Nukes abundant?
Daniel J. Lavigne
Comments?
Jason
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>From The Party's Over by Richard Heinberg, pp. 134-5
The fuel supply for nuclear power is virtually limitless if we use
fast-breeder reactors to produce plutonium -- which is one of the
most poisonous materials known and is used to make nuclear weapons.
But only a few fast-breeder reactors have been constructed, and they
have proved to be prohibitively expensive, largely as a result of
the need for special safety systems. These reactors generate an
extraordinary amount of heat in a very small space and use molten
metals or liquid sodium to remove the heat. Designing reactors to
take these properties into account has made them costly to build and
maintain. It also makes them susceptible to serious fires and long
shutdowns: the French Superphoenix reactor operated for less than
one year during the first ten years after it had been commissioned.
France and the UK, despite having pursued breeder programs for
several decades, have no plans for constructing more such plants.
Japan has not restarted its Monju reactor, which was shut down after
a sodium fire in December 1995. Among countries that have
constructed breeders, Russia alone supports further development.
It is also possible to reprocess spent fuel into a form known as MOX
(mixed oxide), which consists of a mixture of plutonium and uranium
oxides. Reprocessed MOX fuel can then be used to replace
conventionaal uranium fuel in power plants. However, only two MOX
plants have been built (one in the UK, the other in France), and
both have turned out to be environmental and financial nightmares.
Uranium -- the usual fuel for conventional reactors -- must be
mined, and it exists in finite quantities. The US currently
possesses enough uranium to fuel existing nuclear reactors for the
next 40 years. The mining process is wasteful, polluting, and
dangerous: the early New Mexico uranium mines, which employed mostly
Navajo workers, ruined thousands of acres of Native lands and
poisoned workers and their families. The entire episode constitutes
a horrific and permanent blot on the industry's record.
Further, much of the energy needed to mine uranium currently comes
from oil. As petroleum becomes more scarce and expensive, the
mining process will likewise become more costly and will
yield less net energy.
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