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Resolving Spent Fuel Issue at San Onofre: Clean, Green Electricity Proposal

This proposal suggests using Omnisafe flight-qualified fittings for the implementation of a sustainable, low-pressure Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) at San Onofre to generate clean, greenhouse gas-free electricity from spent nuclear fuel. This solution can significantly reduce environmental impact and provide abundant energy for thousands of years.

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Resolving Spent Fuel Issue at San Onofre: Clean, Green Electricity Proposal

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  1. Resolve Spent Fuel Issue at San Onofre Generate Clean, no Green House Gas, electricity. A Proposal For 2016 Eric Robinson Omnisafe Co.

  2. Omnisafe Flight Qualification • Omnisafe works better than any other fitting for semiconductor applications and has been flight qualified and selected for the following aerospace programs. • JPL DAWN,  Xenon Ion Propulsion,  Asteroid Belt, May 2007, Omnisafe 1/8” fittings • MSL Mars rover, launch 2009, for the liquid Freon heat rejection system, Omnisafe 3/8” fittings. • NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) program. Xenon Ion Propulsion, Omnisafe 1/8” fittings • Boeing Satellite Systems for Xenon Ion Propulsion, orbit maintenance, Omnisafe 1/8” fittings. • JPL Flight Test Qualification • Parameter       Test Data • Proof Test         300 psig • Leak Check       1.0 E-7 sccs/sec • Mate/Demate     10 times • Random Vibe Test • 20Hz……….0.024 g^2/Hz • 50-500 Hz…0.06 g^2/Hz • 2000 Hz…...0.015 g^2/Hz • Pyroshock Test • 100 Hz …..20 g’s • 1600 Hz …2000 g’s • 2500 Hz….2000 g’s • Thermal Cycling   -115 C to +145 C • Burst Test         2200 psig

  3. Origin of all heavy elements? Super nova!

  4. References - Thorium(Th), Uranium(U), Plutonium(Pu) in the bottom row In MSR these produce affordable, abundant energy for 1000s of years!

  5. All Energy Comes From Nuclear Fusion Without nuclear energy earth would be cold, dark, and lifeless. Fission *Transmission losses

  6. 1) Mine 3,200,000 tonnes of Coal • emit 8,500,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases and particulates • landfill 900,000 cubic meters of toxic/radioactive fly-ash. • Water used in mining, steam generation, and scrubbing exhaust. 2) Frack 1,730,000 metric tons Compressed Natural Gas CNG • emit 4,600,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases and particulates. • Water used in fracking and steam generation. 3) Mine 50,000 tonnes of uranium ore – • Emit no greenhouse gases • produces 24 tonnes of long lived radiotoxic ‘waste’. • In a Conventional, High pressure Light Water Reactor, (LWR) • Water needed to mine and steam generation. 4) Consume 50 tonnes of waste spent nuclear fuel • Emit no greenhouse gases. • produces 0.8 tonnes of short lived reusable ‘waste’. • In a Sustainable, Low pressure, Molten Salt Reactor, (MSR) • No Water need to extract or steam generation Environmental Impact of generating electricity for a 1 million people for 1 year.

  7. Basis for Current US Energy Policy “We do not have the resource base to be energy independent. The fact that the United States and the rest of the world will have to depend increasingly for its oil and also for its natural gas from the Middle East is not a matter of ideology and politics. It is simply inevitable.”—Lee Raymond, CEO, Exxon Mobil Thankfully, there is a inspiring alternative to this bleak view of our country’s ENERGY and political future.

  8. Scalability: $56MILLION to transplant tortoises, Birds being incinerated mid-flight. Fossil fuels required, 4,000 acres, 173,000 mirrors for 392 MW. Cost 2.2Bil

  9. How can we be more like France & Sweden? Highest per capita CO2 Czech Republic10.65 Belgium10.17 Israel9.52 Libya9.29 Japan 9.25 SouthAfrica9.18 Germany 9.06 Ireland8.95 Denmark8.34 Poland 8.29 Bosnia & 8.28 Austria7.97 U K 7.96 Iran7.73 Malaysia7.63 Greece7.63 Bermuda7.35 New Zealand7.22 Cyprus 6.98 Venezuela6.96 Ukraine 6.71 Italy 6.71 Belarus6.48 Malta6.22 China 6.18 Iceland 6.13 Bulgaria 5.96 Spain 5.85 Antigua & Barbuda 5.78 France 5.75 (over 75% nuclear) Sweden 5.6 (over 40% nuclear) • Qatar40.1 • Kuwait34.24 • United Arab Emirates22.31 • Luxembourg21.34 • Bahrain19.18 • United States 17.5 • Saudi Arabia16.92 • Australia16.75 • Kazakhstan15.52 • Canada14.67 • Estonia13.67 • Russian Federation12.18 • South Korea11.78 • Norway11.71 • Finland11.53 • Netherlands10.96 Lowest per capita CO2

  10. Molten Salt Reactor

  11. Generation 1 Nuclear Power – 1950s era Pros – Connected to Existing infrastructure Cons – It is shut down and produces no power, 1600 Metric Tonnes of Spent Nuclear Fuel on site, 13 Feet above high tide. On a fault line. On a critical freeway Next to a military base. 2-4 Bil to build, 5.3Mil to operate per year uprating issues. We don’t still use 1950s cars and phones. We can do better than 1950s Nuclear reactors.

  12. What can be done with the 1600 metric tonnes of spent nuclear fuel at San Onofre? • Two things that can be done with spent nuclear fuel • 1) store it for 30,000-years. • 2) consume it in a reactor. • The inefficient processing of solid fuel in a high pressure Light Water Reactor accounts for the large amount of waste and why its so long-lived. • Putting the spent fuel in a Molten Salt Reactors (MSR) results in a clean, environment with gigawatts of cheap, carbon-free electricity. • Consuming nuclear waste in a MSR can reduce it from an unsustainable 30,000-year problem to a 99% reduced 300-year resource. • Renewable energy providers utilizing MSR technology can consume our spent nuclear fuel • 1) in a reactor in So Cal. • 2) at an interested out of state power generating facility. • San Onofre has 1,600 tonnes of spent fuel (a tonne is a metric ton, or 1,000 kgs, which weighs 2,200 lbs.) The US has 70,000 tonnes, and the amount is growing at 4% a year. • The MSR can convert this unsustainable waste into a nearly limitless green resource.

  13. A Solution for the San Onofre Facility • Solution • A low pressure Gen IV Molten Salt Reactor will recycle and eliminate 99% of nuclear waste while generating clean power. • The modular Molten Salt Reactor can produce sustainable, no GHGbase load power and is cheaper than coal at $.02/kw. • Molten Salt Reactors produce no CO2 or particulates. • A Molten Salt Reactor has a small footprint, is easily scalable and can provide continuous base load to support wind and solar. • Highly efficient Molten Salt Reactors provide low cost desalination. Problem • Spent nuclear fuel, 1600 metric tonnes at San Onofre cannot legally be moved and has 10,000 year half life. • California has no viable plan to provide adequate, affordable, renewable, base load power needed by consumers & businesses as required by SB350 and AB32 implementation. • California is the 2nd highest CO2 emitting state, producing 98 million tonnes of CO2 and particulates annually. • Intermittent, diffuse sources like solar panel & wind farms require a base load source of back up power for continuous, affordable electricity. • California has a water shortage.

  14. The Innovative Molten Salt ReactorThe Solution to our Energy requirements, a Fail-Safe future • The Gen IV Molten Salt Reactor (MSR), was designed and operated at Oak Ridge National Labs. • The reactor ran for 5 years with no technical problems. • MSR is low pressure, it cannot blow up because it is not pressurized. • In Molten Salt Reactors (MSR), The fuel isliquid! • Liquid fuel is superior, it can’t melt down. • Liquid useful products produced by the reactor are continually removed for resale. • Liquid reactor refueling can take place while it is running. • Liquid fuel is self moderating meaning that as it heats up the fuel density decreases, decreasing the reaction rate. If the fuel temperature gets low the density increases, increasing the reaction rate. It consumes a large amount of long lived nuclear waste. • It creates a very small amount of short lived products that can be used for medical isotopes, rocket fuel and a neutron source to start other reactors. • If power is lost, a salt plug kept frozen by a fan, melts and the reactor passively empties into a, non-critical configuration, drain tank. It “fails safe”

  15. Generation IV Power – The Future • Power cheaper than coal • Clean electricity generation • Do not need cooling water • Reuse of LWR nuclear waste • Low Pressure Using modern, advanced technology

  16. Is energy from spent nuclear fuel “renewable” and “clean” energy? • Like renewable Geothermal, the heat comes from uranium and thorium. Better than geothermal, MSR is scalable globally. • Like renewable Biomass, MSR takes a waste stream and makes useable energy from it.  Better than biomass, MSR does not produce CO2. • Unlike conventional Nuclear Light Water Reactors • Consumes an existing, as yet, unsustainable spent nuclear fuel waste stream. • No mining required for MSR fuel. • A Fail Safe reactor • No CO2 or particle exhaust. • Is a sustainable global solution for 1000s of years. • Produces usable products (Medical isotopes, rocket fuel). • Excess heat suitable for desalination.

  17. The Molten Salt Reactor is a safe Proven Technology • Developed at Oak Ridge National Lab; backed by John Kennedy in 1962 after recommendations by nuclear physics, Nobel laureates, Dr. Alvin Weinberg, Dr. Glenn Seaborg. MSRE ran from 1965 to 1969 – 20,000 hours of operation with no technical problems. • Defunded by Richard Nixon 1972 with the collaboration of Congressman Chet Holifield, a who had made his fortune in men’s apparel. • Who was the best judge of this innovative, safe, civilian power technology? Who had our best interests in mind? • Cold War military considerations and Political machinations denied us the most practical and realizable solution to the issues of our current energy crisis. • The Chinese now have a MSR prototype reactor running based on the design from Oak Ridge National Lab.

  18. San Onofre – Spent nuclear fuel 3 options • Leave Spent nuclear fuel on the beach in San Onofre for 30,000 years • Spend decommissioning fund on projects that don’t remediate • Make the consumers pay for additional costs • Consume Spent nuclear fuel onsite in CA • Recondition fuel onsite at San Onofre . • Install MSR at San Onofre . • Resume & increase power production for So Cal. • Include Spent nuclear fuel energy from MSR as “renewable” in – SB 350, AB 32, San Diego Climate Action Plan. • Consume Spent nuclear fuel at an out-of-state power plant • Recondition Spent nuclear fuel onsite at San Onofre . • Deliver reconditioned fuel to out-of-state MSR. • So Cal Edison enters buyback, Long-Term Power Purchase Agreement with out-of-state provider. • Include Spent nuclear fuel energy from MSR as “renewable” in – SB 350, AB 32, San Diego Climate Action Plan.

  19. Strategic Financial Plan • How much energy can be derived by a Molten Salt Reactor from San Onofre Spent Nuclear Fuel? 307,034 GW h • Enough to power to replace San Onofre for 20 years without the 147,000,000 tonnes of CO2 and particulates from replacement fossil fuels. • Value of that energy in today’s market assuming legacy 33% efficiency conversion? $36.5 Billion • The MSR creates a safe, profitable way to utilize Spent Nuclear Fuel to make clean energy. This efficiently leads to the elimination of this currently unsustainable nuclear waste stream. • The success of the Molten Salt Reactor technology will expand economic opportunity for So Cal Edison.

  20. Action Items • Invest a portion of the $4 billion San Onofre decommissioning fund to implement Molten Salt Reactor technology eliminating their 1600 metric tonnes of spent nuclear fuel. This program can take place at San Onofre or an interested power generating facility out of state. • Legislation - Append Section 25741 (a)(1) of the Public Resources Code to include the energy derived from recycling spent nuclear fuel in a Molten Salt Reactor as “renewable”. – Add Gen IV Molten Salt Reactors to the following definition; "renewable electrical generation facility" must use one of the following: "biomass, solar thermal, photovoltaic, wind, geothermal, fuel cells using renewable fuels, small hydroelectric generation of 30 megawatts or less, digester gas, municipal solid waste conversion, landfill gas, ocean wave, ocean thermal, or tidal current, and any additions or enhancements to the facility using that technology.“

  21. What future does MSR offer? • Molten Salt Reactors will permanently consume all existing spent nuclear fuel. • Once the spent fuel is gone the San Onofre power facility can be removed or repurposed to safe & renewable. • MSRs will create inexpensive “green” electricity from spent nuclear fuel • MSRs can be used to produce CA energy that now annually produces 98,000,000 tonnes of Global Climate Changing CO2 and particulates. • The excess heat from MSRs can be used to affordably desalinate water for civil and agricultural use. • MSRs do not need a large facility, don’t need water cooling and don’t need to be on the beach. • Eliminates the cost and risk of securely storing 1,600 MTonnes of spent nuclear fuel for 30,000 years. • A Peaceful, Clean, Financially sound future. • MSR is the cheapest new renewable and does not require subsidies once in place because it can produce electricity at $.02/kw.

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