Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire - Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry. Nuclear Activities
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Bingaman backs nuclear in US clean energy standard
Bingaman backs nuclear in US clean energy standard
U.S. Pushes, but Reactors Are Lagging By MATTHEW L. WALD
U.S. Pushes, but Reactors Are Lagging
By MATTHEW L. WALD
World Can Be Powered By Alternative Energy In 20-40 Years
World Can Be Powered By Alternative Energy In 20-40 Years
Stanford CA (SPX) Jan 31, 2011 If someone told you there was a way you could save 2.5 million to 3 million lives a year and simultaneously halt global warming, reduce air and water pollution and develop secure, reliable energy sources - nearly all with existing technology and at costs comparable with what we spend on energy today - why wouldn't you do it? According to a new study coauthored by Stanford researcher Mark Z. Jacobson, we could accomplish all that by converting the world to clean, renewable energy sources and forgoing fossil fuels.
"Based on our findings, there are no technological or economic barriers to converting the entire world to clean, renewable energy sources," said Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering. "It is a question of whether we have the societal and political will."
He and Mark Delucchi, of the University of California-Davis, have written a two-part paper in Energy Policy in which they assess the costs, technology and material requirements of converting the planet, using a plan they developed.
The world they envision would run largely on electricity. Their plan calls for using wind, water and solar energy to generate power, with wind and solar power contributing 90 percent of the needed energy.
Geothermal and hydroelectric sources would each contribute about 4 percent in their plan (70 percent of the hydroelectric is already in place), with the remaining 2 percent from wave and tidal power.
Vehicles, ships and trains would be powered by electricity and hydrogen fuel cells. Aircraft would run on liquid hydrogen. Homes would be cooled and warmed with electric heaters - no more natural gas or coal - and water would be preheated by the sun.
Commercial processes would be powered by electricity and hydrogen. In all cases, the hydrogen would be produced from electricity. Thus, wind, water and sun would power the world.
The researchers approached the conversion with the goal that by 2030, all new energy generation would come from wind, water and solar, and by 2050, all pre-existing energy production would be converted as well.
"We wanted to quantify what is necessary in order to replace all the current energy infrastructure - for all purposes - with a really clean and sustainable energy infrastructure within 20 to 40 years," said Jacobson.
One of the benefits of the plan is that it results in a 30 percent reduction in world energy demand since it involves converting combustion processes to electrical or hydrogen fuel cell processes. Electricity is much more efficient than combustion.
That reduction in the amount of power needed, along with the millions of lives saved by the reduction in air pollution from elimination of fossil fuels, would help keep the costs of the conversion down.
"When you actually account for all the costs to society - including medical costs - of the current fuel structure, the costs of our plan are relatively similar to what we have today," Jacobson said.
One of the biggest hurdles with wind and solar energy is that both can be highly variable, which has raised doubts about whether either source is reliable enough to provide "base load" energy, the minimum amount of energy that must be available to customers at any given hour of the day.
Jacobson said that the variability can be overcome.
"The most important thing is to combine renewable energy sources into a bundle," he said. "If you combine them as one commodity and use hydroelectric to fill in gaps, it is a lot easier to match demand."
Wind and solar are complementary, Jacobson said, as wind often peaks at night and sunlight peaks during the day. Using hydroelectric power to fill in the gaps, as it does in our current infrastructure, allows demand to be precisely met by supply in most cases. Other renewable sources such as geothermal and tidal power can also be used to supplement the power from wind and solar sources.
"One of the most promising methods of insuring that supply matches demand is using long-distance transmission to connect widely dispersed sites," said Delucchi. Even if conditions are poor for wind or solar energy generation in one area on a given day, a few hundred miles away the winds could be blowing steadily and the sun shining.
"With a system that is 100 percent wind, water and solar, you can't use normal methods for matching supply and demand. You have to have what people call a supergrid, with long-distance transmission and really good management," he said.
Another method of meeting demand could entail building a bigger renewable-energy infrastructure to match peak hourly demand and use the off-hours excess electricity to produce hydrogen for the industrial and transportation sectors.
Using pricing to control peak demands, a tool that is used today, would also help.
Jacobson and Delucchi assessed whether their plan might run into problems with the amounts of material needed to build all the turbines, solar collectors and other devices.
They found that even materials such as platinum and the rare earth metals, the most obvious potential supply bottlenecks, are available in sufficient amounts. And recycling could effectively extend the supply.
"For solar cells there are different materials, but there are so many choices that if one becomes short, you can switch," Jacobson said. "Major materials for wind energy are concrete and steel and there is no shortage of those."
Jacobson and Delucchi calculated the number of wind turbines needed to implement their plan, as well as the number of solar plants, rooftop photovoltaic cells, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal and wave-energy installations.
They found that to power 100 percent of the world for all purposes from wind, water and solar resources, the footprint needed is about 0.4 percent of the world's land (mostly solar footprint) and the spacing between installations is another 0.6 percent of the world's land (mostly wind-turbine spacing), Jacobson said.
One of the criticisms of wind power is that wind farms require large amounts of land, due to the spacing required between the windmills to prevent interference of turbulence from one turbine on another.
"Most of the land between wind turbines is available for other uses, such as pasture or farming," Jacobson said. "The actual footprint required by wind turbines to power half the world's energy is less than the area of Manhattan." If half the wind farms were located offshore, a single Manhattan would suffice.
Jacobson said that about 1 percent of the wind turbines required are already in place, and a lesser percentage for solar power.
"This really involves a large scale transformation," he said. "It would require an effort comparable to the Apollo moon project or constructing the interstate highway system."
"But it is possible, without even having to go to new technologies," Jacobson said. "We really need to just decide collectively that this is the direction we want to head as a society."
 The plan calls for using wind, water and solar energy to generate power, with wind and solar power contributing 90 percent of the needed energy. Geothermal and hydroelectric sources would each contribute about 4 percent in their plan (70 percent of the hydroelectric is already in place), with the remaining 2 percent from wave and tidal power. |
Stanford CA (SPX) Jan 31, 2011 If someone told you there was a way you could save 2.5 million to 3 million lives a year and simultaneously halt global warming, reduce air and water pollution and develop secure, reliable energy sources - nearly all with existing technology and at costs comparable with what we spend on energy today - why wouldn't you do it? According to a new study coauthored by Stanford researcher Mark Z. Jacobson, we could accomplish all that by converting the world to clean, renewable energy sources and forgoing fossil fuels.
"Based on our findings, there are no technological or economic barriers to converting the entire world to clean, renewable energy sources," said Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering. "It is a question of whether we have the societal and political will."
He and Mark Delucchi, of the University of California-Davis, have written a two-part paper in Energy Policy in which they assess the costs, technology and material requirements of converting the planet, using a plan they developed.
The world they envision would run largely on electricity. Their plan calls for using wind, water and solar energy to generate power, with wind and solar power contributing 90 percent of the needed energy.
Geothermal and hydroelectric sources would each contribute about 4 percent in their plan (70 percent of the hydroelectric is already in place), with the remaining 2 percent from wave and tidal power.
Vehicles, ships and trains would be powered by electricity and hydrogen fuel cells. Aircraft would run on liquid hydrogen. Homes would be cooled and warmed with electric heaters - no more natural gas or coal - and water would be preheated by the sun.
Commercial processes would be powered by electricity and hydrogen. In all cases, the hydrogen would be produced from electricity. Thus, wind, water and sun would power the world.
The researchers approached the conversion with the goal that by 2030, all new energy generation would come from wind, water and solar, and by 2050, all pre-existing energy production would be converted as well.
"We wanted to quantify what is necessary in order to replace all the current energy infrastructure - for all purposes - with a really clean and sustainable energy infrastructure within 20 to 40 years," said Jacobson.
One of the benefits of the plan is that it results in a 30 percent reduction in world energy demand since it involves converting combustion processes to electrical or hydrogen fuel cell processes. Electricity is much more efficient than combustion.
That reduction in the amount of power needed, along with the millions of lives saved by the reduction in air pollution from elimination of fossil fuels, would help keep the costs of the conversion down.
"When you actually account for all the costs to society - including medical costs - of the current fuel structure, the costs of our plan are relatively similar to what we have today," Jacobson said.
One of the biggest hurdles with wind and solar energy is that both can be highly variable, which has raised doubts about whether either source is reliable enough to provide "base load" energy, the minimum amount of energy that must be available to customers at any given hour of the day.
Jacobson said that the variability can be overcome.
"The most important thing is to combine renewable energy sources into a bundle," he said. "If you combine them as one commodity and use hydroelectric to fill in gaps, it is a lot easier to match demand."
Wind and solar are complementary, Jacobson said, as wind often peaks at night and sunlight peaks during the day. Using hydroelectric power to fill in the gaps, as it does in our current infrastructure, allows demand to be precisely met by supply in most cases. Other renewable sources such as geothermal and tidal power can also be used to supplement the power from wind and solar sources.
"One of the most promising methods of insuring that supply matches demand is using long-distance transmission to connect widely dispersed sites," said Delucchi. Even if conditions are poor for wind or solar energy generation in one area on a given day, a few hundred miles away the winds could be blowing steadily and the sun shining.
"With a system that is 100 percent wind, water and solar, you can't use normal methods for matching supply and demand. You have to have what people call a supergrid, with long-distance transmission and really good management," he said.
Another method of meeting demand could entail building a bigger renewable-energy infrastructure to match peak hourly demand and use the off-hours excess electricity to produce hydrogen for the industrial and transportation sectors.
Using pricing to control peak demands, a tool that is used today, would also help.
Jacobson and Delucchi assessed whether their plan might run into problems with the amounts of material needed to build all the turbines, solar collectors and other devices.
They found that even materials such as platinum and the rare earth metals, the most obvious potential supply bottlenecks, are available in sufficient amounts. And recycling could effectively extend the supply.
"For solar cells there are different materials, but there are so many choices that if one becomes short, you can switch," Jacobson said. "Major materials for wind energy are concrete and steel and there is no shortage of those."
Jacobson and Delucchi calculated the number of wind turbines needed to implement their plan, as well as the number of solar plants, rooftop photovoltaic cells, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal and wave-energy installations.
They found that to power 100 percent of the world for all purposes from wind, water and solar resources, the footprint needed is about 0.4 percent of the world's land (mostly solar footprint) and the spacing between installations is another 0.6 percent of the world's land (mostly wind-turbine spacing), Jacobson said.
One of the criticisms of wind power is that wind farms require large amounts of land, due to the spacing required between the windmills to prevent interference of turbulence from one turbine on another.
"Most of the land between wind turbines is available for other uses, such as pasture or farming," Jacobson said. "The actual footprint required by wind turbines to power half the world's energy is less than the area of Manhattan." If half the wind farms were located offshore, a single Manhattan would suffice.
Jacobson said that about 1 percent of the wind turbines required are already in place, and a lesser percentage for solar power.
"This really involves a large scale transformation," he said. "It would require an effort comparable to the Apollo moon project or constructing the interstate highway system."
"But it is possible, without even having to go to new technologies," Jacobson said. "We really need to just decide collectively that this is the direction we want to head as a society."
India approves $12 bln S. Korean steel plant
India on Monday gave approval to South Korea's POSCO to build a giant $12 billion steel plant, in the country's biggest foreign investment deal since the launch of market reforms in 1991.
The POSCO deal is a test case for foreign investors eager to enter the fast-growing Asian economy, but it also puts the government on collision course with locals as farmland and forests are cleared to make way for the plant.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh gave his clearance but attached a series of strict conditions for the 12-million-tonne capacity complex in the eastern state of Orissa which is crucial to the global expansion strategy of POSCO.
It plans to use the project to source cheap raw materials and boost output.
"Projects such as that of POSCO have considerable economic, technological and strategic significance for the country," Ramesh said, while stressing "laws on environment and on forests must be implemented seriously".
A spokesman for POSCO, South Korea's biggest steelmaker, told AFP in Seoul the company welcomed the Indian government's approval and it would now go ahead with further land purchases, suspended in August by the environment ministry.
Ramesh, who has earned a reputation as a green crusader for blocking investment projects that threaten the environment, warned that the slew of conditions on POSCO would be "closely monitored".
Among the 28 conditions for the plant are restrictions on air emissions, and rules on water sustainability and the amount of green cover.
He is also withholding over 2,000 acres (809 hectares) -- nearly half the project area -- pending assurances there are no tribal people living in the area.
Approval for a port to be built nearby by POSCO for the plant was also subject to 32 conditions, including a ban on building in high erosion zones.
A government panel had earlier found "many serious lapses and illegalities" in assessments of the plant's environmental impact and "serious violations" in the public hearing process.
Amit Mitra, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the government's clearance showed "a careful balance" between economic growth objectives and environmental protection.
Abhay Sahoo, leader of the Anti-POSCO People's Movement, which has opposed the project since it was initially agreed in 2005, said the "clearance means nothing to us."
"We're going to fight against the project -- do whatever it takes," Sahoo told AFP.
POSCO's plant was among a number of big-ticket industrial projects that have run into difficulty over environmental and other issues.
Industrialisation has long been championed by economists as a way to create double-digit economic growth in India and pull tens of millions of people out of poverty.
But across the country, acquiring land for factories has frequently created battlegrounds.
Giant steelmaker ArcelorMittal has also found itself unable to acquire land for five years for a proposed plant in eastern India.
Ramesh's push to make sure projects meet environmental standards has pitted him against big business and cabinet colleagues, including Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh, who told him to be "pragmatic, not dogmatic".
Ramesh made headlines last year by blocking plans by British resource giant Vedanta to mine bauxite in India and has put other major projects on hold, including a new hill station in western India.
The POSCO approval comes after India saw foreign direct investment decline sharply last year. The country's central bank blamed that in part on "environment-sensitive policies" that affected investor sentiment.
For 2010, FDI fell 32 percent to $24 billion at the same time as locations such as Singapore grabbed 122 percent more foreign investment at $37 billion and China drew 6.3 percent more at $100 billion, according to UN figures.
Earlier this month, POSCO reported a sharp fall in fourth-quarter net profit to 525.4 billion won ($469 million), blaming the higher cost of raw materials
The POSCO deal is a test case for foreign investors eager to enter the fast-growing Asian economy, but it also puts the government on collision course with locals as farmland and forests are cleared to make way for the plant.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh gave his clearance but attached a series of strict conditions for the 12-million-tonne capacity complex in the eastern state of Orissa which is crucial to the global expansion strategy of POSCO.
It plans to use the project to source cheap raw materials and boost output.
"Projects such as that of POSCO have considerable economic, technological and strategic significance for the country," Ramesh said, while stressing "laws on environment and on forests must be implemented seriously".
A spokesman for POSCO, South Korea's biggest steelmaker, told AFP in Seoul the company welcomed the Indian government's approval and it would now go ahead with further land purchases, suspended in August by the environment ministry.
Ramesh, who has earned a reputation as a green crusader for blocking investment projects that threaten the environment, warned that the slew of conditions on POSCO would be "closely monitored".
Among the 28 conditions for the plant are restrictions on air emissions, and rules on water sustainability and the amount of green cover.
He is also withholding over 2,000 acres (809 hectares) -- nearly half the project area -- pending assurances there are no tribal people living in the area.
Approval for a port to be built nearby by POSCO for the plant was also subject to 32 conditions, including a ban on building in high erosion zones.
A government panel had earlier found "many serious lapses and illegalities" in assessments of the plant's environmental impact and "serious violations" in the public hearing process.
Amit Mitra, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the government's clearance showed "a careful balance" between economic growth objectives and environmental protection.
Abhay Sahoo, leader of the Anti-POSCO People's Movement, which has opposed the project since it was initially agreed in 2005, said the "clearance means nothing to us."
"We're going to fight against the project -- do whatever it takes," Sahoo told AFP.
POSCO's plant was among a number of big-ticket industrial projects that have run into difficulty over environmental and other issues.
Industrialisation has long been championed by economists as a way to create double-digit economic growth in India and pull tens of millions of people out of poverty.
But across the country, acquiring land for factories has frequently created battlegrounds.
Giant steelmaker ArcelorMittal has also found itself unable to acquire land for five years for a proposed plant in eastern India.
Ramesh's push to make sure projects meet environmental standards has pitted him against big business and cabinet colleagues, including Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh, who told him to be "pragmatic, not dogmatic".
Ramesh made headlines last year by blocking plans by British resource giant Vedanta to mine bauxite in India and has put other major projects on hold, including a new hill station in western India.
The POSCO approval comes after India saw foreign direct investment decline sharply last year. The country's central bank blamed that in part on "environment-sensitive policies" that affected investor sentiment.
For 2010, FDI fell 32 percent to $24 billion at the same time as locations such as Singapore grabbed 122 percent more foreign investment at $37 billion and China drew 6.3 percent more at $100 billion, according to UN figures.
Earlier this month, POSCO reported a sharp fall in fourth-quarter net profit to 525.4 billion won ($469 million), blaming the higher cost of raw materials
U.N. Report Suggests N. Korea Has Secret Nuclear Sites By: Chico Harlan | The Washington Post
U.N. Report Suggests N. Korea Has Secret Nuclear Sites
By: Chico Harlan | The Washington Post
By: Chico Harlan | The Washington Post
Pakistani Nuclear Arms Pose Challenge to U.S. Policy By: David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt | The New York Times
Pakistani Nuclear Arms Pose Challenge to U.S. Policy
By: David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt | The New York Times
By: David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt | The New York Times
Skeptical about new NRC blog
Skeptical about new NRC blog
Transparency is good, but making it a success requires more than just one way communicationMonday, January 31, 2011
The New NRC Blog
Welcome Message from the Chairman
Welcome to the new NRC Blog. We are excited about using this new communications tool and hope it will increase our collaboration and interaction with the public. The blog is intended to serve as a vehicle for informing, explaining and clarifying the actions, roles and responsibilities of the NRC, raising awareness about our agency and its mission, and – most importantly – giving us an opportunity to hear from you.
Staff from throughout the NRC will be posting regularly on the blog, addressing a variety of topics. Just to be clear, the blog is not replacing our usual modes of communicating with and getting feedback from the public. Instead, it is an additional way of communicating with you. We will continue to rely on public meetings, Federal Register notices and traditional media to convey official information.
We hope you will comment on our posts and on the comments of others. Please be sure to read the Blog Guidelines before doing so. Comments are moderated and we will review them and get them up as quickly as possible during regular business hours.
If you have questions, issues or concerns about nuclear safety or security, contracting with the NRC, or working at our agency, please use the links below to find more information:
Allegations: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/allegations/safety-concern.html.
Doing business with the NRC: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/contracting.html.
Job opportunities with the NRC: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/employment.html.
Welcome again to the new NRC Blog. We hope this is the beginning of a lively and engaging dialogue.
Gregory Jaczko
Chairman, NRC
White House official cites ‘education problem’ on climate
White House official cites ‘education problem’ on climate
Toshiba's U.S. Unit Faces $100 Million Gender-Discrimination Suit
Toshiba's U.S. Unit Faces $100 Million Gender-Discrimination Suit
Nuclear Energy Producer With Huge Upside Potential
Nuclear Energy Producer With Huge Upside Potential
New estimates put Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at more than 100
New estimates put Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at more than 100
China has started a Thorium molten salt reactor project
China has started a Thorium molten salt reactor project
The Chinese Academy of Sciences started the first one of the strategic leader in science and technology projects, "the future of advanced nuclear fission energy - nuclear energy, thorium-based molten salt reactor system" project was officially launched. The scientific goal is to use 20 years or so, developed a new generation of nuclear energy systems, all the technical level reached in the trial and have all intellectual property rights.Sunday, January 30, 2011
Will China eat our lunch over the LFTR too? by Charles Barton
A couple of months ago I wrote apost titled, "Keeping up with China: The Economic Advantage of Molten Salt Nuclear Technology." I argued that Chinese LWRs were going to come in at about 40% cheaper than reactors built i the west, and that low cost electricity would give China a huge economic advantage. I then pointed out that Molten Salt reactors had the potential to substantually lower nuclear costs, thus offering the United States a route to energy competitivemess. wFriday, Hua Bei who is, I believe a Chinese Scientist posted on Energy from Thorium the following comment:
"Five days ago, China just started the TMSR project in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) annual report conference, which indicates that China has joined the international MSR club officially. Chinese TMSR project is one of the first four launched projects in 2011, as can be called the "Strategic and Leading Project of Science and Technology". Its ultimate target is to investigate and develop a whole new nuclear system ( thorium based molten salt nuclear system) in about 20 years. The website link of related reports are as follow.
http://www.cas.cn/xw/zyxw/
http://whb.news365.com.cn/yw/
For those who do are unfamiliar TMSR stands for the European name for the LFTR. I posted this comment on Nuclear Green, and received the following comment from horos11 "charles,
you know, I read this, and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
After all, this site and others have been sounding the clarion call to action on this, and I should be glad that someone finally heeded it and its getting traction in a place that really matters, but I have a sinking feeling that:
a. its going to take far less than their planned 20 years
b. they are going to succeed beyond their wildest expectations.
Which means that the next, giant sucking sound we may hear is the sound of the 5 trillion dollar energy market heading east, further depressing our economy, weakening the dollar (and the euro) and ultimately making the US economy dependent on rescue from the chinese in the future (when they are done rescuing themselves).
Yet, in the large scheme of things, this is a definite good, and may be our savior from anthropomorphic climate change.
so again, laugh? or cry. I guess its up to how you view things - I guess I'm tentatively laughing at the moment, but mostly from the overwhelming irony of all this."
- Charles Barton
"Five days ago, China just started the TMSR project in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) annual report conference, which indicates that China has joined the international MSR club officially. Chinese TMSR project is one of the first four launched projects in 2011, as can be called the "Strategic and Leading Project of Science and Technology". Its ultimate target is to investigate and develop a whole new nuclear system ( thorium based molten salt nuclear system) in about 20 years. The website link of related reports are as follow.
http://www.cas.cn/xw/zyxw/
http://whb.news365.com.cn/yw/
For those who do are unfamiliar TMSR stands for the European name for the LFTR. I posted this comment on Nuclear Green, and received the following comment from horos11 "charles,
you know, I read this, and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
After all, this site and others have been sounding the clarion call to action on this, and I should be glad that someone finally heeded it and its getting traction in a place that really matters, but I have a sinking feeling that:
a. its going to take far less than their planned 20 years
b. they are going to succeed beyond their wildest expectations.
Which means that the next, giant sucking sound we may hear is the sound of the 5 trillion dollar energy market heading east, further depressing our economy, weakening the dollar (and the euro) and ultimately making the US economy dependent on rescue from the chinese in the future (when they are done rescuing themselves).
Yet, in the large scheme of things, this is a definite good, and may be our savior from anthropomorphic climate change.
so again, laugh? or cry. I guess its up to how you view things - I guess I'm tentatively laughing at the moment, but mostly from the overwhelming irony of all this."
- Charles Barton
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