Alternative energy

#26
#26
rwemyss said:
You are correct about uranium needing to be imported, most deposits are in Africa.

I'd be interested to see the data that backs up the indication that the uranium available will only last 250 years...
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Resources and reserves
Current economic uranium resources will last for over 100 years at current consumption rates, while it is expected there is twice that amount awaiting discovery. With reprocessing and recycling, the reserves are good for thousands of years.[34].
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Uranium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
#27
#27
MontereyVol said:
Enviromentalist would be a problem.

Radiation leakage is always a concern but this is a small unit and the reactor is actually underground. Most of it is self contained so if problems or refueling occur the unit gets removed and shipped to a processing facility. This is on the scale of what Navy ships use, or have been using for years.
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We can arrest them for engaging in un-American activities and shoot them. Problem solved...
 
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#28
#28
TennTradition said:
The mobility is impressive. I got the impression, as you did, that they think this is a good application for remote/rural areas. But, it will likely have to be service by train...

In some ways I don't completely get the remote/rural thing. If the area if fed with power ... couldn't the power just be piped in from a large plant that is farther away? I know distribution isn't easy...but neither is train-carrying in fresh reactors and reactors with spent fuel....

Regardless, increased flexibility is generally a good thing....
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This could be used heavily in the mortheast... where they rely heavily on combustion turbine generation (which is very expensive).
 
#31
#31
Rasputin_Vol said:
So?
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It would make the idea that much harder to sell to the public (i.e., if there were to be an increased frequency of spent fuel on our railways). But, apparently that is a moot (or at least less of a) point if they can operate 30 years without refueling.
 
#33
#33
TennTradition said:
:eek:lol: reprocessing...ahhh...I remember when I used to think that we would reprocess. OK..so I am sort of joking..but the political prospects (and security) don't look so good....
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I had the same thought, they seemed optimistic with their numbers on recyling.

One of the neat things about nuclear power plants is they can be built in conjunction with desalination plants where the waste heat from the nuclear facility is used to provide desalinated water. Especially in arid regions like the southwest (or Atlanta lol) this could be very beneficial.
 
#34
#34
oklavol said:
One of the neat things about nuclear power plants is they can be built in conjunction with desalination plants where the waste heat from the nuclear facility is used to provide desalinated water. Especially in arid regions like the southwest (or Atlanta lol) this could be very beneficial.
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That would make way too much sense to do that.
 
#35
#35
oklavol said:
I had the same thought, they seemed optimistic with their numbers on recyling.
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You're an expert enough to accept the prognostication for how much fuel is still available to be mined, but to not accept how much fuel can be reprocessed?

You brought up the numbers... :ermm:
 
#36
#36
rwemyss said:
You're an expert enough to accept the prognostication for how much fuel is still available to be mined, but to not accept how much fuel can be reprocessed?

You brought up the numbers... :ermm:
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I never said I was an expert, but I did take an energy conversion and conservation class in college which discussed energy reserves in the world, and know how to use google. The number I found was consistent with what I remembered in class. My professor never discussed it potentially being recycled forever. Seems like that would have been something relevant he would have discussed.
 
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#37
#37
oklavol said:
I never said I was an expert, but I did take an energy conversion and conservation class in college which discussed energy reserves in the world, and know how to use google. The number I found was consistent with what I remembered in class. My professor never discussed it potentially being recycled forever. Seems like that would have been something relevant he would have discussed.
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and goodness knows that a college professor teaching a class on energy conservation would have no axe to grind.
 
#38
#38
oklavol said:
I never said I was an expert, but I did take an energy conversion and conservation class in college which discussed energy reserves in the world, and know how to use google. The number I found was consistent with what I remembered in class. My professor never discussed it potentially being recycled forever. Seems like that would have been something relevant he would have discussed.
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The source for recycling for thousands of years was the same one used for current reserves left to mine.

Oddly, the source has changed from when I originally looked this up. It took me to a government report... now it takes me to a magazine article. :wacko:

I'll dig up the report later.
 
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