while there's an immense amount of energy in all matter — E=mc² and all that — we *don't* have technology to get a lifetime's energy for a person out of a golfball sized lump of uranium.
if you did want to power an average australian's lifetime energy needs from uranium, what would it take? 🧐
…by a couple of different methods (link at end), i estimate that 2.1GWh would cover all the energy needs of an average australian lifetime, assuming full electrification.
working back from this handy chart from @WorldNuclear, in the best case you'd need 417cc of nuclear fuel (mainly UO₂) for a single australian's lifetime.
first, if you are using traditional mining techniques, you'd need between 4.8 and 96 tonnes of uranium ore, depending on ore quality.
you then mill this to produce 46kg of yellowcake.
…you now have ~4.8 to ~96 tonnes of mill tailings to dispose of.
at this point only 0.7% is the useful uranium-235 isotope, but you need it to be ~5%.
so you convert it to 58kg of uranium hexafluoride (UFl₆) — an extremely toxic compound — and run it through cascades of centrifuges to create a sample that has the right concentration.
thanks to the centrifuges, you've now got ~6kg of enriched UFl₆. awesome!
unfortunately, you've also got 52kg (10.2 litres) of UFl₆ "tails".
what to do with it?
put it in cylinders and store it, could come in handy some day! (not joking. just make sure it doesn't leak!)
now, you take the enriched UFl₆ and convert it into 4.6kg of UO₂ (plus a few other materials), put it into tubes (fuel rods) and configure into a fuel assembly.
then you stick it in a reactor where it participates in a controlled chain reaction, producing heat that boils water, which ultimately drives a steam turbine and makes lots of lovely, very low CO₂ electricity.
after ~5 years the fuel has done its useful work, and it's time to dispose of it.
…but it's still a bit too spicy, so it sits in a spent fuel pool for a few years.
then, generally when the pool is full, you take it out & put it into casks.
it's quite safe when encased in (lots of) concrete & steel — but if you plan to eat it, wait 130,000 years until it's as _radioactively_ benign as natural uranium.
for an aussie lifestime, you'll need 4.8–96t of uranium ore, leaving:
• almost as much mill tailings
• 10 litres of toxic UFl₆
• a bit more than a coke can lump of toxic & radioactive waste
a lot less than coal, but a *lot* more than "a golf ball amount".
don't get me wrong… it's freaking amazing that humans worked out how to do this… but let's not confuse the public with false claims.
[nb. i haven't tackled costs above. hoo boy, that's another massive subject!]
australians🇦🇺: you're going to hear lots about ontario🇨🇦, which does have a very clean grid and cheap retail power.
but you should know 🧵
1. average age of ontario's nuclear fleet is 40 years. all government owned, but ~half privately operated.
2. the current nuclear price (as determined by the ontario energy board) from this old fleet is CAD 10.1¢/kWh which is the same as A$113/MWh.
ontario's proposed new nuclear power stations will cost much more…oeb.ca/sites/default/…
3a. a 2018 canadian gov't + industry report estimated cost of power from SMRs would have a mid-point of CAD$163/MWh, or CAD$215/MWh with a 3% cost overrun.
⚛️ why #nuclear power is a distraction for australia
if implemented, the #coalition's plan would see:
• increased gas & coal usage
• increased cost
• increased emissions
• higher chance of blackouts
read on to find out why… 🧵
firstly, let me say i have a deep interest in nuclear.
i've visited multiple nuclear plants, met with companies planning to build SMRs and nuclear VCs, taken a nuclear course at @MIT and closely watched the sector for years.
i encourage the use of nuclear where it makes sense.
some context: nuclear has had a long history of nothing in australia, including the start of construction in jervis bay (promptly cancelled by a liberal PM) and a federal ban (under a liberal PM).
important to note there are also state bans, including in NSW, VIC & QLD.
my wish for you all today is that you’re not seated at xmas dinner next to your uncle who wants to convince you that australia needs to go #nuclear. ☢️
bit if you do get cornered, you might want to remind him that… 🧵
1. about 90% of our coal power will shut down by 2035, the rest well before 2040 — due to age and economics
2. nuclear won’t be able to contribute meaningfully to our grid before 2040 — SMRs won’t be commercially available for years, and large-scale nukes take that long to build
3. AEMO, the grid operator, is very confident we can keep the lights on and keep industry humming with wind, solar and hydro, supported by storage and backed up by a small amount of gas.
…we’ll burn less fossil gas in most years than we do now