Hydrogen Sources - Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Advances in Transportation and Power - page 139

liquefaction and gasification, the U.S. would not need to use its oil resourc-
es. According to some estimates the U.S. has about 25% of the world's coal
reserves. This heat could also be used to liquefy biomass, trash, or other
source of hydrocarbons.
The Palo Verde nuclear power station near Phoenix, Arizona, was
originally intended to have 10 nuclear reactors with a generating capac-
ity of 1,243 megawatts each. As a result of public pressure, construction
at Palo Verde was stopped after three operating reactors were completed.
This installation is on 4,000 acres and is cooled by waste water from the
city of Phoenix, which is nearby. An area of 4,000 acres is 6.25 square miles
or 2.5 miles square. The power generating facilities occupy a small part of
this area.
If a facility like Palo Verde were built in 1/2 of the 50 states and each
installation included 10 reactors as initially planned for Palo Verde, these
plants, operating at the current 90% of design capacity, would produce
280-GWe of electricity.
Allowing a construction cost of $2.3 billion per 1,200 MWe reactor
with 15% for economies of scale, the total cost of this entire project would
be $1/2 trillion, or about 2 months of the current U.S. federal budget. This
is 4% of the annual U.S. gross domestic product.
Along with these power plants, the U.S. could build up a fuel repro-
cessing capability to allow spent nuclear fuel to be reused which would
lower fuel cost and eliminate the storage of high-level nuclear waste. Fuel
for the reactors has been estimated to be available for 1,000 years using
standard reactors with high breeding ratios and breeder reactors where
more fuel is produced than consumed.
Only about 33% of the thermal energy in today's nuclear reactors is
converted to electricity. Some newer designs can convert almost 50%. The
heat from a 1,243-MWe reactor could produce 38,000 barrels of coal-de-
rived oil per day.
The additional Palo Verde facilities could provide a yearly output of
about 3.5 billion barrels per year with a value, at $90 per barrel, of more of
$300 billion per year. This is about the oil production of Saudi Arabia.
The current proven coal reserves of the United States are predicted
to support this production level for 200 years. This liquefied coal reserve
exceeds the proven oil reserves of the entire world. The reactors could also
produce hydrogen or gaseous hydrocarbons from the coal as well. The ex-
cess heat from nuclear power plants could be used for central heating.
The United States needs more low-cost energy and across the globe,