Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire - Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry. Nuclear Activities
For over a century, America has led the world in innovation.
Today, that leadership is at risk.
In the last 15 years, Chu said, China has gone from 15th place to 5th in international patents and from 14th place to 2nd place in published research articles. Of fifty or so nuclear reactors under construction around the world, thirty are in China. China just surpassed the U.S. with the world's fastest supercomputer, has a 220-mph rail line that is the fastest in the world, and has broken ground on a rail network almost four times larger than the next most developed rail country, France
China has installed the highest voltage and capacity, lowest loss HVDC (800kV) and HVAC (1,000 kV) lines, and plans an integrated HVDC/HVAC backbone.
• Broken ground on 30 nuclear reactors out of ~ 50 world-wide.
Thirty years ago, ten percent of California’s general fund went to higher education and three percent to prisons. Today, nearly eleven percent goes to prisons and eight percent to higher education.
China is now second in the world in its publication of biomedical research articles, having recently surpassed Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Canada and Spain.
The United States now ranks 22nd among the world’s nations in the density of broadband Internet penetration and 72nd in the density of mobile telephony subscriptions.
In 2009, 51 percent of United States patents were awarded to non-United States companies.
The World Economic Forum ranks the United States 48th in quality of mathematics and science education.
Of Wal-Mart’s 6,000 suppliers, 5,000 are in China.
There are sixteen energy companies in the world with larger reserves than the largest United States company.
China has now replaced the United States as the world’s number one high-technology exporter.
In 1998 China produced about 20,000 research articles, but by 2006 the output had reached 83,000 … overtaking Japan, Germany and the U.K.
Eight of the ten global companies with the largest R&D budgets have established R&D facilities in China, India or both.
During a recent period during which two high-rise buildings were constructed in Los Angeles, over 5,000 were built in Shanghai.
Money is not an issue, which is different from the rest of the world. The Chinese have the capacity to deliver and they are deadly serious about achieving it,” says Steve Kidd, director of strategy and research at the London-based World Nuclear Association, the industry trade group.
President Hu Jintao wants non-fossil fuels to produce 15 percent of China’s energy by 2020. Although the Chinese have spent plenty on wind turbines and solar panels, only a buildup of nuclear power can make that target reachable.
“Developing clean, low-carbon energy is an international priority,” says Zhao Chengkun, vice-president of the China Nuclear Energy Association. “Nuclear is recognized as the only energy source that can be used on a mass scale to achieve this.”
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 PSE and G is developing the four ground-mounted solar farms on PSE and G-owned properties in Linden, Yardville (4.4 megawatts), Edison (2 megawatts) and Trenton (1.3 megawatts). Each will be among New Jersey's largest solar farms. The sites will utilize crystalline solar panel technology and have monitoring and communications functionality. |
A private company in Europe initially developed the design for the fuel, funded with about €20 million, primarily from an undisclosed wealthy individual. But the company, which Bryan declined to name, didn’t have the ability to commercialize the technology. The European company has agreed to partner with Thorium One, under certain conditions, allowing it to benefit from Bryan’s background as an accountant and founder of a mining company, as well as other financial and operational expertise within Thorium One. If the merger is completed, the combined 30-employee entity would operate a fully-funded testing and permitting process to advance the technology, with test time on reactors already booked, Bryan said. Fuel testing is expected to begin in October..
Initially, the company is looking to raise about €17 million ($23 million) in the next 30 months for fuel testing and permitting. The company is building a prototype and testing it in a test reactor. Bryan thinks the technology can be commercially viable in less than nine years.
Two undisclosed utility customers are interested in purchasing the fuel when it is permitted for use, he said. One of these utilities led the consortium that designed the fuel.
Thorium One faces competition in the space from companies such as Mclean, Va.-based Lightbridge (Nasdaq:LTBR), a nuclear energy firm formerly called formerly Thorium Power, which is developing proliferation resistant fuel technology also using thorium. In addition, it offers integrated advisory services for existing and emerging nuclear programs
One of the reasons which disqualified thorium-uranium breeders as compared to uranium plutonium breeders was, the non-existence of a 233U stockpile to start with. NOTE: There is 1000kg of U-233 in the United States, which thorium proponents have been campaigning to stop from being destroyed. [Kirk Sorensen and others have presented different plans to start a Thorium fuel cycle] By contrast the PWR, BWR heavy water, and graphite moderated reactors were producing large amounts of plutonium. The advent of thorium-plutonium MOX fuels would change the picture; 233U could be burned in standard reactors without entailing the production of large amounts of plutonium or minor actinides. [K. Balakrishnan, S. Majumdar, A. Ramanujam and A. Kakodkar, the Indian Perspectives on Thorium Fuel Cycles. Thorium Fuel Utilization: Options and Trends, IAEA-TECDOC- 1319, Vienna: IAEA, 2002, 257-265]
A PWR burning uranium-plutonium MOX incinerates ~ 544kg of plutonium per year for the simplicity of the argument, we assume here a “fully MOGED PWR” however, only third of fuel a PWR is “MOXed”. A “fully MOGED PWR” PWR loaded with thoriumuranium MOX should produce approximately 280kg of 233U per year while it incinerates approximately 800kg of plutonium, producing about 20% less minor actinides.
Image via Wikipedia PhysOrg.com) -- A joint project by universities in Algeria and Japan is planning to turn the Sahara desert, the largest desert in the world, into a breeding ground for solar power plants that could supply half the world’s electrical energy requirements by 2050.
Image via Wikipedia Due to their highly efficient power generation, lack of pollutants and quiet operation, fuel cell power plants are well-suited for commercial buildings located in urban environments. |
 disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only |
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Image via WikipediaIran's disputed nuclear drive will top the agenda of a meeting of the UN atomic watchdog this week, a prelude to the resumption of long-stalled talks between Tehran and world powers. The International Atomic Energy Agency convenes for its traditional year-end board meeting at its Vienna headquarters on Thursday and Friday, with the latest report on its long-running investigation into the Islamic republic's nuclear activities set to dominate debate.
 Putin's remarks also come amid uncertainty about the fate of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed this year by US President Barack Obama and Medvedev. |
