The climate change consensus extends beyond climate scientists

[Xist]

People started adding -gate to news stories soon after Watergate, so unfortunately, we have been enduring that for nonsense.

"This just in: We're all going to die! More after these ten unrelated and uninteresting news stories, plus two commercial breaks!"

[sendler]

India is forecasting 8% per year GDP and energy growth requirement for the next 20 years. Predicted maximum possible installations of new renewables will triple the current total in 10 years to 240GW. But this still leaves a shortfall of 3X and will actually be a lesser percentage of overall electricity than it is now despite the huge solar and wind build out. 300 Million people in India currently have NO access to electricity. What will make up the 3X deficit if fossil fuel is to be reduced?
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https://youtu.be/yGhEdcwXxdE
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[freebeard]

Originally Posted by Xist

"This just in: We're all going to die! More after these ten unrelated and uninteresting news stories, plus two commercial breaks!"

Yelling at clouds again? Stick to the demonetized Youtube channels.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by sendler

India is forecasting 8% per year GDP and energy growth requirement for the next 20 years. Predicted maximum possible installations of new renewables will triple the current total in 10 years to 240GW. But this still leaves a shortfall of 3X and will actually be a lesser percentage of overall electricity than it is now despite the huge solar and wind build out. 300 Million people in India currently have NO access to electricity. What will make up the 3X deficit if fossil fuel is to be reduced?

Economics will make it up. If more energy is demanded than can be provided, then high prices will drive demand down. High prices will spur energy development so that something approaching an equilibrium exists.

We forum members won't have to single-handedly solve India's energy growth.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Economics will make it up. If more energy is demanded than can be provided, then high prices will drive demand down. High prices will spur energy development so that something approaching an equilibrium exists.

Developement of what? That is the question. Solar and wind are not dense enough to even cover growth. Let alone replace much fossil fuel. And storage for a high intermittent percentage grid is completely out of reach. The India case is just a (big) microcosm for the situation around the world. We need to get moving with GenIV reactors. Fortunately Moltex found a willing home in Canada so all of the intelectual property doesn't have to end up in China. Although TerraPower finally gave in and anounced that will be their first home.
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The Moltex SSR is brilliant.
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https://youtu.be/-IiIdG0asbM
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Liquid salt fuel in standard certifiable rods that are solid during transport. Molten salt non-fuel coolant. Not sodium. No new materials to certify. Atmospheric pressure. So no high pressure steam in the reactor to explode. No water to make a hydrogen explosion. Iodine and Caesium are bound in the molten fuel salt. Only vents stable Xenon and Krypton.
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Negative temp feedback in the molten fuel density is self regulating. Online refueling by adding 1 rod in a row at a time eliminates critical controls needed. Simple Boron plates drop in for emergency shut down. Molten fuel salt and molten cooling salt are miscible so in the event of an attack, the fissile material is diluted in the coolant and the reactor goes out.
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Passive air cooling. No emergency cooling needed due to high operating ranges of the molten salts. 600C operating temp so turbines are the same as for the ubiquitous natural gas plants. 600C thermal energy storage in nitrate salt for additional load following of a high intermittent grid.
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Runs on simple processing of existing high level waste. 2X burn up, 1/2 the waste. 125MW reactor modules are factory built and certified and small enough to transport by truck. Stack modules to make 1GW in one non hardened building. Very cheap. $2 Billion / GW plant. $0.055/ kWh lifetime with investors paid at 9% and with all costs of decommissioning and Moltex operator profits. $0.085/ kWh even with a 3X constuction cost overrun. Online in Canada 2026. 2nd, full size reactor online 2030.

[oil pan 4]

It's very surprising how far the government made it with this tech then just abandoned it.>

[sendler]

Molten salt reactors don't make fissile material for bombs very well. And Nixon's friends in California stood to make money from PWR.

[sendler]

Also, the early MSR at Oak Ridge was a full pumped molten fuel design which had some requirements of online real time reprocessing in order to scale up and the tech to produce a suitable graphite moderator was a problem.
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The new Moltex SSR design doesn't use any moderator other than the primary cooling salt. The fuel is in rods which still allows online refueling of processed high level waste from previous Gen reactors. and there are no pumps in the primary coolant
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It can't breed Thorium as a full pumped breeder could but it does use entirely previously certified materials and is ready for trial in Canada now.
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This a perfect next step to buy time to bridge up to a Thorium reactor.

[oil pan 4]

Men who wore suits to work, used slide rules, drank cocktails at lunch designed these things in the 1950s and got them to work.
There is no excuse not to.

[sendler]

I'm thoroughly convinced a Nuclear grid of 70% within 100 years is absolutely essential to go with the best case build out of renewables. Use all of the batteries in personal transportation.