[p2p-research] Mini nuclear plants to power 20,000 homes

[M. Fioretti]

On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 17:58:17 PM -0600, Kevin Carson wrote:
> On 11/11/08, M. Fioretti <mfioretti at nexaima.net> wrote:
> 
> > http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/09/miniature-nuclear-reactors-los-alamos
> 
> Thanks for posting this, Marco.  I admit I'm extremely skeptical about
> fission power... But I have no principled objection to it, if a fission technology is
> discovered which is genuinely economical in EROEI terms, without
> subsidies, and deals adequately with safety and waste disposal issues.

same here. I have practical objections, at this point. First is long
term availability of fuel, but this could be outweighted by more
independence in fuel procurement and zero emission: if uranium as a
power source will last only 30 years worldwide, but can start two
years from now, it could be just what is needed: stop emissions now,
keep us afloat until we've managed to rebuild the whole world in a
more efficient way.

As far as I'm concerned, even the plants described in the article are
too big: I'd rather see stuff which powers 50 apartments for ten years
only, but is so small and contains so little uranium that doesn't need
to be buried 100 mt deep.

> Well, a lot of the problem is scaling back the demand side, as per
> the arguments of Lovins et al, by ceasing to use electricity for
> things like heating water and space that could be more efficiently
> handled by direct use of passive solar heat or even burning the fuel

the big fault/limit I see in this is that it only works with
scattered, small, single-family homes. Not in towns made of
condominiums. One thing is creating a world from scratch, another is
fixing the one that actually exist.

Scaling back demand is perfect, but there are many parts of the world
(including those which waste the most power) where scaling back is
only possible by limiting waste, eg insulating walls and windows. Not 
producing energy in the condominium.

> And what about the version of solar power they're working on at OSE,
> based on direct use of solar heat to power a steam turbine generator,
> instead of photovoltaics?

Sounds good to me, but is it P2P?? :-)

> photovoltaic power may be a dead end.

interesting. Links which support this thesis?

Marco

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