oil/gas the crisis looming beyond 2020, page-6

Excellent,

Current way we use it, uranium in the light water reactors if the world had to use uranium as the sole and only source of energy it would last 40 years for total global energy demand.

What we need to continue beyond 2020 is a breakthrough in energy production or we rely on current fossil fuels.

With my research into energy a lot of theories came to light. Some exposed about ulta deep oil and hydrogen. I came across a lot of theories and with these two despite having rabbid supporters the science and physics contradicted the theory.

Breeder reactors are at best in an infant stage. The French have produced one with a 20% greater output than the traditional method. It was opened in 1984 and shut down in 1997 due to high costs of operation. The gent from standford is talking about and increase in efficiency of 100 fold or 10,000 %.

To the best of my knowledge only one fast breeder plant is in operation and thats in Japan the Moju reactor. It again has massive problems.In fact in 1995 they had a massive accident where the secondary cooling system broke down and heated to 1,500 dec celcius. The whole accident is under a gag order by the Japanese Goverment. The plant was re opened late 2000 or 2001. But again the plant was only a little more efficient as conventional methods.

Breeder and fast breeder reactors are not a reality as yet and suspect it may be many years if ever until the quantum leap the man is talking about from Stanaford happens if ever at all.

Breeder and fast breeder reactors seem at this stage to provide little improved energy efficiency and have substantial increased risk of problems and the overall cost efficiency when looking at traditional methods.

Of course China and India plan to build FBR's but they again are not the quantum leap in energy efficiency of 100 fold the article is talking about. They also use thorium 232 in the case of India.

If we could get a reaaction similar to the sun, yes it is possible for that increase, but one question has to be asked, at what risk. If we stumble on the solution and release too much energy with the initial discovery.

Here is something from someone else I shall just paste it in ......



What is the likely future of breeder reactors?


Nuclear breeder reactors, although in theory a long-term solution to large-scale energy supply problems, are not likely to have any immediate impact on the world energy picture. The main reason for this is that breeder reactors can yield weapons-grade plutonium, thereby proving to be a major worldwide security risk if implemented on a large scale. This potential very negative consequence outweighs the positives to such a degree that the U.S. has not been funding breeder reactor R & D for over a decade.

The fundamental advantage to a breeder reactor is that, for all practical purposes, it produces more fuel than it uses. The real fuel source is U-238, which is extremely abundant. In the distant future, when supplies of U-235 become more scarce, along with convenient fossil fuels, U-238 will still be readily available.

However, breeder reactors are still inherently fission reactors, and have the same problems that all fission reactors share (highly toxic radioactive waste, very high capital investment, great economic risk, etc.) The added disadvantage of military risk from the plutonium produced pushes breeder reactors to the fringe of an ever-shrinking nuclear power market. This is highlighted by the fact that the number of breeder reactors is decreasing, not increasing, despite the advanced technology involved.

Breeder reactors are an extremely enticing global energy solution in theory, but technological, economic, and political factors are preventing nuclear breeder reactors from having a significant role in the forseeable future of energy in developed countries. India and China, as well as other developing countries with rapidly growing energy demands, are turning to breeder reactors as one of many solutions to their energy crisis. The immediate future of breeder reactors depends on the willingness of countries such as India and China to accept the economic and political risks of nuclear power in order to help meet a tremendous energy demand