By Jim Baird
I read with interest Choi Yearn-hong’s Dec. 31 op-ed article titled ``Nuclear Power Plant for Sale.’’ I am the inventor of the Nuclear Assisted Hydrocarbon Production Method, which would eliminate spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in an unconventional petroleum formation that would allow its heat to be used to produce valuable hydrocarbons.
The problems of SNF _ heat, ionizing radiation and radiolysis, which breaks down water into ions corrosive to fuel bundles and their containers _ are all antidotes to the problems of unconventional oil development, namely, cost and CO2 generation.
Hydrogen released by the process of radiolysis and the heat generated by SNF within an oil sands formation would overturn the equilibrium of the system and contribute both to the in situ cracking and mobilization of the viscous bitumen.
The high-energy flux of spent nuclear fuel will ionize and fracture (upgrade) a portion of the long chain molecules in the ground.
These resources could be exploited in a similar fashion to the Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage Method (SAGD) with SNF substituting for the steam chamber.
The best long-term permeability data for moderately deep systems are to be derived from older rocks carrying significant deposits of oil and gas.
Such rocks are invariably of sedimentary origin, and it is for sediments that the most reliable data on fluid flow are presently found. The fact that oil and gas, often under significant pressure, are found in these formations is proof of the containment properties of sedimentary rock.
Bitumen also has the unprecedented capacity to sequester radionuclides, as was noted by a recent international study, and the resource, 80 percent of which lays too deep to be mined, is covered by a capping shale formation that would further aid in sequestering radionuclides.
In compliance with the need to keep plutonium containing spent fuel out of the hands of non-weapons states and non-state actors, it could be returned to North America as a resource for the development of its unconventional reserves.
Instead of consuming valuable CO2 generating resources to produce these reserves, the waste heat of spent nuclear fuel can and should be utilized. In most instances, the owners of this energy source are prepared to pay dearly to rid themselves of it.
According to a 2000 U.S. Department of Energy report, Thermological Behavior at the Potential Yucca Mountain Waste Repository, the initial heat produced by U.S. nuclear waste will be on the order of 30 to 50 times the heat flux in the Geysers geothermal reservoir in California.
According to The California Energy Commission’s Web site, California produced 13,000 gigawatt-hours of geothermal energy in 2007. Assuming the conservative estimate of 30 times this amount of heat flux for U.S. nuclear waste, 390,000 gigawatt-hours of energy is produced annually.
This is close to half of the power output by America’s operational reactors (806.5 billion kilowatt-hours in 2007) and the equivalent of 219,956,237.507 barrels of fuel oil (U.S.). The energy return on investment for the SAGD is 5.2/1. Therefore the heat flux of America’s nuclear waste alone has the potential to produce over a billion barrels of synthetic oil annually.
The U.S. has approximately a quarter of the global inventory of spent nuclear fuel, thus the potential exists for the development of significantly more unconventional deposits with imported spent fuel.
Carbon free development of the largest untapped hydrocarbon reserve in the world could be the inducement required to overcome the “NIMBY” (not in my backyard) factor associated with SNF, which is a resource that can be utilized again after the oil sands have been depleted.
SNF can be burned again, as is, without the need for expensive, dangerous and potentially proliferating reprocessing, in CANDU reactors such as the four situated in Wolseong, South Korea.
Not only does this solution remove the impediment to the sustainable development of the oil sands, it also removes the principle obstacle to expansion of the nuclear industry.
Lord Oxburgh, one of the world’s leading geologists and the former British chairman of Shell, has said of NAHPM, ``I have often myself wondered whether it would be feasible to harness the heat generated by sequestered nuclear materials. I suspect that the major problems might well be political rather than technological.”
James Lovelock has pointed out this fear is irrational and is caused by ignorance brought about by misinformation regarding the dangers, which have inflated the difficulties and costs of disposition of SNF.
Utilizing SNF to produce the oil sands is technically indistinguishable from any other form of geothermal energy, which derives its power from nuclear fission and is supported universally by environmentalists.
I would welcome Choi’s collaboration aimed at developing Korean interest in this technology both to enhance reactor sales as well as secure valuable North American oil supplies.
Jim Baird is an inventor of the Nuclear Assisted Hydrocarbon Production Method, Global Warming Mitigation Method, and Subductive Waste Disposal Method. He can be reached at bairdjr@telus.net.