tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post3916906878208165851..comments2024-02-16T17:52:44.944-06:00Comments on The Nuclear Green Revolution: The Thorium silver bullet.Charles Bartonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01125297013064527425noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-75401417701686434952009-05-29T05:08:27.410-05:002009-05-29T05:08:27.410-05:00How pratical is methanol as liquid fuel for transp...How pratical is methanol as liquid fuel for transportation? Is methanol particurally more toxic than gasoline?Alex Pnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-86317791673356990542009-05-29T02:38:35.340-05:002009-05-29T02:38:35.340-05:00Energy allocation by central state control will gu...<I>Energy allocation by central state control will guarantee a world war over remaining fossil fuel supplies</I>Isn't that what TPTB want, to solve the alleged "overpopulation" problem?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-52591918665986616362009-05-28T23:30:38.089-05:002009-05-28T23:30:38.089-05:00No, a fluidised bed is a mechanical arrangement th...No, a fluidised bed is a mechanical arrangement that can be used for a number of things, from deep freezing to chemical reactions like combustion - and even <A HREF="http://www.tnw.tudelft.nl/live/pagina.jsp?id=e8905cf4-9aba-4c6c-b48e-54c0f356d6bf&lang=en" REL="nofollow">nuclear reactors</A>; it's just that "reactor" is also used of chemical processing. FLUBERs use fluidising to provide an analogue of liquids, so I was wondering if you knew anything of work in this area. As well as the example I just linked to, I can certainly imagine an analogue of an <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqueous_homogeneous_reactor" REL="nofollow">Aqueous Homogeneous Reactor</A> that used (say) uranium carbide particles fluidised in sugar charcoal by carbon monoxide or some other suitable gas.P.M.Lawrencehttp://users.beagle.com.au/peterlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-71483517629698142212009-05-28T22:18:00.474-05:002009-05-28T22:18:00.474-05:00Regarding Hydro and Liquid fuels. In the North, pe...Regarding Hydro and Liquid fuels. In the North, peak winter heating load is up to 8 times average energy consumption. So even though there is lots of Hydro potential in the North, it is not much good at supplying heating loads due to the extremely high - I guess you would call Crest Factor. And to make matters worth Hydro is lowest in the Winter when heating demand is highest. You can talk expensive storage systems like Pumped Hydro, CAES, Molten Salt or Batteries but they won’t even come remotely close to supplying peak Winter Heating Loads. You can put in a Nuclear or Hydro system that is oversized by a factor of 8, but then you will pay 8 times the capital cost for the same return on investment. That leaves only one good option – that is Natural Gas or Liquid Fuels for Winter Heat Load. Natural gas is usually not available in Northern Communities due to the extreme cost of pipelines. That leaves only the Liquid Fuels option.<br /><br />According to a recent report of the EIA, it is expected energy demand in developing countries is going to increase rapidly for the next 20 years. With Peak Oil imminent, this is going to put us in a desperate situation for liquid fuels. The best alternative is Methanol, as it can fairly cheaply be made from surplus or peak electricity and atmospheric, waste biomass carbon or flue gas CO2 to be Carbon Neutral. That is precisely why the Oil & Gas industry is doing their damndest to block Methanol as a fuel. It is incredible stupidity and corruption that all that Arctic NG has been sitting their for over 30 years, waiting for environmentally contentious pipelines to be built, when it could be converted to Methanol for 7 cents a liter and shipped by tanker to communities presently burning noxious Fuel Oil. The latest stunt of the Oil Industry is to have their cronies in the EPA try to declare Methanol a human carcinogen, based on one ludicrous, undocumented study. Just as they managed to get the EPA and the Canadian Government to lower NOx emission standards for Passenger vehicles to 1/6th that of Europe’s. No problem with carcinogenic Particulates, CO2, or SOx emissions – about the same as Europe’s - just NOx, which effectively killed the high efficiency diesel passenger vehicle in North America. Criminally corrupt arseholes. The latest Mercedes Benz 3.0 litre BlueTec diesel in the Jeep Grand Cherokee has only a 15% better fuel economy than the 3.6 litre gas engine, in spite of diesel fuel having 13% more energy content – this is precisely due to the ridiculously low NOx level set for light duty vehicles in North America.<br /><br />The best and cheapest way to provide that extremely important Peak Demand energy is from existing Oil & Gas supplies. Wasting them to supply baseload energy is inexcusable stupidity. A criminal assault on the survival of future generations. And one of the biggest culprits in that category is Wind Energy. It uses mostly NG to complement its output – thus effectively wasting NG for baseload energy while the wayward Wind supplies some unpredictable Peak Energy. Wind requires the waste of our precious NG supply to supply baseload power – and inefficiently at that – using almost as much additional NG, due to the inefficient cycling of Open Cycle Gas Turbines, as it replaces when generating power. You might as well attach a NG pipeline to each Wind Turbine. That’s why I’ve decided to change the term “the Renewables” to “the Refillables” since they burn so much fuel in their Backup Cycle.<br /><br />We need NUCLEAR to supply ALL BASELOAD ENERGY – CONSERVE OUR NG! A message to the two fossil fuel lackeys – Pickens and Gore.Warren Heathnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-60403142485463306302009-05-28T20:16:42.506-05:002009-05-28T20:16:42.506-05:00I'm glad that someone brought up the idea of the S...I'm glad that someone brought up the idea of the Silver Bullet. In wikipedia someone wrote:<br /><br />The term has been adopted into a general metaphor, where "silver bullet" refers to any straightforward solution perceived to have extreme effectiveness. The phrase typically appears with an expectation that some new technology or practice will easily cure a major prevailing problem.<br /><br />Given that definition, nuclear energy in general is a silver bullet solution to emission free electricity generation. It could eliminate almost all CO2 from electricity generation in the United States. Senator Lamar Alexander's 100 new nuclear plants is a good start in that direction, but we must have a plan to close down the coal and gas plants.Jason Ribeirohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06863185203119704249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-5811870336962385512009-05-28T11:26:55.808-05:002009-05-28T11:26:55.808-05:00I think an important issue maybe not enough debata...I think an important issue maybe not enough debatable is how to solve the liquid fuel energy problem; <br /><br />the thorium LFTR or the DU IFR (or an effective liquid fuel fast version) can contribute to solve this through : 1) electrification of collective (trains,including goods, metros, trams, inside the cities) and private (electric and plug-in vehicles) transportation; 2) the production of liquid syn fuel, there are a lot of choices for this - maybe the best one is the methanol as gasoline substitute (and dimethyl ether for diesel and airplanes gas turbine) solutionAlexPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-9890477334171474052009-05-28T11:22:02.763-05:002009-05-28T11:22:02.763-05:00Two things: I am a passionate believer that a thor...Two things: I am a passionate believer that a thorium bullet, or a 'heavy-metal' bullet, exist.<br /><br />In Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil, they have a non-carbon, renewable, electrical generation bullet: it's called hydro and it provides over 80% of their power. That, folks, is a "silver bullet".<br /><br />If a fission source, thorium in this blog's case, or, the IFR in Barry's case, can provide 100% of our energy, then it...does and it represents such a 'bullet'.<br /><br />It is very fashionable today...as opposed to scientific, to argue against silver bullets of any kind for anything. You have to be, to be "PC", for 'an energy mix'. Why? There is no scientific basis for this whatsoever.<br /><br />We have written here about the need to proceed toward a 'Thorium Economy'. It is but one such vision, just like the IFR and other fast-reactors represent a move toward a "Plutonium Economy".<br /><br />Just on "North Coasts" comment: You are letting ideological and a-historical prejudice get in your way. The French have a very highly centralized, 'statist' socialized energy system that is VERY successful and based on fission. I WISH we had their system for the U.S.<br /><br />Your turn.<br /><br />DavidDWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03070034894266417461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-9970693990645855062009-05-28T10:07:28.531-05:002009-05-28T10:07:28.531-05:00Barry, we agree on a nuclearvsolution, just nor on...Barry, we agree on a nuclearvsolution, just nor on what is the best nuclear technology. Fruendly revalries don't always hurt.Charles Bartonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01125297013064527425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-35696546134423049982009-05-28T09:59:09.617-05:002009-05-28T09:59:09.617-05:00Whether you agree with me or not Charles, my view ...Whether you agree with me or not Charles, my view is that there's not one 'silver bullet' to solve the climate and energy crises. <br />There's two, and they're made of depleted uranium and thorium.Barry Brookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14508590187459871783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-7746252958511035642009-05-28T07:40:47.265-05:002009-05-28T07:40:47.265-05:00As i understand the term fluidised bed reactor, it...As i understand the term fluidised bed reactor, it refers to a chemical rather than a nuclear reactor.Charles Bartonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01125297013064527425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-31259874356743160852009-05-28T07:16:12.299-05:002009-05-28T07:16:12.299-05:00I wonder if you can comment on something that is r...I wonder if you can comment on something that is related to a liquid fuelled reactor, the fluidised bed reactor (FLUBER), in particular if it could be used as a thorium breeder? Perhaps you've already posted on this.P.M.Lawrencehttp://users.beagle.com.au/peterlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-43924942259512096892009-05-28T06:08:08.136-05:002009-05-28T06:08:08.136-05:00Notice how Joe Romm and the other authoritarians o...Notice how Joe Romm and the other authoritarians of the world will seize upon any excuse to impose heavy-handed statist controls on the world. <br /><br />Energy allocation by central state control will guarantee a world war over remaining fossil fuel supplies and will retard development of viable alternatives such as nuclear, as well as the development of such "renewable" energy sources as may actually be viable.<br /><br />The heavy hand of government policy has already retarded the nuclear development we need, by turning the whole issue into a political football. This is not a matter for politicians, for it is basically an argument among experts, and given individual choice in the absence of government controls-i.e. the free market- the nuclear technologies you talk about on this site will be the winners hands down, and there additionally will be more deployment of "renewable" sources where they actually serve.The North Coasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14292115710427172625noreply@blogger.com