Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
energy at the time of writing this topic, some believe this should be expanded massively.
They argue that it is an attractive source of electricity, having very low carbon emissions.
After the Three Mile Island and the Chernobyl accidents there was a period of nearly ten
years during which almost no new nuclear capacity was constructed. However, the recent
concerns regarding fossil fuel security have prompted a number of countries to consider new
building programmes. China and India are planning to build several tens of reactors each and
the USA is posed to do the same. In contrast within Europe, only Finland has embarked on
the construction of a new nuclear plant while, Sweden, Switzerland and Germany all have
moratoriums in place leading to a phasing out of nuclear power. France on the other hand,
remains committed to nuclear power which contributes about 80% of its present electricity
needs.
In the UK the 2003 government White Paper was critical of the nuclear option, but by
2006, with concerns about a possible energy gap, the government's position had changed. It
is now supportive in principal of a new nuclear programme. A key concern is that major
investments in nuclear will deprive renewable energy sources of the fi nance they need to
expand. Refl ecting its importance, the debate over nuclear power is extensive and there is
voluminous literature. Reference [8] provides a good entry point for those interested.
1.3.3 Carbon Capture and Storage
Figure 1.6 indicates, that according to Stern, by 2025 and 2050 about 20 and 40% respectively
of carbon abatement is expected to be provided by the emerging technology of carbon capture
and storage (CCS) provided that the technoeconomic and environmental issues can be satis-
factorily dealt with. CCS has the signifi cant advantage of reconciling the necessary use of
fossil fuels in the medium term with the necessity of serious cuts in CO
2
emissions.
A large scale demonstration project was being planned in northeast Scotland, a joint
venture by BP, Shell and ConocoPhilips [9]. Unfortunately, this project was recently aban-
doned, but the technology is being vigorously pursued in other projects worldwide. Figure
1.9 illustrates the geological storage options for CO
2
.
With gas and oil prices likely to rise signifi cantly, extracting CO
2
- free energy from coal
is also attracting substantial attention. Such technologies take a number of forms, but the so-
called integrated gasifi cation combined cycle (IGCC) process is in the forefront. This involves
the production of a synthetic gas (syngas) obtained from coal through gasifi cation. Syngas is
composed mainly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide and is the fuel source to a high effi ciency
plant operating in the combined cycle mode. Buggenum, a 253 MW plant in the Netherlands
operates on this principle and is the cleanest coal based plant in Europe. To date, no IGCC
plant involving carbon capture has been built although this principle is to be used as a basis
for a zero carbon emission 275 MW plant funded by the US Department of Energy which is
being built and should be up and running in 2013.
1.3.4 Renewables
Figure 1.10 provides an overview of the earth's main energy paths that can be tapped
to generate sustainable electricity. The main source of easily accessible renewable energy
