Carnival of Nuclear Energy 41

The Carnival of Nuclear Energy 41 is up at cool Hand Nuke

Nuclear Green looks at the challenges for the mass deployment of renewable energy

Canadian Energy Issues tell us that “The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) has narrowed its focus recently, and is now looking at realistic and practical ways to use nuclear heat and hydrogen. That is exactly the right way to get other industries interested in nuclear energy.”

First, we don’t have to invent a new material to store hydrogen. We already know a material that stores it quite well: carbon. When carbon is bonded with hydrogen at the molecular level, in various configurations, the result is liquid hydrocarbon fuels, like gasoline and diesel.

And we already know how to combine hydrogen with carbon to make these fuels. This is via the Fischer Tropsch (FT) synthesis, which was invented in the 1920s and perfected since then.

The raw material for FT is synthesis gas (syngas), a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Syngas is a raw material for numerous other valuable chemicals, including methanol and of course FT products.

Where would carbon monoxide (CO) come from? CO can be manufactured using carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen as raw materials. Such a process is endothermic, meaning it requires heat. If these materials are reacted at high temperature, conversion to CO is higher.

This site provided a look at the biased energy subsidy view of the Union of Concerned Scientists as contrasted to a comprehensive comparison of energy sources. Then we move on to the more general “nuclear roundup” which covers developments with hyperion power generation, Korea’s SMART reactor, uranium, and Russia designing a nuclear train.

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