Power
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Your Friend The Atom
The forces that bind atoms together have long been recognized as possessing far greater potential for the production of energy, unit for unit, than virtually anything else readily available. This power's risk has also been recognized, practically since its invention: the first functioning nuclear fission reactors were not used for energy, but to produce nuclear material for use in weapons.
However, the power of the atom has been in use for nearly fifteen human generations, and the world of the twenty-third century would either collapse or change drastically if that power was not there to be drawn on.
Fusion
The first productive fusion reactors in 2036 were used primarily to produce large amounts of hydrogen, which was then used to supply fuel cells, replacing most of the demand for petroleum as an energy source. Fusing a pair of hydrogen atoms provided energy sufficient to liberate hundreds of thousands of other hydrogen atoms from plain water, and the process has continued for nearly two centuries. As virtually all of the hydrogen thus produced is "burned" for fuel purposes eventually, the world's water supply has not been notably affected and is not expected to be within any reasonable future.
Fusion reactors are large structures, and are not completely without waste products. They are expensive to install, and many reactor parts pose mild hazards, either from toxic materials in their construction or mild radioactivity. A badly damaged or overstrained fusion reactor will produce an impressive explosion, but not one on the scale of a nuclear bomb; radioactive fallout is modest and easily cleaned up. However, the economic damage can be substantial. While most megacities have more than one fusion reactor, shutting one down without planning will produce local blackouts; shutting down several is likely to at least temporarily black out the entire city.
Fission
Nuclear fission is no longer a major source of electrical power. However, the many byproducts of nuclear fission are still in demand for medical, research and industrial purposes, and most reactors still operating are geared for this purpose. They tend to be small and well-guarded, and operate on reprocessed nuclear waste from the past.
The violence of the Robot Wars hastened decommissioning of many old reactors. As a case in point, there was extensive nuclear contamination of large portions of the Italian peninsula when a heavy assault chassis used by Sigma, operating on plutonium fuel, was destroyed by Blues' use of a powerful Bustered attack.
Force Metal
Force Metal is a powerful radioactive material found primarily in Giga City, though there are deposits of Force Metal located on the Moon. It is said to be extraterrestrial in origin, resulting from the use of Stardroid-based power sources or other technologies on Earth. Force Metal yields extremely high-energy radiation from minute amounts of material, and this energy can be put to work in a variety of ways.
A Force Metal based reactor powers Able City, a Reploid refugee colony located off the New Zealand coast. Intentional leakage of Force Metal radiation into the city is attributed to making Reploids more emotionally unstable and prone to violence. This has slowed the development of similar reactors in other parts of the world. Handling the byproducts of Force Metal radiation has so far not been addressed, as Force Metal does not to appear to deteriorate in the same manner that other natural radioactive materials do. Studies continue as to why this may be.
A Force Metal bomb was used once in San Angeles during the Rose Bowl in 2219, resulting in the immediate death of over 10 million people and the devastation of what was once one of the world's most populous megacities.
Bombs
Nuclear bombs have been officially banned forever on several different occasions. The "missiles and bombers" uses of nuclear weapons are considered to be obsolete due to the development of satellite missile shields; the existence of high-performance Reploids capable of disabling inbound nuclear warheads in a wide variety of ways is seen as a welcome reinforcement to this obsolescence.
However, their use as terror weapons remains a viable option. It has been kept in check by a limited deterrence; virtually all nations of any size could either assemble a small nuclear arsenal on short notice, or could call upon an ally with similar capacity. Despite this, there have only been two major nuclear incidents in the last ten years.
Other Energy
Solar and hydroelectric energy sources are most commonly used in Africa, due to an abundance of natural rivers, and desert surface area for solar paneling. Some of the world's largest power plants are the Mirror Desert region, a large expanse of the Sahara Desert zoned for solar power, and the Spearhead Dam on the Nile. A larger power-generating dam, the Tidal Dam, was created bridging the Straight of Gibraltar, which provides power to some of the redevelopment of Africa. Many modern homes also have solar collection panels on the rooftop which provide some electrical power to heat water and run appliances, and can charge backup generators if main sources go off-line.
Geothermal power is in common use in the nations that have access to this source, such as Iceland.
Many modern vehicles run on bio-diesel, or ethanol, fuel types made from plant sources. This is also not uncommon for many robots, which like humans can eat food to generate energy. However, robots with powerful weapon systems frequently utilize other power sources as well.
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