Using Nuclear Power to Extract Oil?

[bananas]

"The first country to use nuclear power to produce fossil fuels will not be highly regarded on the planet."

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/using-nuclear-power-to-extract-oil/

April 27, 2009, 9:35 am
Using Nuclear Power to Extract Oil?
By John Lorinc


The Associated Press Mining trucks carry loads of oil-laden sand at the Albian Sands project in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada.

After several years of speculation, the Alberta government last month released a long-awaited “expert’s report” on nuclear power and oil sands and has now embarked on a series of province-wide public consultations.

The move comes on the heels of a decision last month by Bruce Power, a private company that operates a publicly-owned nuclear station in western Ontario, to seek approval to build a $10 billion nuclear station at a site known as Whitemud, about 310 miles northwest of Edmonton.

<snip>

Canadian environmental groups like the Pembina Institute oppose the use of nuclear reactors to supply electricity for oil sands production, citing issues like cost, spent fuel storage and water contamination. Other anti-nuclear networks have also sprung up as Alberta moves forward with its assessment.

Beyond the customary objections to nuclear power, Mr. Nikiforuk observes that the project may serve to further impair Canada’s international reputation on energy policy. “The first country to use nuclear power to produce fossil fuels will not be highly regarded on the planet.”

[Turbineguy]

1. An energy policy worthy of....

Cheney.

[jpak]

2. cool!

:evilgrin:

[MADem]

3. Interesting concept, though. Kinda silly--why not just substitute the nuclear power for the fossil

fuels? Or is there an obvious benefit in terms of amount of energy produced? It had better be a huge plus to even make the venture worthwhile, regardless of how it's excoriated for more obvious, environmental, reasons.

Funny, though--while many people take issue with nuclear power for any reasons (even if it's not used to extract oil from shale or sand), they continue to regard the French rather highly. They get a shitload of their total energy from nuke power, too. http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf40.html

[comtec]

5. while i tend to agree, you can't make plastic from nukes

you can make it from refined oil.
I can see a use for this, but i agree, this should be a LOW priority for the Nuclear plant's energy output.
I think using only the night time energy produced to refine oil sands is less offense to me that the idea in general.

I will add a small rant on fossil fuels vs wood coal...
when you burn fossil fuels you are ADDING to the CO2 in the air, when you burn wood, you are simply returning to the mixture.
think of CO2 in the atmosphere as a pool of water.
some is taken to make plants, and then later returned... no net gain.

when you burn fossil fuels like oil and ground coal, you are taking a hose and ADDING to the pool, CO2 that may never be permanently taken out of the mixture, like when it was buried under the ground.

:rant:

[MADem]

6. Plastics.....they're wonderful and awful, but they're starting to "fix" that issue, too

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070702151141.htm
ScienceDaily (July 3, 2007) — An intensive world-wide effort to develop technology for manufacturing plastics from vegetable oil, rather then petroleum, has led researchers in Canada to a process for making polyurethane (PUR) plastic sheets from canola oil.
...................................................................................................
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/manufacturing/2008-12-25-biodegradable-plastic_N.htm
Here is one word about an up-and-coming innovation in plastics: cornfields.
Bioplastics — most of which are now made from corn — are poised to grab a bigger share of the plastics market as concerns about the environment and U.S. dependence on foreign oil promote alternatives to products made from petrochemicals.

They already are showing up in a variety of products, such as plastic gift cards, food containers and cellphone casings, says Steve Davies, a spokesman for NatureWorks.

NatureWorks, based in Minnetonka, Minn., developed one of the first plant-based plastics with the creation of a resin technology called Ingeo. Its Ingeo plastic pellets are used to make clothing, diapers and food-packaging material.

After doubling the size of its manufacturing plant in Nebraska, NatureWorks will have the capacity to produce up to 300 million pounds of pellets a year.

[bananas]

8. The energy in the oil is many times greater than the electricity used

They aren't extracting this oil for their own use, they are extracting it to sell.
The US gets more oil from Canada than from Saudi Arabia or any other country.
The energy needed to extract the oil is tiny compared to the energy in the oil.
The CO2 reduction from using nuclear instead of natural gas is tiny compared to the CO2 that will be released when the oil is burned. Using nuclear energy for this just won't make much of a difference.

France is part of the European grid. France exports electricity at cheap off-peak rates and imports at expensive peak rates. If the U.S. tried to go 80% nuclear like France, it wouldn't have anyplace to sell the off-peak electricity. That makes it longer to pay off the construction costs, making the per-kwh cost more expensive. The European grid is 30% nuclear, the US is 20% nuclear. We have 100 reactors, to get 30% nuclear we'd need an extra 50, but official nuclear industry spokespersons said McCain's goal of 45 new reactors by 2030 was unattainable.

[randr]

4. Not the first use of nuks for oil

Back in the mid-80's an experiment took place below Western Colorado. Nuclear explosions were used to release oil from the vast shale oil fields.
Result was total failure and a potential future nightmare.

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