Experts Discuss Nuclear Power As Energy

[smb]

Only by building more nuclear power stations can the world meet its soaring energy needs while averting environmental disaster, experts at an international conference said Monday.

Energy ministers and officials from 74 countries were in Paris for the two-day meeting on the future of nuclear energy, as concerns about global warming and fossil fuel supplies renew governments' interest in atomic power.

Full Article

[Coastie for Truth]

1. Nuclear Power is Probably The Lesser of the Evils

Nuclear power may be the lesser of the evils--

1. The "near petroleums" like oil sands, oil shale, and even Fischer-Tropsch liquefied coal all imposed very environmental costs in the "mining" and "refining" (I worked at the old DOE Lab in Bruceton PA when I was in college - on Fischer-Tropsch).

2. Photovoltaics - even mounted on photothermal reflectors - still limited by the band gap of photodiodes to the UV portion of the spectrum, and for practical, hands-on, architecture and home building, present yields are about 2 KW for an entire single family residential roof of photovoltaic cells.

3. Geothermal, hydro - location specific.

4. Wind - to some extent location specific.

5. Biomass - the "industrial" EtOH and MeOH processes (elevated temperature and pressure) are as environmentally friendly as a petroleum refinery, while the gentle, environmentally friendly processes (compare to vintnering, home brew, and moonshine) require long residence times.

6. Hydrogen - requires either fossil fuels to reform for H2 or electricity to decompose the water.

7. So, nuclear may be the path of least resistance.

8. The "do nothing option" will only lead to resource wars (as in Iraq) and recessions. I think we are really past the point where Mini-Coopers and better insulation will solve the problem.

There is no good option

[smb]

2. True

Photovoltaics - even mounted on photothermal reflectors - still limited by the band gap of photodiodes to the UV portion of the spectrum, and for practical, hands-on, architecture and home building, present yields are about 2 KW for an entire single family residential roof of photovoltaic cells.
Worse, they pose two types of safety issues -- the obvious problem of people breaking their necks getting the leaves and snow cleared off the panels and the more subtle problem of disposing of all the nasty chemical waste generated in solar-cell production.

[Coastie for Truth]

3. "nasty chemical waste generated in solar-cell production" same as

computer chip wafer production -- and fewer organic solvents (the bad stuff) because there is much much less photolithography.

[smb]

4. The difference

On the other hand, you don't need acre upon acre of computer chips, which means that the nasty chemicals involved are required in greater quantity for solar cells.

[Coastie for Truth]

5. I live between two Intel fabs and a Cisco fab

I went to grad school just down wind from a petroleum refinery, I grew up in the hillside above steel mills and down wind from Donoroa PA (http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/Rachel_Carson/crucible.htm).

The PV cell fab process is carried out in vacuum in a clean room with dopant levels (parts per 10 to the minus 17) of the toxics. The issue is NOT the total throughput of a fab -- but the through put of a deposition chamber. The relevant environmental issue is the volume of a single dep chamber during a single stage --- not the total throughput and the amount of dopant in a single line between adjacent check valves.

MY PH.D IS IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING - WHILE MOST OF MY CAREER WAS IN ALTERNATIVE AND RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING -- I WORKED IN A PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL FAB FOR SOME OF THAT TIME ---- AND IN A CHIP FAB WHEN I WASN'T IN THE ENERGY FIELD. BEEN THERE - DONE THAT - DONE THE CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION AND THE MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY AND THE ION BEAM EPITAXY AND THE SPUTTERING AND THE PHOTO LITH AND THE E-BEAM LITH AND THE X-RAY LITH AND EVEN THE ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE ENGINEERING AND THE OSHA COMPLIANCE ENGINEERING -- AND THE "SUPREM" - NO "E" IN "SUPREM"- AND THE VERILOG AND THE VHDL. AND I STILL LIVE IN A CONDO COMPLEX WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE OF THREE FABS

Your interest is appreciated,

"Coastie"

PhD (ChemE), PE (ChemE, Safety and Environmental Engr)
Three Years USCG - HazMat Specialist (Ports of Houston and New Orleans)
Published papers on HazMat and Industrial Toxicology - Chem Engr Progress