Carnival of nuclear energy 339

The Carnival of Nuclear Energy 339 is up at Hiroshima Syndrome’s Fukushima Commentary

Neutron Bytes – Toshiba’s Financial Meltdown Puts Its Nuclear Projects at Risk Worldwide

Toshiba overpaid for its acquisition of Westinghouse in 2007, then wrote down half of the value in 2014. It is currently mired in lawsuits over the value of its acquisition of CB&I, which was intended to resolve problems with the supply chain for construction of four AP1000 reactors in the U.S. Toshiba’s financial woes, and the rate at which it is spending its cash reserve, put a number of current and future nuclear reactor projects at risk. https://neutronbytes.com/2017/01/01/toshibas-financial-meltdown-puts-its-nuclear-projects-at-risk-worldwide/ (It is important to note that this report is but the tip of this week’s Neutron Bytes blog. Also included are articles on possible closure of Davis-Besse, Russia’s ambitious targets to maintain its nuclear fleet, India’s trial run of a new PHWR, and more.)

Forbes James Conca – It Takes the Right Rock to Sequester Carbon

We know which rock is best for sequestering huge amounts of CO2 deep in the ground in a way that is stable for geologic time. It’s a particular vesicular volcanic rock – a basalt – that reacts with injected CO2 to precipitate new limestone-like rock. The real trick is that this method reduces the normal time to do this from a thousand years to two.

Demonstrating a new way to sequester carbon deep underground, deep core samples from a field test show nodules of the carbonate mineral ankerite filling many pores in this rock, formed from the injected CO2, water and elements in the basalt rock. Chalcenody is a cryptocrystalline form of silica. Source: PNNL

It takes about 4 days for CO2 in the lower atmosphere to equilibrate with upper ocean water. But it takes about 1,000 years for CO2 in that upper ocean water to equilibrate with carbonate rocks in the ocean to form the biggest carbon sink on Earth.

If we are to successfully reduce CO2 in the atmosphere over the next few decades, then we have to decrease this time scale. In fact, if successful, fossil fuels able to utilize this method could continue as a major part of our energy generation.