wheat, cotton, fruits and vegetable* they envision marketable and nutritious crops growing in the Negev irrigated with brackish water...
...and could be cultivated as a protein source (or other organisms, in a joint venture with Thailand funded by the United States Agency for International Development (AID...
...If that could be done, it would be something of great interest...
...The first occurred in England in 1957, at the Windscale reactor...
...Nuclear reactors are extraordinary in many ways, but the most extraordinary thing is that they are safe...
...The safety of reactors can be increased by three obvious measures, so obvious that they can be described without complicated technical expressions (see box, p. 31...
...These scientets are cloning satt-toferant varieties of eucalyptus trees that farmers might be able to grow for landscaping or sell for wood products...
...The discovery of the relevant molecule, called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), has led to techniques for cutting and splicing it, thereby producing novel forms of life...
...We should see ourselves as partners with the environment as caretakers instead of masters...
...And Israel is discovering techniques that could improve agricultural productivity in other and lands and help to alleviate hunger in those countries...
...As people learn that defense is possible, they will want a defensive capability...
...In a joint effort with Egypt Israel is developing drought-resistant crops for fodder...
...undertaking of a short-range anti-tactical ballistic missile (ATBM) under the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI...
...If Israel can develop a defense against ballistic missiles, the next war in the Middle East may be averted...
...Uranium, which is used for the atomic chain reaction that creates nuclear energy, is usually prepared in the form of half-inch-thick rods encased in metal...
...It could have provided a lot of water power, but nuclear energy could provide even more energy...
...Defense has obvious advantages over retaliation...
...A high water table has increased the salinity of Thai paddy fields to such a point that the algae, called spirulina...
...Technology has made the world small and dangerous, but it has also made the world incredibly interesting...
...These scientists worry that carbon dioxide from fossil fuels are raising global temperatures...
...and the third, in the Soviet Union in 1986, at Chernobyl...
...Israel has made a practice of transforming scientific discoveries into usable reality...
...Speed is also necessary...
...If Israel can develop a defense against ballistic missiles (for instance, the SS-21s that the Soviet Union has delivered to Syria), then the next war in the Middle East may be averted...
...Such a placement, a final redundancy in safety measures, should make it clear to everyone that the reactor is completely safe...
...Edward Teller suggests that through genetic engineering Israel can and will successfully grow food using salt water: indeed the country is experimenting with this m its agricultural laboratories...
...Algae already grow m seawater...
...Developments in those technologies would provide the most splendid export items imaginable...
...if someone tries to damage them, they just shut down...
...Israeli ingenuity has already helped to make the desert bloom...
...Look at Chernobyl...
...The probability is low that they will prove problematic but the long-term consequences are serious if they art* 'If Israel wants to develop a new...
...Nuclear energy, however, has a bad name...
...Israel needs safe reactors that cannot be made to misbehave, even intentionally...
...The Green Revolution saw a shift from traditional fertilizers to petrochemical fertilizers that polluted the soil, and pesticides that polluted the water from runoff and poisoned the food...
...An ecological agricultural system, for example, would have natural pest enemies cancel each other out instead of relying on pesticides," In the case of the Negev desert...
...On that basis, the radioactivity that escaped from the British reactor, Windscale, was 1,000...
...Both of these characteristics are important to defense work...
...But why is genetic engineering important to Israel...
...For Israel, military defense is a matter of survival...
...could be attacked by short-range rockets fired from submarines 100 miles away...
...Learning how the various modalities of aggression can be stopped is of vital interest to all of us...
...Research work on the third technology of importance to Israel, biotechnology, is already in progress (see boxes, above and p. 30...
...Certain strains of asparagus plants that demonstrate tolerance to salt are growing in Ben-Gunon University's laboratory and researchers hope that soon Negev farmers will be cultivating fields of asparagus Along with genetic research into vegetables and fruits that are already common in Israel...
...Existing nuclear facilities use water as their principal coolant In these facilities, water circulates around the fuel core, cooling the metal casing to 650 degrees...
...I recommend that Israel become involved in the design and manufacture of ultrasafe nuclear reactors...
...The long-term consequences of this "greenhouse effect" could disrupt the ecosystems of wildlife and eventually destroy the planet Opponents of nuclear energy have long criticized four safety flaws in nuclear power: the possibility of catastrophic accidents at the reactor, the problem of safely disposing of nuclear waste, the potential for accident when transporting nuclear waste, and the chance that terrorist groups1 wil^ be able to obtain materials from nuclear power plants to make nuclear weapons...
...In addition, this construction might make refueling and decommissioning unnecessary...
...cooperation is the answer in the long run...
...Instead of desalinating water, why not use the brackish water for agriculture...
...According to the Soviet accident report, which by all evidence seems to be honest and complete, the number of people who died was 31...
...In the course of effective utilization, during some 25 years, there have been precisely three major industrial accidents...
...It is true that the number of victims will increase...
...Israel has the scientific and technical ability to make it possible...
...In the short term, productivity increased, but the long-term viability of the resources is being destroyed.' they used that model to develop their agriculture...
...New Reactors May Be Immune to Meltdown The 21st century may see nuclear power plants that cannot melt down—even with the worst of human error—because of physical characteristics inherent in their design...
...To keep surviving, to flourish, we need cooperation and work that will benefit everyone...
...I believe that defense, nuclear energy and genetic engineering will be three great revolutions of the 21st century...
Vol. 14 • March 1989 • No. 2
