Nuclear power

[oil pan 4]

The mindless argument I always hear is nuclear costs too much.
Which is a hilarious argument when money is the ultimate renewable resource, governments simply "print" as much as they want.
As we know Germanys green leap backwards has been blowing up the price of electricity.

Good example of how not to do it. Greentard energy costs too much and it sucks.

But France has more green energy than germany.

And france aren't turning coal fired power plants back on.

Here's what happens when your power grid is flooded with cheap reliable predictable electricity versus some what clean electricity that works when it wants and dirty energy has to react quickly to keep the power grid from collapsing.

Twice as green, costs half as much.
This is the way.

[freebeard]

I find some amusement in the fact that the fusion energy industry 'always ten years away' has produced the millimeter wave laser that will enable deep, hot geothermal power a reality. Anywhere.

[redpoint5]

I used to think that geothermal heat was primarily residual from earth formation (and maybe it is, I dunno), but then I learned that a lot of geo heat is due to thorium decay, and there's tons of it.

Was initially concerned that if we sucked the heat out of the core it would solidify and collapse the magnetic shield we enjoy, but it's replenished.

We could harvest the diffuse geo energy, or concentrate the thorium.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

I don't really trust my fellow Brazilians handling nukes, plus hydro is so widespread here despite the weather conditions not always providing enough recharge for the reservoirs (which don't rely solely on the river flows trapped by the dams).

OTOH singling nukes out just because a handful of "environmentalist" NGOs say so is a bad move in the long run, and the recent energy crisis in Western Europe because of the decrease on the Russian natural gas supplies highlights it.

[redpoint5]

Untrust is among the reasons we should be exploring next-gen nuke plants. If something like thorium can be made cost-effective and idiot-proof, there's little reason to worry. I don't know if this is theoretically possible or not, but I haven't encountered anything to suggest it isn't yet.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

The main point is making idiot-proof enough. Well, sometimes it seems like every effort to render something idiot-proof is never enough, with so many idiots always taking one step further...

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

The main point is making idiot-proof enough. Well, sometimes it seems like every effort to render something idiot-proof is never enough, with so many idiots always taking one step further...

As they say, we'll just invent better idiots.

[RustyLugNut]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I find some amusement in the fact that the fusion energy industry 'always ten years away' has produced the millimeter wave laser that will enable deep, hot geothermal power a reality. Anywhere.

Geothermal energy is plausible in many regions. Here in the West, it faces many of the same hurdles as nuclear energy - excessive Green Legislation. We have three geothermal power plants along the fault line cutting underneath the Salton Sea, here in Southern California. The "hot rock" is relatively close to the surface and easily accessible with standard drilling technology. However, the costly litigation keeps these power plants limited in number, size and advancement because of the time spent in court placating Green Groups.

Just recently, lithium was found in great abundance! Right in the geothermal hot spots! Now big players and big investments are fighting to rapidly develop the deposits for lithium mining and the power production will be a secondary by product. And wouldn't you know it? Pure water will be a "waste stream" of lithium extraction. Just what the desert region needs! Capitalism will do what it always does . . . find the money! There is money to be had in triplicate!

Poor fish, birds and pestilent mosquitos will have to bend to the will of power production.

If you can't tell, I'm being facetious. The Salton Sea was accidently created and is now a stinky, festering disaster area. The powers that be are thinking mostly about cleaning up the area with the tax money boon.

With laser drilling, you won't have to look for a disaster area to put up a power plant. You can drill down past any useable water tables and then use advanced Super Critical Carbon Dioxide turbines to extract the heat energy and convert it to electrical energy! Easy Peasy! No nuclear waste or proliferation threat. Let's go for it!

Oh, the Catastrophic Greenhouse Warming crowd thinks we should use "proven" solar and wind power going forward. And that will be that!

If it is such a catastrophe, should we not use every possible resource?

A short clip from the Minions out at SWRI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciwEg2kXbgw

It does not explain fully and leaves some erroneous assumptions open but it does graphically show how compact and energy dense it could be. And no, it doesn't run on CO2. It uses carbon dioxide in a closed loop. You must provide heat input.

[freebeard]

Youtube wanted me to see this 16 minute explainer:

Supercritical CO2 Turbines Explained {Future Friday Ep92}

I made it halfway, but the subtitles take some interpretation.

It's interesting, but with steam any existing coal-fired plant's reservation becomes a potential site.

[RustyLugNut]

Originally Posted by freebeard

It's interesting, but with steam any existing coal-fired plant's reservation becomes a potential site.

Temperature is just one of them. Efficiency is another big one. Super Critical CO2 is markedly more efficient than boiling water at extracting energy from a heat source. Size is another. Replacing those large steam boilers with compact heat exchangers and numerous CO2 turbines could see a multi-gigawatt plant sited on the same footprint of the old coal plant.