Green Options

The dual focus on foreign policy and the financial crisis crowded out any discussion of energy and the environment. Whenever the candidates tried to talk about energy policies, the moderator immediately tried to change the subject.

I have written about Hyperion Power Generation (HPG) several times before, and some people may think I am getting repetitive. The story, however, continues to fascinate me because the leaders of the company are thinking more like biotech or traditional computer/communications tech startup companies than traditional nuclear suppliers.

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to talk with John (Grizz) Deal for The Atomic Show Podcast. We had a very interesting chat, but I did not get into the business aspects of the development as much as a more recent interview conducted by Techrockies after watching a Hyperion presentation at the Venture Capital in the Rockies Fall Conference.

An often repeated lie by people that do not like nuclear power is that “Wall Street does not like it” and “not a dime of private capital” has been put at risk in any of the several dozen new nuclear power projects that are currently underway in the United States. Another one is that the January 2008 decision by MidAmerican Energy Group to shelve plans to build a new “greenfield” sited nuclear plant in Idaho after spending $13 million in [...]

The United Kingdom’s energy supply situation has changed dramatically since 2003, when a UK government report titled Our Energy Future - Creating a Low Carbon Economy concluded that it was not necessary to build new nuclear power plants.

Specifically, that paper stated:

“This white paper does not contain specific proposals for building new nuclear power stations. However we do not rule out the possibility that at some point in the future new nuclear build might be necessary if we are to meet our carbon targets.”

The report authors probably did not expect that “point in the future” to arrive quite as quickly as it has. After much public consultation, a new white paper was issued in January 2008 that determined that new nuclear plant construction had to begin - quickly.

In addition to my efforts on Green Options publications like CleanTechnica, I also publish a blog titled Atomic Insights. On that blog, I have recently been engaged in a conversation with a reader named Gordon, who is a believer in the energy supply systems that Amory Lovins has been advocating for more than 35 years. I addressed this response to Gordon, but it is a more generally applicable response for anyone who wants to follow the non-nuclear “soft energy path”.

Gordon:

One thing you apparently do not understand about nuclear fission is that it can come in a variety of sizes. Not all plants are the extra large central station power plants that you are discussing.

India, long isolated from the world’s nuclear power industry, got one more important nod on Saturday September 6, 2008 in its quest to become a more respected member of the nuclear club.

Exelon, the largest operator of nuclear power plants in the United States has filed a license application with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US-NRC) to build two new nuclear power plants near Victoria, Texas. When operating, the plants will produce zero units of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, sulfur oxides, and fly ash.

Exelon has chosen the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) marketed by GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy. Each of the reactors will produce approximately 1,500 MW of electric power.

One of the key design features of the ESBWR is a large degree of passive safety provided by large water reservoirs, natural coolant circulation and safety systems that operate without any electrical power. (Link to animation of ESBWR safety system operation)

Call me a Popeye, but I like having fresh green salads for lunch or dinner. Unfortunately, it is sometimes risky to eat raw vegetables because of the risk of contamination by common bacteria like E. coli, salmonella and listeria. I have long wondered when it would be possible to purchase greens that had been irradiated to kill the bacteria without changing the texture, flavor or nutritional value.

My wait is now closer to ending. On August 21, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of ionizing radiation at doses that will drastically reduce the population of the target bacteria on spinach and iceberg lettuce without harming the food.

Despite some focused opposition, South Africa has continued to invest in the PBMR project because it makes sense , and provides reliable electrical power to keep lifting the living standards of its population.

One of the more important things to understand about Georgia - the small country that recently engaged in a deadly struggle with Russia - is that it is one of the hosts of a relatively new, 1 million barrel per day capacity oil pipeline called Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC). That pipeline was constructed with the active encouragement of the EU and the US starting in the late 1990s despite strenuous objections from Russia.

If you take a look at a map of the [...]