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Powered by Rock
Earth's Energy Systems
Dr Liam Herringshaw lgh865_at_hotmail.com
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To finish from last week...

• Fracking for shale gas

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Unconventional hydrocarbons
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Does fracking pollute aquifers?
From 'Gasland'
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Fracture propagation
lt1 risk of vertical frack gt350m 600m minimum
safe separation distance
Redrawn from Davies et al. (2012)
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Fracking fluids?
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4000 holes in Blackpool Lancashire?
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Well density

• Carboniferous
• Bowland Shale thicker than US shales
• 1300 Tcf resources?
• 5 recoverable 65 Tcf
• 2.5-5 Bcf per well
• 13,000-26,000 wells
• 10 wells per pad
• 1300-2600 pads
• But many uncertainties

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Well integrity
Leakage rate? Is UK well-prepared?
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24 Jan 2013
Consensus?
23 Jan 2013
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Researching Fracking In Europe
www.refine.org.uk Research briefs Translations Vi
deos News
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Oil Gas for or against?

• VOTE!

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This week Nuclear
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Energy from uranium?

• One of heaviest natural elements
• 19x as dense as water
• Two common isotopes
• U-238 U-235
• Nucleus 92 protons 143 or 146 neutrons
• Slow, radioactive decay

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Energy from uranium?

• When U-235 captures a neutron it splits
• FISSION
• Releases heat ( neutrons)
• Neutron release can create chain reaction if
  other U-235 atoms nearby
• NUCLEAR REACTOR

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Uranium geology

• Occurs in most rocks (and seawater) but in small
  quantities 2-4 ppm
• Need enrichment for
• economic viability
• Main producers
• Australia, Kazakhstan,
• Canada

Pitchblende
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The U in unconformity
Highest grade uranium ores occur at ancient
geological erosion surfaces
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Uranium power

• 440 uranium-fuelled nuclear reactors
• 2500bn kWh per year (13 of global elec.)

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Nuclear for or against?

• Your arguments
• (with reference/s)

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Where does the waste go?
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Deep geological storage
Finland
USA

• Retention over 10s-100s of ka

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Nuclear danger?

• How risky is nuclear power?
• Much less so than coal, oil or gas!

Deaths/cases per TWh (Markandya Wilkinson 2007)
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Nuclear danger?

• Do disasters pose as great a risk as is generally
  perceived?
• Fukushima
• for the general population inside and outside of
  Japan no observable increases in cancer rates
  above baseline rates are anticipated. (WHO)

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A Fusion Future?
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Nuclear fusion

• In hearts of stars, enormous heat generated by
  atomic nuclei colliding at high speed, fusing and
  releasing energy (as neutrons)

Image from Universe Today
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Fusion breakthrough?

• New research by Hurricane et al. (2014)

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Nuclear for or against?

• VOTE!

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Next week Geothermal
A major source of heat? Economically viable for
UK? Consider your arguments...