2010.11.26
Are Nuclear Power Plants Climate Neutral?
Considerung the commercial use of nuclear energy, the advantage of avoided carbondioxide emissions frequently is emphasized. But is this for real?
Beyond dispute it is fact that the thermal process of nuclear fission does not emit any greenhouse gases. There is a major contrast to burning of coal, oil and natural gas.
In particular the chain of single steps for formation and delivery of nuclear fuels by operation of Uranium mines, leaching the ore from excavated material, enrichment and production of fuel rods - including numerous transports between these steps - introduces significant effort of fossile fuels, which causes related carbondioxide emissions. In average, a nuclear power station does not rank better than a natural gas fired combined heat and power plant.
Emissions related to electrical power production specified in Gram CO2 per Kilowatt-Hour vary substaintially by different research papers. The ore contents of uraniuos minerals is one of the determining factors. And this is the crucial point in many publications: An ore contents of 1 % or sometimes even more belongs to far past. Today important mines face an ore contents of 0.02...0.03 % (or 200...300 g Uranium ore per ton of minerals).
Minerals with less ore contents (below 0.01 %) hardly can be judged as energy carriers: Energy effort for mining and fuel production reaches (or even tops) the intended electricity production. The enormous amounts of material to be excavated and transported exceeds the abundance of coal required for equivalent electricity generation many times over. Mining dumps of radioactive (residual) Uranium and acid to dissolve the rock in vast abundance should also be kept in mind. The complete paper may be retrieved from http://www.stormsmith.nl.
Last not least a thought from my lectures: In the class room there are 25 participants from 10 different nations. In
which language (except for English as language of instruction) a warning sign "Danger, radioactive waste" would be recognized by all attendees? How may the situation look like outside of the Campus' community? And finally will the warning sign still be readable in a million years?