Solar

*Goal - to increase the electricity generated from solar power to 100%. Is it possible (enough land)? Can the campus (i.e. the student tuition) afford it?

Cos

t of p

rodu

cing

ele

ctric

ity (

cent

s / k

Wh) 12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Stephen Bradforth

Note: Nuclear is 80% in France

“We made the mistake of lumping nuclear energy in with nuclear weapons, as if all things nuclear were evil. I think that’s as big a mistake as if you lumped nuclear medicine in with nuclear weapons.” Patrick Moore, former Director of Greenpeace International, now controversial advocate for Nuclear Power.

Pr. James Lovelock (author of the Gaia theory),

Patrick Moore (co-founder of Greenpeace international in 1971 in Vancouver),

Stewart Brand (author of the Whole Earth Catalog)

Bishop Hugh Montefiore (founder of Friends Of the Earth)

Stephen Tindale (former executive director of Greenpeace UK) who protested against nuclear power for 20 years

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) who was hostile to nuclear power until 2005, is now neutral to it.

Fossil fuels energy density (MJ/kg)coal, anthracite 31oil, crude (petroleum) 42 Non-fossil fuelsWater at 100m dam height 0.001 MJ/kgLithium Ion rechargeable battery 0.7 MJ/kgAlkaline battery 0.6 MJ/kgUranium (nuclear fission) 20,000,000 MJ/kg (20 TJ/kg)Nuclear Fusion ~60,000,000 MJ/kg (60 TJ/kg)

Source: The Physics Hypertextbook

A little science

From “Hyperphysics”, Georgia State Univ.

NUCLEAR POWER:

FissionUranium nucleus splits into

Fusion (the power source of the sun)Two hydrogen nuclei fuse to form helium atom.

*If fission reaction goes out of control (e.g., not controlling the emission of neutrons), a nuclear meltdown can happen which can then release highly radioactive particles in the atmosphere.

*In Nuclear fusion if the reaction goes out of control, the reaction would stop automatically as it’ll cool down. Also the amount of radioactive material produced as waste is very small.

*Fusion reaction is therefore more environmentally friendly.

*Energy requirement: It takes less energy to split two atoms with fission than it does to fuse two atoms.

*This is why fission reactors were developed first, and why fusion reactors have not been developed yet.

Source: Diffen.com

• $3.4bn at Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California

• 192 laser beams are focused through holes in a target container.

• Inside a 2mm pellet containing an extremely cold mixture of hydrogen isotopes (tritium and deuterium)

• Lasers strike the container’s walls, which in turn radiate X-rays

• The X-rays strip material from the outer shell of the fuel pellet, heating it up to millions of degrees

• The escaping material compresses the fuel by hundreds of times

• If the compression of the fuel is high enough and uniform enough, the hydrogen isotopes can fuse, creating helium and releasing "hot" neutrons

Argued to be sustainable because it produces no CO2 or other gas emissions and very little uranium is used. Fuel can be re-

processed.

=

In 2005, 17 countries produced concentrated uranium oxides:Canada (28%), Australia (23%), Kazakhstan (11%), Russia (8%), Namibia (8%), Niger (7%), Uzbekistan (6%), USA (3%), Argentina (2%), Ukraine (2%) and China (2%)

$60/lb

$60/lb is about 120x cost of gasoline/kg. Energy density is 500,000x greater

*Enough Uranium exists for 85 years (without re-processing) but experts disagree on total supply.

David Goodstein suggests in “Out of Gas” that if we switched overnight to nuclear, the oil crisis would simply be replaced by a nuclear crisis in just 20 years or so, as uranium reserves also became depleted. (essentially “Peak Uranium”)

*Many scientists and policy makers were coming to the (reluctant) conclusion that investment in nuclear energy – another generation of plants – was the only way to buy time.

*It would allow reducing greenhouse gases (achieving targets California, Europe for example had announced), avoid reliance on declining oil and gas, avoid complete reliance on coal while trying to ramp up renewables.

*Until….

*why the hydrogen explosions ?

*Fukushima fallout is more than just radioactive water and radiation.

*Total changes in energy policy but different approaches by different countries

Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, 270 miles from Los Angeles

* two 1GW reactors have been offline this year. One fro routine servicing and the other after coolant tubes were discovered to be leaking.

*It’s all about the numbers

Can we do it, can we afford it, and what compromises do each of us, and our society have to make in each scenario?

Mini-panel on undergraduate research

RRI 101

*Fracking gives fossil fuels a new lease on life

*Carbon Capture for Coal

*Nuclear

*Conservation

*Getting renewables there faster

Read the second part of MacKay’s book and see where your team think we should be heading next.