visual source dreamstime.com

Many of us have wish lists or resolutions as we get towards the end of one year and think about what we want out of next year.

So I decided to do a top of the mind wish list for the Energy Transition

Now we all can add to this but here are my nineteen wishes for kicking off 2022 in a focused way for the Energy Transition we all need to gather momentum, in really serious ways. Can you improve on this wish list?

Some of the ideas or thoughts are in the links provided. Happy holiday reading!

1. Let us stop talking “Net Zero” let’s make a new target of “Net Positive.” Net Positive is a way of doing business that puts back more into society, the environment and the global economy than it takes out.

2. Stop all the talking about Carbon Removal and show some real scaling progress on proving carbon removal is actually going to make a real impact.

3. The current technology talk is about “technology-ready” but let’s be honest 42 out of 48 technologies are not at scale, at all (IEA)

4. When are we going to have a decent set of debates, financial wizards are mandatory to be in the room, about having a clear derisking strategy and stranded asset assessment for each project that continues to promote anything but clean energy solutions’

5. Making real on all those Glasgow CoP26 pledges. Really?

6. Go way beyond the talk of mobilizing capital for the Energy Transaction with so many strings attached, and get our global institutions to turn on the “Clean Energy Tap” to mobilize industry, governments and all involved to break the old habits, and create the new habits of nothing but clean energy

7. Recognizing there are many developing countries in real need and energy dependency, that need support so the world, not our narrow, wrong thinking of just “our” country can simply survive.

8. Talking about the coal game- how are “we” going to seriously talk to India, China, Australia, South Africa and Brazil about digging and using coal? Stop buying products that are proven to be made within the extended supply chain with coal first (or gas or oil in later years)? Coal is Providing 37% of the world’s energy, coal is the single largest source of electricity generation globally. It is projected to remain the leading energy source into the 2030s, particularly because its use in India in China is still growing.  No mitigation without aid.

9. Do we develop clean air and product sanctions and apply them to those countries that keep ignoring science and the facts of the realities that are staring us all in the face from natural disasters?

10. How can we really have a visible supply chain that covers all scope, 1, 2 and 3 in real terms. not theoretical reporting? We do need what we are buying and what energy went into making and distributing it.

11. Methane emissions and the recent pledges were like the lottery prize pulled out of the CoP26 bag of goodies, was not the first prize, no one won that! Will we see pledges, promises and plans actually materialize next year to get greater global support here?

12. Is next year going to be the year Nuclear gets put back on the Energy considerations and the SMR makes good on all its talk and promise?

13. Everyone talks about the sustainability game. I think it is time to really call out the ones that talk about it, for shareholder leverage and those seriously making it a core need of their business- It needs to become embedded in all organizations objectives. Sustainable energy can be defined as a form of energy that can be utilized again and again without putting a source in danger of getting depleted, expired, or vanishing.

14. The cost of not collaborating, be it China and the USA, Russia and the EU is going to mess with any timescale of 2030 or even 2050. can we not find another way to collaborate on Energy in a world falling apart in one disaster after another or that lack of trust and collaboration we all need to have to turn this planet around?.

15. The inequality, injustices we have around Energy, in energy poverty or no basic security of electricity in developing countries, or they are not able to obtain clean energy solutions due to finance or political reasons, does need changing.

16. Not just “propose but dispose of” when it comes to money to make clean energy the only ‘currency’ of any energy project from 2022 onwards available to those that have scalable solutions, not more “bright ideas” that can quantify the capital investments.

17. As we enter 2022, we aim to have achieved a 45% decarbonized world by 2030, only EIGHT years away, why don’t we declare a climate emergency in 2022 and find scalable solutions that chase beyond this target?

18. Coal, gas and oil may be around for some time to come but let’s treat them as truly sunset fuels (oil and gas really?) that belong to the last century not this one in any future discussion, totally supporting the renewable push. Why not set a global standard so every dollar spent on coal, gas or oil is on a ratio of 1 to 5 for spending on renewables. Or, for every dollar of electricity generated by coal, oil and gas that is GIVEN UP, there is available 10 cents in fresh financing renewables and let the scaling effect on renewable costs also kick in.

19. Finally to stop talking about the Energy Transition and finally roll up our sleeves and get on with it. The pressure to perform and reduce our carbon emissions needs even more of real momentum in actual “deed”, not words!

So any other thoughts as we enter 2023, what would be your Number 20?

The post My energy wish list as we move towards 2022 first appeared on Innovating the Energy Transition.

Visual Source: Seaborg Technologies

Let’s discuss Nuclear in different ways than the present discussion has gone. Nuclear has been not given the debate it deserves. That needs changing in my view.

This is largely from the use of salt! Well, actually, small modular reactors offer a Nuclear future as part of our clean energy requirements.

I wrote a piece recently, “the Elephant that should be in the Energy Debate,” and it is largely because of the technology, safety and reality of what Nuclear offers in new approaches and designs that make it have a real place to be at the Energy Transition table.

Firstly what is a molten salt reactor (MSR)?

It is a class of nuclear fission reactors where the primary coolant and/or the fuel is a molten salt mixture. There are several different designs, all looking to bring small modular reactors (SMR) to market.

MSR has significant advantages over traditional nuclear reactors.

First, the MSR typically operates at or close to atmospheric pressure, rather than 75 to 150 times the atmospheric pressure used for LWRs, thereby reducing the containment structures’ needs and eliminating hydrogen as a source of explosion risk.

Equally, the MSR does not produce dangerous and radioactive fission gases under pressure; these are naturally absorbed into the molten salt. This smaller reactor and these differences provide a key benefit of removing the risks of contaminating large land areas.

The MSR can also operate at higher operating temperatures providing higher electricity-generation efficiency, allowing for a greater coupling benefit of having grid-storage facilities, potentially more economical hydrogen products, and some potential for process-heat opportunities.

So why are these not the future for any debate on Nuclear?

Let’s continue with the good news. The combination of offering a low-pressure system and a high boiling point greatly limits the chance of a containment explosion. The MSR doesn’t require massive cooling in dedicated water ponds or rivers; they can be placed anywhere and air-cooled.

Visual Source: Seaborg Technologies

If the core were to overheat, the biggest and best safety feature is that a gravity-enabled passive shutdown system would send the heated, radiated salt into an underground containment chamber or drain tanks by simply gravity and turning off the reactor.

These MSRs still face several challenges. Relevant design challenges include the corrosivity of hot salts and the changing chemical composition of the salt as it is transmuted by reactor radiation.

There are quite naturally different bodies of concern about Nuclear in general. Its need for the future is in new evolving modular solutions. There is a long list of advantages and disadvantages to working through, but I leave these out of this post.

There are different approaches to molten salt reactors, all being investigated or tested at present. I have used to illustrate MSRs the visuals supplied by Seaborg Technologies to provide a clearer example of Molten Salt Reactors; they offer one concept of a few.

Also, Thorium-based energy is being significantly invested in still not well tested and does have some scenario’s still to be worked through in design, process and final operation.

Fusion power is in the future, a future rapidly coming into view without a doubt. It does have as much potential (or even more) to halt carbon emissions as other solutions more readily discussed. But as climate issues increase, we need to consider MSR and ones that seem to be ahead at present, the liquid fluoride thorium reactors (LFTRs)

I read up on Seaborg Technologies based in Denmark that their CMSR (compact molten salt reactor) is in design and further hypothesis validation. I have taken their excellent visuals to help describe and present Molten Salt reactors.

Without a doubt, Seaborg Technologies are motivated by the challenges of the need to address eliminating carbon dioxide and adding electricity through this solution.

Visual Source: Seaborg Technologies

The CMSR works with both fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. In either case, it generates a large amount of low-carbon energy. Another attractive feature is a novel liquid salt used as a neutron moderator: it acts as a catalyst to improve the efficiency of the fission chain reaction, reducing the size and cost of generating energy. Moreover, this moderator is not degraded by neutron irradiation – a challenge that has stalled previous attempts at commercializing the technology.

Liquid salt can be reprocessed, separating uranium and plutonium from fuel for reuse to produce waste that only needs 300 years of storage in nuclear cemeteries. So far, long-lived nuclear waste may need up to 300,000 years of storage.

The University of Idaho is looking for Nuclear Batteries.

Also, the US University of Idaho has announced they have verified a new process to speed up the development of the world’s first Molten Salt Nuclear Battery (MsNB). They claim this is a monumental step in the molten salt reactor design process. They envisage military bases, hospitals, and communities can gain reliable, secure, continuous energy from an MsNB as a small, distributed energy source, bringing autonomy to the users from reliance on more decentralised grids and energy supply.

The MsNB testing device uses ohmic heating to heat liquid via an electric current evenly. It acts as a reactor surrogate, mimicking the internal heat generation within a reactor through fission or splitting an atom’s nucleus. In the MsNB, the heat released during the ohmic heating testing process causes the molten salt fuel within the battery to rise in a central cylinder. Once at the top, the fuel moves to a heat exchanger, where it is cooled and falls back down the space between the inner and outer cylinders. This natural circulation eliminates the need for valves and pumps, improving the reliability and simplicity of the reactor design.

Presently, the University of Idaho is looking for a grant to validate and compete for an MsNB design up to manufacturing by a partner, Premier Technology.

Natrium Reactors, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett

In my recent post, “The Elephant that should be in more in the Energy Debate- Nuclear.”

I picked up on a recent announcement that Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are coming together to build a nuclear Natrium reactor in Wyoming at a decommissioned coal plant. This is an advanced nuclear reactor that is suggested as safer, performs better and costs less than the traditional plants.

The project is based around a 345 MW sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system that will have storage technology to deliver a system’s output to 500 MW of power for more than five-and-a-half hours when needed, which is equivalent to the energy required to power around 400,000 homes and will be able to integrate with renewable resources and could lead to faster, more cost-effective decarbonization of electricity generation.

What we see is that Small scale nuclear reactors are starting to be developed around the world.

We know Nuclear in its current power plant form is continuing to suffer heavy losses as renewables come online or are mostly scheduled to close. Globally, nuclear energy supplies 11% of electricity; it had come down from 17.6% back in 1996.

The cost of the building design, safety and maintenance of these traditionally designed Nuclear reactors are expensive and not flexible in their operation or management. If we move towards smaller modular, safer designs, Nuclear has the chance to become more competitive and attractive.

Are small modular reactors a new way forward for nuclear power?

There is a growing argument besides settling on a design for MSR they can be mass-manufactured at specialised facilities, transported more easily, and installed in remote locations where conventional power is not so feasible. They are compact and are a sound distributed energy solution. They cost significantly less than traditional large-scale reactors due to containment, leakage and environmental concerns. This becomes a way forward for many developing countries in the world.

Image and Concepts from Seaborg Technologies

Systems in design are integral, meaning the fuel, steam, and generator will be in one vessel, and the core’s own heat can drive the coolant flow, eliminating many pumps and moving parts that can fail. Each reactor will be self-contained.

Rolls-Royce in the UK are in a consortium for their Small Modular Reactor (SMR), but this is around a decade away from concept to scale.

If MSR’s can show cost and safety concerns are being addressed and can settle on limited standardised designs, mass manufacturing can give scale and cost reductions. Perhaps no different than solar& wind rapidly reduced costs, and now hydrogen is chasing that route, can MSR join them?

What is known is some of the big players in energy have attempted SMR solutions, including Westinghouse, giving up in 2014, and then Babcock and Wilcox folded theirs in 2017. In Russia, state-funded MSR had construction costs run over estimates four times this small-scale nuclear pathway has had and is having obstacles to moving from a hypothesis to reality. ( sources BBC future articles)

I think we need to get used to Nuclear being in the Energy Mix

At present, I am left with a great question raised in an article I was reading for this post, “How many renewables does it take to replace a nuclear plant.”

Visual Source: Seaborg Technologies

I think we will see an innovative combination of an advanced sodium fast reactor with energy storage, sited on utility sites, disused land, and old coal mines to give power security and jobs.

These energy combinations can allow the reactor to operate at a high capacity while simultaneously capturing and storing electricity and plugging into support the increased use of hydrogen, working alongside renewables.

The future design of energy systems will be modular, not based on one fuel or power generation but 8utilizing multiple options to be optimal in energy delivery and best pricing, and solution mix to customers.

We do need all the carbon-free power we can lay our hands upon.

We need carbon-free power, true zero, not clean power credits or fossil fuel and CCUS capture, giving us in the future carbon headaches or nothing but wind farms and solar farms stretching out over land and sea.

We need as many options for viable, alternative clean fuel, and that seems to be including Nuclear in my mind, sitting alongside green Hydrogen from Electrolysis, as equally primary sources of our clean energy needs, competing with Renewables, the current green flavours of this decade.

One last visual supplied by Seaborg Technologies needs some time to study

Visual Source: Seaborg Technologies

The 2030 decade is going to be Nuclear and Hydrogen time

As we face Nuclear closures worldwide, we need to evaluate and hopefully achieve a next-generation Nuclear solution, which seems to be based on small modular reactors based on the Molten Salt design.

We are rapidly gaining a real understanding of the need for a phenomenal range of clean energy solutions to displace Gas, oil, and coal totally. In my opinion, we must include another clean energy source, Nuclear.

We need to rapidly find solutions to phase out old Nuclear Plants and not extend them even further. We need to determine a new Nuclear policy that establishes small modular reactor designs. The approach through the molten salt reactors shows real promise to accelerate as that safer Nuclear option.

It is interesting; in the past Salt was always prized as a commodity. Now it is part of a clean energy solution.

*Sources for initial descriptions: Wikipedia/ Molten salt reactors and for Thorium-based energy

*Thanks to Seaborg Technologies, they got me really interested and excited about the landscape of tomorrow and how Nuclear has a real fit as and when the present technologies become commercialised in or by the 2030s.

*If there are any errors in descriptions or understanding, they are mine. In this research and investigation, I do not claim a depth of knowledge. This is only a “snapshot” to raise awareness and interest.

The post Molten Salt Nuclear Reactors- so what’s there not to like? first appeared on Innovating the Energy Transition.