Energy Production...Small Scale VS Centralized

I have thought for sometime that the resistance to alternative energy by US energy producers was because many if not most would decentralize energy production. Energy companies maintain their control and monopoly of energy production with large production facilities and thousands of miles of transmission and pipe lines. Well it appears that a couple of Japanese companies see it in their best interests to ignore the best interests of the US energy industry.

A few weeks ago we directed you over to Mover Mike's for a couple of posts on Pebble Bed Nuclear Reactors; Have you heard of Pebble Bed Modular Reactors? and More about Pebble Bed Reactors. While it's not clear if it's a Pebble Bed Reactor, Toshiba has a small reactor design that it wants to try in Galena, Alaska.

Galena, Alaska has a problem that may be solved with an innovative application of nuclear power. The remote village in Western Alaska is a long way from the grid that supplies electricity to more densely populated regions. It is a fly-in village with only local roads. The energy supply is limited to fossil fuels transported on river barges, but the river is choked with ice 8-9 months per year.

The long winters without large volume transport requires the town to maintain very large fuel tanks - the total storage capacity is more than 3 million gallons between the town and the airport, which equates to more than 4,000 gallons for every resident. Fuel purchase, transportation, storage, and financing costs drive the cost of electricity to more than $0.30 per kilowatt-hour - making it more than 4 times as expensive as the electricity in my home area. The town leaders determined several years ago that this situation was harmful to the town's existing and future population - and that was when the price of distillate fuel was about half of the current price.

Enter Toshiba's 4S (Super Safe, Small and Simple) nuclear power system.

The Toshiba 4S has been described in some promotional articles as a nuclear battery, but as attractive as the plant is, that is too simplistic a description. The plant is a small, sodium cooled fast reactor with a rather technologically advanced, compact steam turbine secondary system. Though it is based on sound engineering design work dating back to 1988, there are some areas where the designers and manufacturers will be pressing the edges of the known in terms of chemistry, materials, equipment reliability and fluid flow. If history is any guide, the system will require a significant number of design modifications and operating procedure refinements as more is learned by actual construction and operation. If there is sufficient patience and dedication, the system could prove to be a reliable power producer.

The core heat source for this plant is quite compact; it is only about 0.7 meters in diameter and about 2 meters tall. This section of the plant would be at the bottom of the 30 meter deep excavation inside a sealed cylinder, a location that helps to provide the driving force needed for natural circulation cooling and that provides an impressive level of nuclear material security. The active core material is a metallic alloy of uranium, plutonium and zirconium. The material has been extensively tested but it has not been commercially produced and used as a reactor fuel.

The 30 year lifetime for the core is achieved through a variety of mechanisms. The core is a metallic alloy cooled by sodium and the overall reactivity is controlled through the use of a movable reflector instead of neutron absorbing control rods. Because of these features, which differ from those of conventional water cooled reactor technology, more of the neutrons that are released by fission either cause a fission or are absorbed by fertile materials like uranium 238. When fertile materials absorb neutrons, they become fissile and useful as fuel the next time that they are struck by a neutron. It is unclear from available technical materials whether or not the 4S actually produces more fuel than it uses - that is, whether or not it is a breeder reactor - but it is clear that the efficient use of neutrons for converting non fuel materials into fuel materials helps to increase its projected lifetime.

There of course are dangers involved which are discussed here.

Peak Energy(Australia) has a post on solar shingles. Those silicon wizards at the Japanese company Sharp are involved in this decentralized option.

Meet the BISPVs (building integrated solar photovoltaics). "Beautifully complementing roof tiles of many shapes and sizes, Sharp's ND-60RU1 solar modules offer a clean integrated look that's especially pleasing to homeowners". These solar roof shingles integrate into the roof in the same manner as common,flat concrete tiles, and can be easily replaced individually. They screw to the existing roof battens, so no additional framing materials or extra roof penetrations needed.

Big Gav has more so check it out.