Natural Resources Energy

Fossil Fuels

Fossil Fuels Our Principal Industrial Energy Source Fundamental to the U. S. Economy 88% of our energy needs are met by coal, oil, & natural gas

Fossil Fuels The Historical Development of Fossil Fuels Coal mining began 8 centuries ago on the north coast of England The use of fossil fuels was negligible before 1800 http://talc.geo.umn.edu/courses/3005/resource.html

The General Depletion Picture Oil & Natural Gas Liquids 2003 Base Case Scenario http://www.peakoil.ie/downloads/newsletters/newsletter29_200305.pdf

Oil And Natural Gas The Natural Occurrence of Oil and Gas Both resources require that some sort of geologic trap exist http://www.santelmoenergy.com/industry/fundamentalsp2.asp

Oil And Natural Gas Oil Field Sizes Oil fields range from supergiant (>5 billion bbls) to small (5 million bbls) Few undiscovered supergiant or giants are believed to remain Seems virtually certain they have all been found in the U.S.

http://www. worldoil. com/magazine/magazine_link. asp http://www.worldoil.com/magazine/magazine_link.asp?ART_LINK=01-09_tectonic-mann_fig1.htm Global distribution of 592 giant oil fields plotted on topographic-bathymetric world map. Yellow boxes indicate concentrations of giant oil fields shown in detailed figures. A) Alaska; B) Rocky Mountain foreland; C) Southern California; D) Permian and Anadarko basins; E) Gulf of Mexico; F) Northern South America; G) Brazil; H) North Sea; I) North Africa; J) West Africa; K) Arabian Peninsula / Persian Gulf; L) Black Sea; m) Caspian Sea; N) Ural Mountains; O) West Siberia; P) Siberia; Q) China; R) Sunda; S) Australia; T) Bass Strait / Australia / Tasmania

Top 20 Oil Reserves http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_nat_gas_res&int=20#

Top 20 Oil Reserves http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_nat_gas_res&int=20#

Top 20 Oil Consumers http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_nat_gas_res&int=20#

Top 20 Oil Consumers http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_nat_gas_res&int=20#

(U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1118 ) http://greenwood.cr.usgs.gov/energy/resass/fig6.html#fig6 Map of lower 48 States showing location of continuous-type plays for oil and gas in sandstones, shales, and chalks (U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1118 )

Oil And Natural Gas Getting Oil Out of the Ground Exploration Secure drilling rights Drilling Pumping Processing

After drilling, a cement mixture is pumped into the ‘payzone” and left to harden. Once hard, the cement zone is perforated. http://www.santelmoenergy.com/industry/fundamentalsp3.asp Drilling

Oil And Natural Gas Oil Recovery Ranges from 10 to 80% The industry average is 30% Secondary Recovery This is mostly water or natural gas injection Raises recovery 2 to 10% http://www.santelmoenergy.com/industry/fundamentalsp7.asp

Oil And Natural Gas Tertiary recovery is rarely done in situ heating by burning or detergent injection are used

Oil And Natural Gas U.S. oil production will continue to fall as the resource declines Year 2000 PRODUCTION = 5x106 bbls/day CONSUMPTION = 16 to 17x106 bbls/day

Oil And Natural Gas Suppliers of Petroleum to the U. S. Importer nations must go to those who have oil regardless of politics Dependence on oil has forced reliance on distant sources as domestic resources fall Industrial powers now rely on politically unstable nations

Oil And Natural Gas A Brief History of OPEC Founded around 1960 by Venezuela because oil companies paid so little for the oil they extracted Other nations joined because their huge oil resources generated so little money In the early 1970's U.S. inefficiency forced us to switch from exporter to importer The Shah of Iran urged price increases OPEC production has fallen since 1977

Oil And Natural Gas Oil Shales 20% of the U.S. is underlain by oil shale The Green River Formation of Colorado, Utah & Wyoming covers 17,000 sq. miles and has 2 x 1012 bbls oil better deposits have 30 gallons/ton rock most land is federally owned Best known recovery methods involve strip mining and surface retorting

Oil And Natural Gas Oil Shales Environmental problems retorting expands the shale 20% compounding disposal problems strip mining waste is very alkaline and pollutes streams air pollution from dust and many chemicals burning shale oil produces 1.5 to 5 times the CO2 of conventional oil CO2 is released from calcite

Oil And Natural Gas Natural Gas (methane CH4) History Natural gas was once considered a nuisance and was routinely flared before 1940 Now natural gas is either: reinjected to maintain oil field pressure shipped to market preferably by pipeline LNG tankers are dangerous

Oil And Natural Gas The resource yet to be developed in the U.S. may be 1500 x1012 cubic feet 65 years supply at 1995 consumption rates This high total may result from discoveries in the Rocky Mtn overthrust belt

Top 20 Natural Gas Reserves http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_nat_gas_res&int=20#

Top 20 Natural Gas Reserves http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_nat_gas_res&int=20#

Top 20 Natural Gas Consumers

Top 20 Natural Gas Consumers http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_nat_gas_res&int=20#

Coal Coal resources are more easily estimated U.S. may have 400 - 500 billion tons of commercial coal a 600 year supply resource is 10 times oil 4000 billion tons may ultimately be available USSR has 3 to 4 X the U.S. resource

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Coal distribution in the U.S. http://greenwood.cr.usgs.gov/energy/resass/fig8.html#fig8 Map of lower 48 States showing areas of coal-bed gas and locations of plays assessed (U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1118 )

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Coal Important uses of coal electricity generation production of methane by gasification domestic and commercial heat heat for industrial processes

Coal How coal is produced Source

Coal Adverse environmental impacts Strip mining occupational hazards - black lung, mine collapse, etc. stream pollution from mines SO2 and NOX air pollution - acid rain particulate air pollution

Mountaintop removal mining near the Mud River, southern West Virginia Resulted in polluted air, streams and well water, in addition to strong earth vibrations due to the detonation of explosives. Photograph by Melissa Farlow / Source

Mountain top mining in Kayford Mountain in Raleigh County, West Virginia Photograph by Melissa Farlow / Source

Cleanup of a mine tailing dam failure near Inez, Kentucky in October 2000 250 million gallons (950 million liters) of slurry entered into the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River Photograph by Melissa Farlow / Source

http://130.11.57.28/btch226/btch226j/btch226z/pef00717.htm http://130.11.57.28/btch226/btch226j/btch226z/pef00730.htm J. Paul Storrs, mining engineer, U.S. Geological Survey, examining the coal in ColoWyo Coal Company's mine near Axial. Moffat County, Colorado. 1960 The underground loading of coal in ColoWyo Coal Company's mine near Axial. Moffat County, Colorado. 1960

Countries by carbon dioxide emissions world map source

NUCLEAR POWER

Atomic Fusion Possibility was first recognized by Hans Bethe 1939 - Nobel Prize) Concept is to harness the energy of the sun by fusing 1D2 into 2He3 or 2He4 This has already been done in the form of the hydrogen bomb Image source

Atomic Fusion Definitions Isotope – atom that exhibits variation in its mass number Mass number – sum of the neutrons plus the protons in an atom Atomic number – # of protons found in the nucleus Atomic weight – average of the atomic masses of all the element's isotopes http://www.kidzworld.com/site/p2066.htm

Atomic Fusion Nuclear energy is released by several processes: Radioactive decay, where a radioactive nucleus decays spontaneously into a lighter nucleus by emitting a particle Alpha particles are stopped by a sheet of paper whilst beta particles halt to an aluminum plate. Gamma radiation is dampened when it penetrates matter. Gamma rays can be stopped from 4 meters of lead. source

Atomic Fusion Nuclear energy is released by several processes: Endothermic nuclear reactions where two nuclei merge to produce two different nuclei. The following two processes are particular examples: Fusion, two atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus; Fission, the breaking of a heavy nucleus into two nearly equal parts source

Fusion Fission source

Atomic Fusion The 3 Isotopes of Hydrogen Hydrogen 1H1 Deuterium 1D2 Tritium 1T3

The Energy Of Atomic Fission Fuels for Nuclear Reactors Natural fuels U235 is the only natural isotope of any element that is spontaneously fissionable 92U238 - 99.283% of all U 92U235 - 0.711% 92U234 - 0.006% U235 is the initial fuel for all fission reactors 1 gram of U235 equals 2.7 metric tons coal or 13.7 bbls oil

The Energy Of Atomic Fission Fuels for Nuclear Reactors Man made fuels U238 and Th232, fertile materials, can be made to combine with a neutron to make a useful fuel 92U238 + neutron → 94Pu239 fuel 90Th232 + neutron → 92U233 fuel

The Energy Of Atomic Fission The Nuclear Fuel Cycle U235 must be enriched from 0.711% to 3.0% This is done with UF6 gas After enrichment the U is made into UO2 ceramic pellets These pellets become fuel rods which last 3 years They are then stored in water at the reactor site

The Energy Of Atomic Fission Types of Reactors The Light Water Reactor LWR This is a burner type reactor which simply consumes U235 and produces neutrons, heat, and waste Reactor ultimately produces steam to drive the turbine A typical LWR has 100 tons of enriched U fuel - 40,000 rods Control rods are neutron absorbing B or Cd

The Energy Of Atomic Fission Types of Reactors Breeder Reactors These reactors convert U238 and Th232 into fuel France, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany and the USSR are developing breeders The United States started research in 1948 on the LMFBR Low U costs will probably delay breeders in the U.S. until after 2000

Advantages of Nuclear Power No greenhouse gas emissions (during normal operation) Does not pollute the air Small solid waste generation (during normal operation) Low fuel costs - because so little fuel is needed Large fuel reserves - (e.g., in Canada and Australia) again, because so little fuel is needed source

Disadvantages of Nuclear Power Risk of accidents Nuclear waste Plutonium can be used to make nuclear bombs High initial costs High energy inputs during construction (equivalent to ~7 years power output) High maintenance costs Security concerns High cost of decommissioning plants Thermal pollution Finite fuel source source

Problems Of Uranium Mining Lung Cancer among the Miners NRC and the U.S. Public Health Service found a higher incidence of lung cancer among miners

Problems Of Uranium Mining Waste from Uranium Milling 865 gallons of toxic chemical waste form per ton of ore treated This waste was discharged into rivers or seeped into the Earth in the 1960's

Problems Of Uranium Mining The Problem of Tailings 100 million tons of radioactive sand exists at 30 mills in the western U.S. 5000 homes in Grand Junction, CO were built with this sand Tailings have washed into Lake Powell and Lake Meade

Problems At The Reactor Site Geological Problems Extremely extensive geological investigations are made Reactors still end up too close to fault zones Diablo Canyon - PG&E Bodega Bay

Problems At The Reactor Site Human and Mechanical Error Three Mile Island - March 28, 1979 The feed water pump to the reactor core was accidentally closed rods immediately went in and the reactor partly stopped Human error resulted in the emergency cooling system being shut off for 2 hours Core overheated to 1500ºC one billion dollars damage

Problems At The Reactor Site Human and Mechanical Error Chernobyl - April 26, 1986 Human errors resulted in a explosion and radiation release 100,000 people may be contaminated

The Disposal Of Nuclear Waste Fission products Over 30 elements form most have half lives of <100 years emit beta and gamma radiation Some are water soluble and biologically active

The Disposal Of Nuclear Waste Transuranium products heavier than U and form by neutron capture have half lives >1000 years act as heavy metal poisons Waste must be stored for 250,000 years

The Disposal Of Nuclear Waste How Much Spent Nuclear Fuel is there in the U.S.A. Remember that there is also military and medical waste By the year 2000 there will be 40,000 metric tons stored at 70 locations By 2035 the total will be 85,000 metric tons The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 selected Yucca Mountain, NV as the only depository site in the U.S.

The Disposal Of Nuclear Waste Criteria for a Storage Method isolation from the biosphere for 250,000 years sabotage and accident free for 250,000 years safe from natural disasters for 250,000 years must not involve large land areas or resources must be resistant to erosion, Earthquakes, and volcanism handling and transport must be fail safe economically and technically possible

The Disposal Of Nuclear Waste Possible Storage Methods Rocket transport of the waste dangerous and costly Continue present tank storage indefinitely leakage of dangerous waste has already occurred Placement in deep chambers of granite waste would boil, dehydrate, melt the surrounding rock and seal itself leakage along fractures is possible

The Disposal Of Nuclear Waste Possible Storage Methods Injection in Deep Wells Waste would be mixed with cement or injected directly under high pressure into impermeable layers Many dangers high pressure injection is dangerous high temperature could drive the waste out into other layers could lubricate faults

The Disposal Of Nuclear Waste Possible Storage Methods Deposition in Trenches technically difficult to assure no leaks

The Disposal Of Nuclear Waste Possible Storage Methods Deposition under polar ice caps Waste containers melt to the bottom of the glacier and remain stationary Violates international treaties

The Disposal Of Nuclear Waste Possible Storage Methods Salt Mine Waste Storage salt indicates a dry environment salt flows and seals fractures salt dissipates heat

The Disposal Of Nuclear Waste Possible Storage Methods Element Transmutation Eventually gamma ray lasers will convert dangerous elements into safe ones

The Disposal Of Nuclear Waste What is to be done? Find a public repository for nuclear waste Because of public fear this is probably a doomed and costly effort Reprocess spent fuel to reduce the volume of waste This raises more fear because Pu may be diverted to nuclear weapons A permanent repository will still be needed

The Disposal Of Nuclear Waste What is to be done? Continue on-site, dry-tank storage This is the only reasonable political solution This can be done for a 100 years and will allow time for: improved technology decline of public fear

Energy Crisis

Cause of the Energy Crisis Lack of national energy plan Years of import restrictions depleted our domestic resource Federal regulations on the price of oil & natural gas Laws restricting the burning of coal Environmental opposition to strip mining, offshore drilling, refinery construction Growing population & increased demand per capita Inefficient homes, transportation, and manufacturing Wars

Andrew Carnegie Story From NPR Andrew Carnegie was approached by a man on the street who claimed to have the key to success written in a small book. For $20,000 Carnegie could have the book. Image source

Andrew Carnegie Story From NPR Carnegie requested a sample of the suggestions: Each day make a list of the most important things to be accomplished. Do them!! Carnegie bought the book!!

Who’s Andrew Carnegie? Founder of the Carnegie Steel Company (later became U.S. Steel) Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT) at Pittsburgh (now part of Carnegie Mellon University) Carnegie Institution at Washington, D.C. Carnegie Hall in New York City. Ring any bells?

Andrew Carnegie Story From NPR Such an approach to national problems in 1980 would have: Developed an alternative energy and conservation plan, Emphasized improved public schools, etc. We didn't do it. Now we pay the price.

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