Techdiplomacy

Calloway Nuclear Power Station Fulton, Missouri

This is not a new subject for me I wrote a piece called Nuclear Power is Not Renewable Energy, last year, check the archives October 16, 2008, it’s there.

Now the Nuclear Power industry is actually challenging Solar and Wind power, they are claiming that they are far more ‘green’, than is the traditionaly accepted renewables, solar and wind.  This is almost criminal and I cannot see where this information has it’s basis in fact. 

I would like to reprint part of my post from October 16, 2008, in order to reinforce my thoughts, (I have done research!) there are a number of underlying problems that I don’t touch

I suscribe to Power Engineering, “the magazine of power generation”, (self described motto), most of it’s subscribers work in the fossil fuel and nuclear power industries, they often have heated discussions on this topic.  I used to work with these guys, I know the mind set.  They actually did a poll in which they asked the question, “is nuclear power a renewable energy resource”, the majority said, “yes it is”, I was not all that surprised.  This is giving a knee jerk opinion because you pay your mortgage by working in these industries.  You would like to believe that you’re doing good rather than destroying your environment.  These are not ‘bad’ men, simply ill informed.  They don’t spend a lot of time researching the topic, for the most part.  I’m not saying, no one does, just that, most don’t.  This is a subject that begs research, and there is a lot of information out there in this electronic age.

Please take a little time to read part of my post from October 16, 2008, the information still applies.  This has to do with the problem of bringing the nuclear power plants in operation up to speed.  I said this in regard to the costs associated with bringing our aging nuclear ‘fleet’ up to modern standards

The owners of some plants want to replace low pressure steam paths with higher pressure steam flow equipment. This theoretically could result in higher output. The emphasis on theoretically is mine. I have worked in the nuclear power industry as an engineer and one thing is certain, and that is nothing is certain. It is hoped that this solution will address reliability issues with these existing steam turbines.

The retrofit that most are opting for would include installing new low pressure rotors, rotating and stationary blades, inner casings and blade carriers. The scope of this type of retrofit would be large and costly. They would have to install or replace: high efficiency, integrally shrouded, reaction type blading for their front stages; longer last stage rotating blades to reduce the energy content of the steam leaving the turbine, thereby increasing turbine output; provide consistent and predictable vibration characteristics, snubbers at three quarter height will need to interconnect the last stage rotating blades and the second to last stage blades will need to be linked by integral tip shrouding; provide reduced stage leakage due to better sealing and reaction characteristics over the length of the blade; and select materials to provide erosion corrosion characteristics.

I at the time emphasized that I didn’t want to confuse anyone by using a lot of technical jargon to indicate that just updating a small portion of that which is huge, is a large almost impossible task.  I said that owners of utilities would better serve the public by investing in a new power grid, not endless repairs of our aging nuclear power stations. 

The current effort to paint themselves green is an effort to get the go-ahead to build new plants.  We are already paying dearly for the plants already in operation, by our rising costs for electricity.  The supporters of this notion are for the most part, people engaged in the nuclear power industry.  I once made a good living as a design engineer in this industry.  So I understand, I just don’t approve of this line of thinking. 

Renewable energy by it’s very name is energy that can be obtained in a fairly passive manner.  If you have to mine it, process it, or burn it, then it isn’t renewable.  Even the uranium required for nuclear power is not renewable and it is not forever.  The sun and the wind will be with us as long as man exists, for exist we will not if we don’t have these sources.  Solar power is from renewable sources, wind turbines spin because of a renewable source of energy.  The sun and wind are virtually omnipotent, uranium is not.

I won’t repeat the problems of nuclear waste, only to say that nothing has changed.  We still have no idea as to what to do with the waste or how to solve the problem that one of the components of nuclear waste is weapon’s grade plutonium.  I am researching this situation further, some strides have been made by the French, however there are still problems associated with nuclear power and the reactors required to operate these systems.

I wanted to say this because I believe to seriously give the nuclear power industry free rein, would harm mankind and our environment in the long run.  Any thoughts?  Make a comment, we’ll print it and we will answer any questions put to us, see you around the galaxy…

Nuclear and Fossil Fuel Plants in Your Neighborhood?

Nuclear power reactors are slated by the year 2050 to produce more than a fifth of the world’s electricity.  Countries like China and India, from a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), are demanding power on a scale larger than ever before.  There are 439 reactors operating in the world.  Another 50 countries are considering nuclear power and 12 are preparing to implement it.  Over 90 new plants are in the planning stage and have been approved, according to the World Nuclear Association.  Twenty reactors have filed applications in the United States.  By June of 2008 41 reactors were being built around the world.  It takes a liittle over 5 years to build a plant according to OECD.

There is enough uranium to last the industry until 2050, the OECD released a report saying that the ratio of resource to comsumption is better that than of gas or oil.  This would mean that countries around the world would continue to build these dangerous plants for another forty years.  There is no question about the inherant danger in continuing to build nuclear power stations.  The point now is, here is another resource that is declining because of our eagerness to experiment with substances that are in short supply and unpredictable, we have no knowledge of how to harness this power without the spector of waste that includes weapons grade plutonium. If we would simply consider renewable energy resources we could generate the power the world needs, and we could (if we have the patience to wait and see) find another use for the power the we can generate if we experiment with uranium until we come up with safe uses for this precious natural resource.  Uranium is not a renewable energy resource, it is declining every day.  The money spent today on an unreliable and dangerous source of power (nuclear) could be spent on a new power grid and investing in renewable energy sources.  We would find ourselves propelled into a safer and cleaner environment in the near future.

A call has gone out from IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei  for international control over the nuclear fuel cycle to prevent using a civilian atomic energy industry for weapons development.  This would possibly be similar to the US’s NRC.  The idea would be to start a nuclear fuel bank under the IAEA to bring new enrichment and reprocessing operations under multinational control and eventually include existing facilities.  This would according to the director general help to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. 

Perhaps this would provide some measure of protection, however it still does not address the problem of waste disposal, part of which is weapons grade plutonium.  The only solution is to completely phase out nuclear power to generate electricity as it is expensive and dangerous.  We must rethink the generation of power and start encouraging investing in renewable energy.  The days of fossil fuel power stations or nuclear power stations are at an end due to global warming and other far more ominous concerns.  We must convince the world community that renewables are the future and it will be  a brighter and safer future for all concerned.