“Nuclear’s obviously not the answer. It’s too expensive.” “Renewables are awful for the grid. They’re intermittent, and they aren’t priced correctly.” “But nuclear is dependable, dispatchable, and uses the least amount of land! According to first principles, it should be the cheapest!” “But renewables have no fuel to ‘buy’ or ‘burn’ other than the free …
Systems are more valuable than individual components. Three fundamental resources can radically transform any area of the world: Cheap electricity (think so cheap it’s essentially free) Liquid fuels for transportation Clean drinking water A micro-nuclear reactor or small modular reactor generates the cheap electricity. Use it to recombine water with CO2 scrubbed from the atmosphere …
“Yea, but the one thing people always throw back in my face during any argument is, ‘What are you going to do with the waste?’” -Ken Hukari, 3/31/22 Author’s Note: the term nuclear waste in this article refers to the atoms in spent nuclear fuel and is used synonymously with fission products and spent nuclear …
By Kurt Duncan Executive Summary Four paths to creating hydrocarbons from CO2 and water are examined. The required cost of electricity to generate an energy equivalent gallon of diesel is estimated for each path. How Much Electricity? And What’s the Cost? It’s a pretty daunting task to decarbonize the global economy. Two sectors have dominated …
Synthetic Fuels: How Much Energy is Required to Make Them? Read More »
Executive Summary: Oil and gas companies should invest directly in a fund which pools capital across the industry to research, develop, and deploy new small modular and micro-nuclear reactors. The benefits and opportunities of such a venture far outweigh the challenges, risks, and obstacles. Fire2Fission is actively working to make this a reality. You hear …
The Department of Energy has a Request for Information out for the public to submit responses to a list of questions. I cover it in depth in a previous post, and I present my responses to their questions in this post. I. Consent-Based Siting Process How should the Department build considerations of social equity and …
Responses to DOE’s Request for Information on Consent-Based Siting Read More »
This is incredible. During the 2021 American Nuclear Society’s Winter Meeting, they hosted an incredible panel included Kim Petry from the DOE. The discussion focused on nuclear waste and included conversations around consent based siting as a revised solution. Here’s a link outlining the process. Quick Summary Consent-based siting is essentially giving local communities the option …
Consent-Based Siting & DOE’s Request for Information Read More »
Ideally, we live in a world where energy generation is more or less automated and requires a minuscule percentage of the population to produce all of the energy humanity needs. Wouldn’t that be grand? That’s my ultimate goal. Working in oil and gas where our business is to own the assets that people ultimately burn …
How much land would we need to use to power all of the US for a year by utilizing just one energy generation source? This question is much, much more complicated than it sounds, but it’s a curiosity I’ve had for a long time. As a seasoned industry professional, I feel like I have an …
Hi, my name is Mark. I’m and engineer, scientist, writer, musician, outdoorsman, environmentalist, energy enthusiast, snowboarder, backpacker, lover, partier, son, brother, and friend. I devote my time to a lot of hobbies, work, and fun, but my focus for a career has been unique and concentrated for nearly my entire life. Since I was nine …