Electric Vehicles In An Electric-Centric World- Part 3- Nuclear/ Natural Gas

NUCLEAR POWER

Now, turning to nuclear power as a solution; well, not hardly. If the viability of the earth's future [hence our own] is something that might be of concern, this source, at best, must be considered only as a back-up player. Granted, the risk that a nuclear reactor might fail today is fairly small on a per plant basis. However, with more nuclear power plants constructed to meet the growing demand for electricity, the risk that just one reactor will fail increases along with the increase in facility existence. And if that risk comes to fruition, the consequences are catastrophic as we have seen with the disaster at Chernobyl, U.S.S.R., in 1986.

Now for the opaque but tangible costs of nuclear power. Start with those attributable to mining the uranium-bearing ore. The environmental damage and disruption as similar to that which exists with coal extraction. And do not forget the security threat that always swirls around nuclear power. That threat owes its existence not only to the mined product [remember "yellow cake", the precursor nuclear fuel material derived from a process that concentrates raw uranium ore], but even more so to the operational threats associated with global terrorism. Imagine Mr. Al-Qaeda getting his idle hands on even a minuscule amount of processed uranium, even spent uranium intended for storage, let alone a pound or two of plutonium. Additional opportunity for nuclear proliferation in the age of al-Qaeda is something that must be avoided at all costs.

Then consider the various disposal issues and the costs associated with disposal, including containment and transportation. First, "where"? Yucca Mountain? A storage facility sited along a fault zone of all places. That seems at first blush to be an excellent spot to place for "eternity" one of the most deadly materials known to humankind. And who wants to, or is going to, wait around for a million years or so biding time for the stuff to decay. A moment of sobriety and candor: our quasi "civilization" has only been around for a little more than 6,000 years or 1/200th of that time. And do not forget the costs associated with decommissioning depleted reactors, the radiated wasteland on which the facility was situated, and the threat of proliferation from expanded production - hence availability of - radioactive materials. Theft, dirty bombs, a whole scenario of nightmares to occupy the imagination. Security does cost, and it is exceedingly expensive as witnessed by the budgets submitted by the Department of Homeland Security. Such costs must be visited on the progenitor thereof.

NATURAL GAS

This source of energy has a fairly substantial potential, especially if technology is developed to commercially utilize methane hydrates [methane contained within marine sediments and ice crystals in deep marine locations],. However, although natural gas is considered to be a "cleaner" fossil fuel alternative than either coal or petroleum-based hydrocarbons, it still emits greenhouse gases when burned. Additionally, even if the larger hydrate reserves can be economically tapped and exploited, costly problems arise. First, it is doubtful that greater utilization of natural gas reserves will be sufficient to generate enough electricity to power a transportation system that is dominated by all-electric vehicles. Moreover, natural gas is still a finite resource. Burning it to generate electricity still emits the very greenhouse gases [albeit, less than coal on a per unit basis] that must not be discharged into the atmosphere. Moreover, the drilling, pumping, and transportation activities that are necessary to extract and use natural gas as a fuel to generate electricity all require vast capital expenditures and their own consumption of energy [despite its high net energy ratio].

Another problem: transporting natural gas is a very dangerous proposition, it being a highly flammable and extremely explosive compound. This hazard presents its own -- and rather large - security risk. Many LNG ["Liquid Natural Gas"] ships navigating into harbors surrounded by major populations [Boston, New York, Baltimore, etc.] is a terrorist's dream come true. Finally, even with large domestic reserves of natural gas, this commodity is imported and we again suffer from dependency on foreign sources. Expanded use of natural gas to help support an electric-centric transportation system can only exacerbate this dependency.

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