Nonrenewable Energy Resources

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Nonrenewable Energy Resources
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Key Concepts

• Available energy alternatives

• Oil resources

• Natural gas resources

• Coal resources

• Nuclear fission and fusion

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Evaluating Energy Resources

• Renewable energy

• Non-renewable energy

• Future availability

• Net energy yield

• Costs

• Environmental effects

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Important Nonrenewable Energy Sources
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North American Energy Resources
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LOUISIANA
GEORGIA
ALABAMA
MISSISSIPPI
TEXAS
FLORIDA
GULF OF MEXICO
Active drilling sites
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70
60
50
40
Oil price per barrel
30
20
(1997 dollars)
10
0
1950
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1960
Year
8
30
Projections
History
25
20
Net imports
Consumption
Oil (million barrels per day)
15
10
Domestic supply
5
0
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
Year
9
History
Projections
120
100
80
Total
Oil (million barrels per day)
60
Developed
40
20
Developing
0
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
Year
10
Oil

• Petroleum (crude oil)

• Recovery

• Petrochemicals

• Refining

• Transporting

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Conventional Oil Advantages

• Relatively low cost

• High net energy yield

• Efficient distribution system

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Conventional Oil Disadvantages

• Running out

• Low prices encourage waste

• Air pollution and Greenhouse gases

• Water pollution

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Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Controversy
Trade-offs

• Would create jobs

• Oil resources are uncertain

• Uncertain environmental impacts

• Drilling controversies

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Trade-Offs
Drilling for Oil and Natural Gas In Alaskas
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Advantages
Disadvantages
Only 19 of finding oil equal to what U.S.
consumes in 7-24 months Too little potential oil
to significantly reduce oil imports Costs too
high and potential oil supply too little to lower
energy prices Studies show considerable oil
spills and other environmental damage
from Alaskan oil fields Potential degradation of
refuge not worth the risk Unnecessary if
improved slant drilling allows oil to be drilled
from outside the refuge
Could increase U.S oil and natural gas
supplies Could reduce oil imports slightly Would
bring jobs and oil revenue to Alaska May lower
oil prices slightly Oil companies have developed
Alaskan Oil fields without significant harm New
drilling techniques will leave little
environ- mental impact
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Oil Shale and Tar Sands

• Oil shale

• Tar sand

• Bitumen

• Kerogen

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Trade-Offs
Heavy Oils from Oil Shale and Oil Sand
Advantages
Disadvantages
High cost (oil shale)
Moderate cost (oil sand)
Low net energy yield
Large potential supplies, especially oil
sands in Canada
Large amount of water needed for processing
Severe land disruption from surface mining
Easily transported within and between countries
Water pollution from mining residues
Efficient distribution system in place
Air pollution when burned
Technology is well developed
CO2 emissions when burned
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Natural Gas

• 50-90 methane

• Conventional gas

• Unconventional gas

• Methane hydrate

• Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)

• Liquefied natural gas (LNG)

• Approximate 200 year supply

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Trade-Offs
Conventional Natural Gas
Advantages
Disadvantages
Ample supplies (125 years)
Nonrenewable resource
High net energy yield
Releases CO2 when burned
Methane (a greenhouse gas) can leak from pipelines
Low cost (with huge subsidies)
Less air pollution than other fossil fuels
Difficult to transfer from one country to another
Lower CO2 emissions than other fossil fuels
Shipped across ocean as highly explosive LNG
Moderate environmental impact
Sometimes burned off and wasted at wells because
of low price
Low land use
Easily transported by pipeline
Requires pipelines
Good fuel for fuel cells and gas turbines
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Coal

• Stages of coal formation

• Primarily strip-mined

• Used mostly for generating electricity

• Enough coal for about 1000 years

• High environmental impact

• Coal gasification and liquefaction

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Coal Formation and Types
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Trade-Offs
Coal
Advantages
Disadvantages
Ample supplies (225900 years)
Very high environmental impact
Severe land disturbance, air pollution, and
water pollution
High net energy yield
Low cost (with huge subsidies)
High land use (including mining)
Mining and combustion technology well-developed
Severe threat to human health
High CO2 emissions when burned
Air pollution can be reduced with
improved technology (but adds to cost)
Releases radioactive particles and mercury into
air
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Trade-Offs
Synthetic Fuels
Advantages
Disadvantages
Large potential supply
Low to moderate net energy yield
Higher cost than coal
Vehicle fuel
Requires mining 50 more coal
High environmental impact
Moderate cost (with large government subsidies)
Increased surface mining of coal
High water use
Lower air pollution when burned than coal
High CO2 emissions when burned
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Nuclear Energy

• Fission reactors

• Uranium-235

• Potentially dangerous

• Radioactive wastes

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Types of Radiation

• Alpha Particles
• Beta Particles
• Gamma Rays

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Alpha Particles

• Occurs in atoms with Z gt 83
• Helium nucleus
• Large, slow moving and not very penetrating. Easy
  to shield against
• Emission lowers atomic mass by 4
• and atomic number by 2

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Beta Particles

• Occurs in atoms with too high a proton/neutron
  ration
• High energy electron from the nucleus
• Small and fast, more dangerous
• Daughter atom is same mass but higher atomic
  number than the parent atom

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Gamma Rays

• Emitted when nuclei stabilize
• Extremely high energy photons that travel at the
  speed of light
• Exposure is very dangerous
• Emission results is a more stable state for the
  same atom

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Locations of U.S. Nuclear Power Plants
1
1
Operational
Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste storage
site
Decommissioned
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Salem Generating Plant, Lower Alloways Creek, NJ
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Nuclear Fuel cycle
Decommissioning of reactor
Fuel assemblies
Reactor
Enrichment UF6
Fuel fabrication
Temporary storage of spent fuel
assemblies underwater or in dry casks
(conversion of enriched UF6 to UO2 and
fabrication of fuel assemblies)
Uranium 235 as UF6 Plutonium-239 as PuO2
Conversion of U3 O8 to UF6
Spent fuel reprocessing
Low level radiation with long half-life
Geologic disposal of moderate and high-level
radioactive wastes
Open fuel cycle today
Prospective closed end of fuel cycle
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Trade-Offs
Conventional Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Advantages
Disadvantages
Large fuel supply
High cost (even with large subsidies)
Low environmental impact (without accidents)
Low net energy yield
High environmental impact (with major accidents)
Emits 1/6 as much CO2 as coal
Catastrophic accidents can happen (Chernobyl)
Moderate land disruption and water
pollution (without accidents)
No widely acceptable solution for long-term
storage of radioactive wastes and
decommissioning worn-out plants
Moderate land use
Low risk of accidents because of multiple safety
systems (except in 35 poorly designed and run
reactors in former Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe)
Subject to terrorist attacks
Spreads knowledge andtechnology for building
nuclear weapons
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Serious Nuclear Accidents

• Three Mile Island (1979)
• Chernobyl (1986)

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Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania
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Chernobyl Reactor After Accident
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Radiation Plume From Chernobyl Nuclear Accident -
26 Apr 86
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Dealing with Nuclear Waste

• High- and low-level wastes

• Terrorist threats

• Underground burial

• Disposal in space

• Burial in ice sheets

• Dumping into subduction zones

• Burial in ocean mud

• Conversion into harmless materials

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Yucca Mountain Controversy

• Wastes stored and guarded in one place
• Possible long-term groundwater contamination
• Security and safety concerns during waste
  transport to the site

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Nuclear power plants
Yucca Mountain
Railroads
Highways
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Permanent Underground Disposal of Nuclear Wastes
Storage Containers
Fuel rod
Primary canister
Ground Level
Overpack container sealed
Unloaded from train
Personnel elevator
Air shaft
Nuclear waste shaft
Underground
Buried and capped
Lowered down shaft
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Yucca Mountain, Nevada
Cinder Cone Volcanoes
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Nuclear Alternatives

• New reactor designs

• Breeder nuclear fission reactors

• Nuclear fusion

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