a Prototype of an Energy Amplifier

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PEACE
a Prototype of an Energy Amplifier for Clean
Environment
EFS, Bergen, 3 April, 2006 Egil Lillestøl
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Some Big Numbers kilo (k) 103 Mega (M)
106 Giga (G) 109 Tera (T) 1012 Peta
(P) 1015 1 year 8766 hours (h) (use 10
000h) 1 kW continuous consumption in one year
about 9 MWh 1 TWh per year corresponds to 114
MW cont. consumption (use 100 MW in mental
calculations)
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OECDs energy definition Common unit is the
thermal value of oil. Consumption of energy is
measured as oil equivalent (oe) Example 1 toe (1
ton oil equivalent) is the same as the thermal
value of one tonne of oil. Global consumption
measured in Mtoe (Megaton o.e.) OECD uses an
effect factor of 38 from thermal to electric
energy For memory 2 Mtoe 1 GWe)
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Some numbers (Mtoe) for the period 2001 - 2004
2001 2002 2003 2004 Total Global
energy consumption 9125 9405 9741
10224 oil 3511 3522 3637 3642 coal
2255 2398 2578
2614 natural gas 2220 2282
2332 2420 total consumption US 2237 2293
2298 2332 Europe Eurasia
2854 2829 2913 2964
Global consumption up 3.3 per year from 2001 to
2003 and up 5.0 from 2003 to 2004
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Details for 2004 (2003) in Mtoe
Asias consumption of coal up 10.3 from 2002 to
2003 and
15.3 from 2003 to 2004
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Consumption per person per year Western
Europe 4 toe US 9 toe
Norway 10 toe (63 hydro electricity)
3 per year the next 95 years gives
(1.03)95 16.6 or nearly 17 times higher
consumption in 2100 than to day
The breaks must be put on !!
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Global population year 2000 about 6
billions Global population year 2100 9 - 10
billions Expected global consumption year
2100 55 000 Mtoe (factor 5.5 increase)
!!!! Can we bring this down to about 40 000 Mtoe
???
No prognosis consider the increasing need for
energy to producing clean fresh water
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Air pollution (especially from coal burning)
An undeniable cause of death In China
respiratory problems the most important mortality
factor The World Bank estimates that these
problems are mostly due to the burning of coal og
bio-mass.
Coal burning liberates large quantities of
radioactive materials !!! (one ton coal
liberates about 3000 Bq Radon ( 222Rn) to the
atmosphere)
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What can be done ? (I take an optimistic point
of view)
Global energy need year 2100 40 000 Mtoe
Consumption of coal, oil and natural
gas Substantially less in 2100 (5000 Mtoe) than
in 2004 (8965 Mtoe)
How to cover 35 000 Mtoe from other sources ?
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Hydro electricity

• No increase in later years
• Difficult to cover large land surfaces
• 1000 km2 corresponds to about 2 Mtoe (ca. 1 GWe)
• ( Example from China (Yangste River) 18.2 GWe )

Maximum (theoretical) coverage in 2100 3.5 (up
from 3 to day)
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Tides
Very difficult to exploit
La Rance, France, 2 ktoe (0.002 Mtoe) with
about 13 m difference between high and low
Ocean waves may be easyer to exploit
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Energy from wind
Total Global capacity about 10 GW with 6.3 GW in
Europe BUT varying, unpopular, and only about 20
efficiency
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Solar Heat (direct conversion using mirrors
theoretically possible)
Example In Sahara the exploitable solar heat
is equivalent to about 30 cm oil per m2 per year
for electricity production, and about 15 cm oil
per m2 per year for production of hydrogen
taking into account infrastructure we should
count about 40 m2 per person, or a total
of about 400 000 km2
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From France (Pyrenees)
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Kramer Junction, Ca
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In order to cover the TOTAL Global energy need by
2100 using solar heat, we would have to cover
about
10 000 000 m2 every day from now on !
(lots of employment possibilities for mirror
washers)
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Energy from fission (Nuclear Power)
Together with solar heat the ONLY realistic
possibility !
Can we build safe nuclear power plants ?
How many do we need if we should cover the total
need ?
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Number of plants
One power plant corresponds to about 1 Mtoe. We
need 35 000 Mtoe and thus to about 35 000 such
plants
We would have to build one such plant EVERY
day for the rest of this century !!!
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Atomic Nucleus AXZ A number of nucleons
(pn), Z number of protons (p) X name of the
element Element 232Th90 Thorium (A4n the
Thorium series) 231Pa91 Protactinium (A4n3
the Actinium series) 238U92 Uranium (A4n2
the Uranium series) 237Np93 Neptunium (A4n1
the Neptunium serie) 244Pu94 Plutonium
(the Thorium series) Fission material
233U, 235U, 239U, 238Np, 239Pu
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Natural Uranium 238U (99.3) with a small
amount of 235U (0.7) In a reactor it is 235U
( and possibly 239Pu ) which gives the
energy, while 238U converts to Plutonium Have
to use enriched Uranium, but which still
contains mostly 238U Problem Plutonium waste
and bomb material
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nøytron Uran
Fission
2 atomkjerner N nøytroner Energi
nøytron (inn)
nøytron (ut)
Uran
Nøytronene kommer fra Uranet selv
atomkjerne
atomkjerne
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• Carlo Rubbia (CERN) (Nobel price 1984)
• Energy Amplifier Project ( EA )
• - uses Thorium as fuel
• - driven by an accelerator
• ( sub critical)
• - producing practically no waste
• - can burn waste like
• Plutonium (together with Thorium)
• giving 30 additional energy
• Thorium reserves for 100.000 years
• Not practical for making bombs

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n
P1 sannsynlighet for at et nøytron treffer
en annen kjerne P2 sannsynlighet for at et
nøytron slipper ut N gjennomsnittlig antall
nøytroner pr. fission k N (P1 / P2) (k
1 kritisk) Når k gt 1, kjedereaksjon
Uran
i en uranreaktor nøytronene kommer fra uranet
selv, i en akseleratordrevet reaktor fra en
ekstern kilde (akselerator)
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Problem for atombombe å beholde k gt 1 så lenge
som mulig Problem for kjernereaktor å beholde k
1 så lenge som mulig ( moderatorstaver )

• Andre problemer
• - fare for nedsmelting/lekkasjer
• - begrensete uranreserver,
• radioaktive avfallstoffer
• spredning av atomvåpen

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Uranium reactor (bi product) 238U 239U
239Np 239Pu 240U 240Np 240Pu Thorium
reactor (main reaction) 232Th 233Th 233Pa
233U 234Th 234Pa 234U 235Th 235Pa 235U
fission
fission
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Short summary of the EA Accelerator gives
protons protons in Lead give neutrons (n) n
Th 233Pa 233U n 233U fission
energy With correct proton intensity production
and fission of 233U in equilibrium 27 ton ThO2
gives 1.5 GW continuous thermal energy for 5 years
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(No Transcript)
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EA
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From Carlo Rubbia
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Conclusions
Everything must be done to save energy
Alternatives to fossil fuels must be developped
as quickly as possible, and Norway as an energy
nation should be active
The use of fossil fuels will the next years
increase more than the most pessimistic prognosis
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Norway must in its own interest and for
future generations take initiatives to the
development of advanced down stream tecnlogy
and industry
For the same reasons Norway should slow down
the out-take of oil and gas such that this
industry will have its own raw materials also
after 2050
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Norway should take the initiative to build the
first prototype for an accelerator driven
nuclear power plant based on Thorium
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Norway has the fourth largest Thorium reserves in
the world