BLACK ENERGY

Black Energy, the first chapter in my book (called Book 1), SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth, says:

Incidentally, gasoline is ten times more expensive than coal on a weight basis. Comparing BTU/pound, coal provides five times more energy than natural gas. However, with regard to effective energy, coal produces twice the amount of carbon dioxide than natural gas. Getting lost in all these numbers? Book 1 attempts to make sense of all this.

Further:

There should be no racial connotations to black versus white energy. Coal and oil are black-colored and sunlight is white light. Remember, though, that our Sun is nuclear powered, fusing hydrogen to produce heat. But this is white nuclear energy: fusion. Black nuclear energy is fission, from the breakdown of large atoms, like uranium and plutonium.

We all know that the combustion of fossil fuels causes air pollution and global warming.  What you might not be aware of, though, are the hidden costs, provided by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Fission is the nuclear process that seems particularly onerous.  However, some good, bad and debatable points:

• There is hardly any air pollution (absent any catclysmic explosion, like Fukushima) nor much contribution to global warming.
• To produce electricity a 1000 MW nuclear reactor contains 75 tons of enriched uranium, and about a third of this amount is used to produce electricity for a full year. 

• However, mining, processing and utilization produce a great deal of waste, all radioactive.  One year of nuclear electricity from a typical commercial reactor requires as much as 400,000 tons of ore.
• In comparison, one year worth of electricity from a 1000 MW coal plant needs over 20,000 tons of coal, and for a natural gas generator about 8.5 million cubic meters of gas.

• There are now 118 elements, and all of them with an atomic number higher than 83 are radioactive.
• Radioactive bombs could add a whole new dimension to terror.
• Worse, terrorists have the capability of building an Atomic Bomb.

In 1996 nuclear fission generated 18% of the world electricity.  Today, only 11%, with further drops expected.  However:

Growth has already started to pick up with about 3.1 GW (or 3100 MW) new capacity added in the first half of 2018 in Russia and China while, at the very least, 4GW more to be completed by the end of the year – more than doubling the capacity additions in 2017.

In 2019 new connections to the grid would exceed 10GW by a significant margin.

If nuclear is in decline, why then do China, India, Russia and other countries keep building nuclear power plants?

You would think that the Fukushima nuclear disaster (photo from the tragedy) in 2011 would have for the present condemned this option  But, I guess not.  

While the latest U.S. nuclear powerplants are very expensive, that is because these are said to be first of its kind projects, without much government help and a lot of bad press, making approvals lengthy, if not impossible.  Their argument is that solar and wind projects get a lot of government help, but the sun does not shine at night, wind energy is erratic and battery power for storage is very expensive.  They should be close friends, for nuclear fission and non-baseload (like from our sun and winds) green energy are perfect complements.  How many of you knew that the USA generates the most nuclear power in the world today?

Is there any clean future for fission?  Well, we should look closer at thorium.  An acquaintance, Kirk Sorensen, has long been advocating this option.  If you clicked on that posting, I said:

The three most promising mega options that could someday satisfy a globe of 7 billion are thorium fission, heavy ion fusion and the Blue Revolution, and it is possible that all will be required by 2100. 

To Kirk over dinner:

I mentioned that I had once worked under Edward Teller at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and he indicated that Teller's final paper was on the thorium cycle.  It was published in 2004 a year after he passed away.

Thorium:

• Is three times more abundant in nature than uranium.
• Unlike mined uranium, which needs to be refined, you can use just about all the thorium without much processing.
• By the nature of its reaction type, it won't be faced with a Fukushima-type meltdown.
• Cannot be used for nuclear weapons.

To quote from NPR (that's Flatow to the left):

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. What if there was a nuclear reactor that was meltdown safe, generated power inexpensively, created no weapons-grade byproducts and burnt up existing nuclear waste stockpiled? Sound too good to be true?

So why wasn't this option selected as the nuclear fission pathway?  The Manhattan Project and subsequent Cold War influenced the focus on uranium and plutonium, for here is where you could get the active ingredients for the Atomic Bomb.  India, however, is getting close to commercializing the thorium option, and countries like China, Russia and Japan are taking a close look.

From Forbes:

This conversation – "nuclear good but uranium dangerous" – regularly leads to a very good question: what about thorium? Thorium sits two spots left of uranium on the periodic table, in the same row or series. Elements in the same series share characteristics. With uranium and thorium, the key similarity is that both can absorb neutrons and transmute into fissile elements.

That means thorium could be used to fuel nuclear reactors, just like uranium. And as proponents of the underdog fuel will happily tell you, thorium is more abundant in nature than uranium, is not fissile on its own (which means reactions can be stopped when necessary), produces waste products that are less radioactive, and generates more energy per ton.

Again from Forbes about that other black energy, coal:

• The world's cities are expanding by 75 million humans per year.
• Coal supplies 40% of all the power generated.
• With all the hoopla about the terribleness of coal, consumption rose in 2017.

• China uses 50% of the world's coal, with India #2 at 12%, the USA #3 at 9% and Europe #4 at 8%.
• Coal is an integral component of steel production, which is needed for windmills, all renewable energy equipment and nuclear power plants.
• Asia has proven coal resources for between 80 and 135 years, with much more still to be found.

• U.S. coal plants average 42 years of age, while Asia's plants are just 11 years old.
• China added 39,000 MW of coal plants last year, and worldwide, 200,000 MW of coal plants are currently under construction, with another 450,000 MW in planning.  A typical nuclear power plant is about 1000 MW.

Then, of course, if you're Donald Trump, you say things like:

     Coal is best because it can survive a bomb.

Huh?  Well, with oil, you can bomb a pipeline.  So for national security purposes, Trump says:

     I don't people think people talk about it enough--coal.

Let me end with what is said to be the clean version of fossil fuels, natural gas, which is mostly methane.  This is the gas that I fear for The Venus Syndrome.  I wrote that article for The Huffington Post 7.5 years ago when oil had reached $138.54/barrel, the record high.  Now, the WTI price of oil is under $50/barrel.  This low price partly explains why the U.S. economy is doing well.  Mind you, less than two months ago, oil was at $70/barrel, with an expectation of $100/barrel soon.  Just shows how fickle and largely uncontrollable oil is as a commodity.

The hydrofracturing of shale stimulates the production of oil and gas.  Fracking made America an oil exporting country.  Read Saudi America, by Bethany McLean (editor-at-large for Fortune, a journalist who is known for her work on the Enron scandal and 2008 financial crisis), for it shares some incredible truths:

• It was illegal to export domestic oil from the U.S. for forty years, until President Barack Obama allowed it because of fracking.
• Texas, the state, is the third largest oil producer, next to Saudi Arabia and Russia.

• A man to remember in this field is Aubrey McClendon, who died in a car accident two years ago.  This occurred a day after he was indicted for business practices dealing with fracking.  He was part owner of the Oklahoma City NBA franchise.

• The environmental consequences of fracking are horrible.
• Something to do with cash flow, as most companies actually lose money by being in this business.
• People who predict anything about oil are routinely wrong.

Can't end Black Energy without another Trump statement:

Fracking is a form of flowing magic that eliminates state taxes, an easy way to access riches underground that can be stolen from you by other states if you don’t drill first.

Click on this to read further, although:

It can be dangerous to try to make sense of Trump’s utter nonsense, but let’s forge on nonetheless.

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