Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Showing posts with label Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Show all posts

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Green-tech companies look overseas for foothold

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Rather than follow a well understood game plan, energy technology entrepreneurs need to think more like chess players on the fast-changing global stage.
A panel of clean-tech entrepreneurs and financiers here at the MIT Venture Capital conference yesterday discussed ways to navigate the regulatory and commercial landscape. Their strategies reflect how energy innovators and their financial backers have had to adjust over the past few years to have a shot at succeeding.
One persistent challenge for energy technology entrepreneurs is getting the money and permits to build either an initial production facility to make goods, such as solar panels or biofuels, or test a product at large scale.

In many cases, young companies are looking outside the U.S., where the regulatory environment is simpler and governments are more welcoming, panelists said. Introducing products for use on the U.S. electric grid, in particular, is very complex because each state can have separate rules.
"If somehow the regulations in the U.S. don't start to be more amenable to the clean technologies we're starting to develop, then I'm already looking to China to move products because I know I will have a lot fewer regulatory issues getting products online there," said Tom Zarella, the CEO of a Dartmouth University spin-off called SustainX, which is making a novel storage system that uses compressed air.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20023432-54.html#ixzz15qwR8fdd

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20023432-54.html

Saturday, October 16, 2010

3 Questions: ARPA-E chief on the energy challenge

3 Questions: ARPA-E chief on the energy challenge
During a visit on Wednesday to MIT, Arun Majumdar, director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), discussed the global energy challenge and the role his agency plays in trying to foster transformational energy research and development. Majumdar’s presentation to a standing-room-only crowd in Bartos Theater served as both a wake-up call (the U.S. spends more on dog-food R&D than it does on electrical-power R&D, he noted) and a source of inspiration (Majumdar discussed some of the very real and exciting energy projects his agency is funding, including several here at MIT).

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Experts Weigh Extending the Lives of Nuclear Power Plants to 80 Years

Image via CrunchBaseExperts consider plant operations beyond 60 years
Several industry experts are weighing the prospects of prolonging the operations of existing U.S. nuclear plants for up to 80 years. "This gets down to developing techniques to measure the condition of the plants," said Charles Forsberg of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering. Operators would want a "clearly defined" license-renewal process before they allocate funds to refurbish facilities, said John Butler, director of engineering and operations support for the Nuclear Energy Institute. The New York Times (free registration)/ClimateWire

Monday, September 20, 2010

MIT looks at US fuel cycle options

20 September 2010

The availability of uranium resources, as well as scientifically sound methods for managing used nuclear fuel, should mean that nuclear fuel will not need to be recycled in the USA for much of this century at least, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In 2003, MIT published a report on The Future of the Nuclear Power, which said "that in order to make a serious contribution to alleviating global climate change, the world would need new nuclear plants with a total capacity of at least a terawatt [1000 gigawatts] by 2050." In an update of that report in 2009, MIT noted that the rate of deployment of new nuclear power plants around the world has been much slower than needed in order to combat climate change.

MIT announced that it has now released a report on The Future of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle because "of the continuing importance of nuclear power as a low-carbon option that could be deployed at a scale that is material for mitigating climate change risk, namely, global deployment at the terawatt scale by mid-century."

It added, "Because of the significant changes in the landscape, we have undertaken this study ... to bring a sharper focus on the key technical choices available for an expanded nuclear power program in the US and the near-term policy implications of those choices."

According to MIT, "In the US, fuel cycle policies have been in a state of confusion." It said, "To enable an expansion of nuclear power, it must overcome critical challenges in cost, waste disposal, and proliferation concerns while maintaining its currently excellent safety and reliability record." MIT added, "In the relatively near term, important decisions may be taken with far reaching long-term implications about the evolution of the nuclear fuel cycle - what type of fuel is used, what types of reactors, what happens to irradiated fuel, and what method of disposal for long term nuclear wastes. This study aims to inform those decisions."

The report states, "A key message from our work is that we can and should preserve our options for fuel cycle choices by continuing with the open fuel cycle, implementing a system for managed light water reactor (LWR) spent fuel storage, developing a geological repository, and researching technology alternatives

Sunday, September 19, 2010

MIT study upbeat on nuclear power growth

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/MIT_study_upbeat_on_nuclear_power_growth_999.html

MIT study upbeat on nuclear power growth

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

by Staff Writers Washington (UPI) Sep 17, 2010 Nuclear power use is growing worldwide but the high costs of setting up plants, disposing of waste and worries over abuse are holding back expansion, a new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said. "To enable an expansion of nuclear power, it must overcome critical challenges in cost, waste disposal and proliferation concerns while maintaining its currently excellent safety and reliability record," said the report, the third since 2003 on nuclear power by the Cambridge, Mass., institution.
The report noted how nuclear power development was moving ahead globally while lagging in the United States. The United States hasn't licensed a plant since the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.
Proliferation fears cited in the report coincide with continuing row over Iran's nuclear program and plans announced by Argentina and Brazil to push forward their nuclear programs.
The report said concerns over climate change and global warming could drive a global growth of nuclear power industry if handled correctly.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Audio: The Future of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle from CSIS

In the coming decades, nuclear power is poised to grow quickly in some parts of the world and could grow significantly here in the United States. Key decisions are pending, however, on how to structure that growth. MIT has completed a 3-year study on the Future of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle to address two overarching questions: (1) What are the long-term desirable fuel cycle options and (2) What are the implication for near-term policy choices?
On Thursday, September 16, the study co-chairs: Professor Ernest J. Moniz, Director of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and Professor Mujid Kazimi, Director of the MIT Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems; and Dr. Charles Forsberg, Executive Director of the MIT Fuel Cycle Study discussed the report's findings and recommendations.http://csis.org/multimedia/audio-future-nuclear-fuel-cycle?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CSIS+%28NEW+%40+CSIS.ORG%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Recycling Still Offers Solid Near Term Option for U.S. By David Jones, Vice President, Used Fuel Management

Recycling used fuel from America’s nuclear power plants, using technology available in the near term, represents a solid option for the United States. As we have stated before, recycling nuclear fuel is a proven solution that makes waste management easier, conserves natural resources, is cost competitive and reduces proliferation concerns.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology study issued a study yesterday on The Future of the Nuclear Fuel that included a number of sound recommendations, such as the creation of a quasi-government organization to implement a used fuel management strategy. However, its conclusion regarding near-term recycling merely kicks the tough decisions down the road and largely ignores the benefits it could provide.
The finding that near-term recycling is not necessary because there is no shortage of uranium resources misses the mark. It begs the question of why are we recycling glass or paper? Are we recycling glass because there is a shortage of natural resources for making new glass? No. Are we recycling paper because it is cheaper? No.
Additionally, the recommendations do not support a sustainable nuclear fuel cycle approach that supports nuclear growth scenarios. It recommends storage of used fuel for up to a century while R&D programs help answer the question “Is used fuel a waste or a resource?”—This is contrary to what is being done in nearly every other country where this question is addressed up front as a matter or policy.
The report also recommends the U.S. offer fuel leasing to other countries—but seems to fail to recognize the credibility issue of this concept. How can we expect to demonstrate leadership to the world on used fuel management when we cannot decide ourselves if used fuel is a waste or a resource?
The U.S. government already has contracts to take back commercial used fuel from U.S. electric utilities. The utilities and their customers that have contributed over $30 billion to the Nuclear Waste Fund for this service are suing the government over breach of these contracts. How can we build public acceptance for a fuel leasing arrangement with other countries when we cannot demonstrate the will to address our own inventories?
Because the conclusions of the MIT study are based on technical and economic bases, they cannot truly be considered “interdisciplinary” as the title suggests. The motivations of other nations, such as France, Japan and the United Kingdom, to recycle are not purely economic but also are informed by questions of energy security, resource conservation, public acceptance and others that reside in the social sciences.
We have confirmed that used fuel can be stored effectively at U.S. plant sites for decades, but recycling offers a safe, competitive and more sustainable alternative. That is why nearly every nation with a significant nuclear power sector, with the exception of the United States, has embraced recycling.
AREVA is the world leader in the nuclear fuel cycle and has decades of experience recycling used fuel for its customers around the world. Over the past 25 years, AREVA has safely and successfully recycled more than 24,000 metric tons of used fuel.
Click here for more on AREVA’s views on the potential for recycling in the U.S.

Friday, September 17, 2010

The Future of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle -- MIT Report

from PEN by Pace Law Library

This Report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Nuclear Fuel Cycle Study Advisory Committee finds that uranium supplies will not limit the expansion of nuclear power in the US or around the world for the foreseeable future, according to a major new interdisciplinary study produced under the auspices of the MIT Energy Initiative. The study challenges conventional assumptions about nuclear energy. It suggests that nuclear power using today’s reactor technology with a once-through fuel cycle can play a significant part in displacing the world’s carbon-emitting fossil-fuel plants and thus help to reduce the potential for global climate change. But determining the best fuel cycle for the next generation of nuclear power plants will require more research, the report concludes. The report focuses on what is known as the “nuclear fuel cycle”—a concept that encompasses both the kind of fuel used to power a reactor (currently, most of the world’s reactors run on mined uranium that has been enriched, while a few run on plutonium) and what happens to the fuel after it has been used (either stored on site or disposed of underground—a “once-through” cycle—or reprocessed to yield new reactor fuel).

Thursday, September 16, 2010

MIT researchers rethink the nuclear fuel cycles, Yucca Mountain

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is issuing a new analysis of nuclear energy issues today, this time focusing on fuel cycles and what to do about that pesky issue of radioactive waste. The United States would do well to take a step back, reorganize and then proceed with a more open-ended technology-neutral nuclear energy policy, the report suggests, knowing that spent reactor fuel can be safely stored until a viable long-term solution is identified. Building on an earlier analysis, released in 2003 and updated last year, the report starts out with a simple assessment: uranium supplies are sufficient to power the industry for much of the century without recycling or reprocessing. This holds true even with a potential expansion of nuclear power, which would be based on the same once-through fuel cycle deployed in current reactors.
Creating a series of interim storage sites would allow the Department of Energy safely consolidate spent nuclear fuel and meet its legal obligations to industry (shipments to Yucca Mountain were supposed to begin more than a decade ago). In the meantime, the United States can take a more comprehensive look at longer-term storage solutions, looking to countries such as Finland, Sweden and France that have had more luck in building public support for their repositories.

MIT finds plentiful uranium for nuclear power plants USA Today

In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for a

CAPTION

By Carolyn Kaster, AP

Plenty of uranium exists for nuclear power plants for decades, but more research is needed to develop a better way to dispose of the spent fuel, says a report today by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology"At any reasonable expected growth of nuclear power over this century, the availability of uranium will not be a constraint," says study co-chair Mujid Kazimi, an MIT professor of nuclear engineering. The researchers say the idea of a limited uranium supply has long prompted efforts to develop reactors that breed plutonium, which they argue are not economically viable.
The report supports President Obama's loan guarantees, controversial among environmental groups, to help build the first new nuclear power plants in three decades. It suggests nuclear power has significant potential to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, arguing current U.S. nuclear plants generate 70% of all zero-carbon electricity.

* Bringing Israel's Bomb Out of the Basement by Avner Cohen and Marvin Miller Why Israel's "don't ask, don't tell" nuclear policy has run its course.

Summary:

For decades, Israel has maintained an "opaque" nuclear posture -- neither confirming nor denying that it possesses nuclear weapons. The time has come for Israel to reconsider the policy of nuclear ambiguity. It can do so without jeopardizing the nation's security.

AVNER COHEN is a Senior Fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the author of the forthcoming book The Worst-Kept Secret: Israel's Bargain With the Bomb. MARVIN MILLER is a Research Associate in the Science, Technology, and Society Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a Senior Research Scientist in the MIT Nuclear Engineering Department and has served as a consultant to the U.S. State Department and the Los Alamos and Oak Ridge National Laboratories.

Nuclear Fuel Recycling Unnecessary Amid Plentiful Supplies, MIT Study Says

ecycling nuclear waste provides little short-term benefit because the process costs too much and uranium supplies remain plentiful, according to a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The study released today recommends U.S. financial incentives to build seven to 10 nuclear plants, create a quasi- government group to direct policy and consider leasing fuel to countries to reduce fears that dangerous components will end up with terrorists.
“To enable an expansion of nuclear power, it must overcome critical challenges in cost, waste disposal, and proliferation concerns while maintaining its currently excellent safety and reliability record,” according to the report.
The study, the third since 2003 on nuclear power by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university, examines how the U.S. might best deal with an increase in radioactive waste if the industry’s awaited renaissance takes off.
Areva SA, the world’s biggest maker of reactors, has lobbied for reusing waste as a partial solution to long-term storage concerns. Meanwhile, a commission created by the Energy Department is studying how best to dispose of the waste after the Obama administration withdrew support for Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a dump site.
The study says nuclear proponents are assuming that limited supplies will force the U.S. to reuse some portion of the spent nuclear fuel.
“There is no shortage of uranium resources that might constrain future commitments to build new nuclear plants for at least much of this century, and scientifically sound methods exist to manage spent nuclear fuel,” according to the study.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

MIT Researchers Develop A Way To Funnel Solar Energy

MIT Researchers Develop A Way To Funnel Solar Energy

File image. by Staff Writers Boston MA (SPX) Sep 13, 2010 Using carbon nanotubes (hollow tubes of carbon atoms), MIT chemical engineers have found a way to concentrate solar energy 100 times more than a regular photovoltaic cell. Such nanotubes could form antennas that capture and focus light energy, potentially allowing much smaller and more powerful solar arrays. "Instead of having your whole roof be a photovoltaic cell, you could have little spots that were tiny photovoltaic cells, with antennas that would drive photons into them," says Michael Strano, the Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and leader of the research team.