1. Geologic Resources: Nonrenewable Mineral and Energy Resources
Chapter 15
G. Tyler Miller’s
Living in the Environment
13th Edition

2. Key Concepts Types of mineral resources
Formation and location of mineral resources
Extraction and processing of mineral resources
Increasing supplies of mineral resources
Major types, acquisition, advantages, and disadvantages of fuel resources

3. Nature and Formation of Mineral Resources
Metallic
Iron, copper, aluminum
Ore - rock containing one or more metallic minerals
Non-metallic
Salt, clay, sand, phosphates, soil
Energy Resources
Coal, oil, gas, uranium
Non-renewable

4. Nature and Formation of Mineral Resources
Magma
Igneous rock
Hydrothermal processes
Hydrothermal ore deposits
Black smokers
Manganese nodules
Weathering and sedimentary sorting
Residual deposits
Placer deposits
Evaporite mineral deposits
Black smoker
White
smoker
Sulfide
deposit
Magma
White clam
Tube worms
White crab

5. Finding Nonrenewable Mineral Resources
Satellite imagery
Aerial sensors (magnetometers)
Gravity differences (gravimeter)
Core sampling
Seismic surveys
Chemical analysis of water and plants

6. Removing Nonrenewable Mineral Resources
Surface mining
Overburden
Layer of soil and rock overlaying mineral deposits
Spoils
Unwanted rock and other materials in with ore
Open pit
Strip mining
Mountain removal
Dredging
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977
Restore surface land like it was prior to mining.
Levied tax on mining companies to restore land disturbed before the law was passed.

7. Open Pit Mine

9. Area Strip Mining

11. Contour Strip Mining

12. Mountain Top Removal

13. Removing Nonrenewable Mineral Resources
Subsurface mining
Room and pillar
Longwall
Disturbs less land area
Produces less waste
More dangerous and expensive

14. Environmental Effects of Mining, Processing, and Using Mineral Resources

15. Environmental Effects of Extracting (Mining) and Processing Mineral Resources
Ore
Ore mineral
Desired metal
Gangue
Waste material
Tailings
Separated waste
Smelting
Fig p. 344

16. Environmental Effects of Using Mineral Resources
Disruption of land surface
500,000 mines
Subsidence
Erosion of solid mining waste
Acid mine drainage
H2SO4
Air pollution
Mining produces more toxic emissions than any other industry
Storage and leakage of liquid mining waste

17. Supplies of Mineral Resources
Economic depletion
Costs more to find, extract, transport, and process the remaining deposit than it is worth (10%)
Options
Recycle or reuse
Waste less
Use less
Find a substitute
Do without
Fig p. 346

18. Evaluating Energy Resources
Renewable energy
Non-renewable energy
Future availability
Net energy yield
Cost
Environmental effects
Fig p. 351

19. Important Nonrenewable Energy Sources
Fig p. 350

20. Oil Crude Oil oil as it comes out of the ground
thick liquid consisting of combustible hydrocarbons
small amounts of sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen impurities
only 35% of the oil out of an oil deposit
“heavy crude oil”

21. Oil Refinery Separation based on boiling points Petrochemicals
Fig p. 355
Separation based on boiling points
Petrochemicals
Raw materials used in manufacturing such as organic chemicals, pesticides, plastics, synthetic fibers, paints, medicines…..

22. North American Energy Resources
Fig
p. 356

23. World’s Oil Supplies
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
67% of the world’s oil reserves
Saudi Arabia : 26%
Kuwait, Iran, United Arab Emirates : 9-10%
Latin America : 9%
Africa : 7%
Former Soviet Union : 6%
Asia : 4%
US : 3%

24. Oil (million barrels per day)60
History
History
Projections
Projections 50
Consumption 40
Net Imports
Oil (million barrels per day) 30 20
Domestic supply 10
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
Year
U.S. supply, consumption, and imports

25. Oil Shale and Tar Sands Oil shale Keragen Tar sand Bitumen
Fig p. 361

26. Natural Gas 50-90% Methane Conventional natural gas
Lies above crude oil reservoirs
Unconventional natural gas
Found by itself
Methyl hydrate
200 year supply
Fig p. 362

27. Important Nonrenewable Energy Sources
Fig p. 350

28. Coal
Stages of coal formation

29. Coal
Fig p. 363

30. Coal Stages of coal formation Primarily strip-mined.
Used most for generating electricity
21% of the world’s energy
Enough coal for about 1000 years
Coal is the world’s most abundant fossil fuel
Highest environmental impact!
Coal gasification and liquefaction may reduce impact.

31. Burning Coal More Cleanly
Fluidized-Bed Combustion
Fig p. 364

33. NUCLEAR POWER
President Dwight Eisenhower, 1953, “Atoms for Peace”speech.
Nuclear-powered electrical generators would provide power “too cheap to meter.”
Between 1970 and 1974, American utilities ordered 140 new reactors for power plants.

34. Nuclear Power
After 1975, only 13 orders were placed for new nuclear reactors, and all of those were subsequently cancelled.
In all, 100 of 140 reactors on order in 1975 were cancelled.
Construction costs, declining demand for electrical power, safety fears
Electricity from nuclear power plants was about half the price of coal in 1970, but twice as much in 1990.

35. Nuclear Power Plant History

36. How Do Nuclear Reactors Work
Most commonly used fuel is U235, a naturally occurring radioactive isotope of uranium.
Occurs naturally at 0.7% of uranium, but must be enriched to about of 3%.
Formed in cylindrical pellets (1.5 cm long) and stacked in hollow metal rods (4 m long).
About 100 rods and bundled together to make a fuel assembly.
Thousands of fuel assemblies bundled in reactor core.

37. How Do Nuclear Reactors Work
When struck by neutrons, radioactive uranium atoms undergo nuclear fission (splitting) releasing energy and more neutrons.
Triggers nuclear chain reaction.

38. Nuclear Fission

39. How Do Nuclear Reactors Work
Reaction is moderated in a power plant by neutron-absorbing solution (Moderator).
In addition, Control Rods composed of neutron-absorbing material are inserted into spaces between fuel assemblies to control reaction rate.
Cadmium or boron
Water or other coolant is circulated between the fuel rods to remove excess heat.

40. Kinds of Reactors
Seventy percent of nuclear power plants are pressurized water reactors (PWR).
Water circulated through core to absorb heat from fuel rods.
Pumped to steam generator where it heats a secondary loop.
Steam from secondary loop drives high-speed turbine producing electricity.

41. Kinds of Reactors
Both reactor vessel and steam generator are housed in a special containment building preventing radiation from escaping, and providing extra security in case of accidents.
Under normal operating conditions, a PWR releases very little radioactivity.

42. PWR

43. Small amounts of radioactive gases
Uranium fuel input
(reactor core)
Small amounts of radioactive gases
Containment shell
Waste heat
Electrical power
Emergency core
cooling system
Steam
Control
rods
Useful energy
25 to 30%
Turbine
Generator
Heat
exchanger
Hot coolant
Hot water output
Condenser
Pump
Pump
Coolant
Coolant
passage
Moderator
Cool water input
Black
Pump
Waste
heat
Pressure
vessel
Water
Shielding
Waste
heat
Water source
(river, lake, ocean)
Periodic removal
and storage of
radioactive wastes
and spent fuel assemblies
Periodic removal
and storage of
radioactive liquid wastes

44. Kinds of Reactors
Simpler, but more dangerous design is a boiling water reactor (BWR).
Water from core boils to make steam, directly driving turbine generators.
Highly radioactive water and steam leave containment structure.
Canadian deuterium reactors - Operate with natural, un-concentrated uranium.
Graphite moderator reactors - Operate with a solid moderator instead of a liquid.

45. Alternative Reactor Designs
High-Temperature, Gas-Cooled Reactors
Uranium encased in tiny ceramic-coated pellets.
Process-Inherent Ultimate Safety Reactors
Reactor core submerged in large pool of boron-containing water within a massive pressure vessel.

46. Breeder Reactors
Breeder reactors create fissionable plutonium and thorium isotopes from stable forms of uranium.
Uses plutonium reclaimed from spent fuel from conventional fission reactors as starting material.

47. Breeder Reactors

48. Breeder Reactor Drawbacks
Reactor core must be at very high density, thus liquid sodium used as a coolant.
Corrosive and difficult to handle.
Core will self-destruct within a few seconds if primary coolant is lost.
Produces weapons-grade plutonium.

49. RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
Until 1970, the US, Britain, France, and Japan disposed of radioactive waste in the ocean.
Production of 1,000 tons of uranium fuel typically generates 100,000 tons of tailings and 3.5 million liters of liquid waste.
Now approximately 200 million tons of radioactive waste in piles around mines and processing plants in the US.

50. Radioactive Waste Management
About 100,000 tons of low-level waste (clothing) and about 15,000 tons of high-level (spent-fuel) waste in the US.
For past 20 years, spent fuel assemblies have been stored in deep water-filled pools at the power plants. (Designed to be “temporary”.)
Many internal pools are now filled and a number plants are storing nuclear waste in metal dry casks outside.

51. Radioactive Waste Management
US Department of Energy announced plans to build a high-level waste repository near Yucca Mountain Nevada in 1987.
Facility may cost between $10 and 35 billion, and will not open until at least 2015.

52. Decommissioning Old Nuclear Plants
Most plants are designed for a 30 year operating life.
Only a few plants have thus far been decommissioned.
General estimates are costs will be 2-10 times more than original construction costs.

53. CHANGING FORTUNES Public opinion has fluctuated over the years.
When Chernobyl exploded in 1985, less than one-third of Americans favored nuclear power.
Now, half of all Americans support nuclear-energy.
Currently, 103 nuclear reactors produce about 20% of all electricity consumed in the US.

54. Changing Fortunes
With natural gas prices soaring, and electrical shortages looming, many sectors are once again promoting nuclear reactors.
Over the past 50 years, the US government has provided $150 billion in nuclear subsidies, but less than $5 billion to renewable energy research.

55. NUCLEAR FUSION
Nuclear Fusion - Energy released when two smaller atomic nuclei fuse into one large nucleus. (Sun)
Duterium and tritium, two heavy isotopes of H
Temperatures must be raised to 100,000,000o C and pressure must reach several billion atmospheres.
Advantages:
Production of few radioactive wastes
Elimination of products that could be made into bombs
Fuel supply that is larger and less hazardous than uranium.

56. NUCLEAR FUSION
Despite 50 years and $25 billion, fusion reactors have never produced more energy than they consume!

57. US Energy Policy
Oil, coal, and natural gas remain the United States’ primary energy resources.
Support the use of nuclear power as an environmentally friendly way to increase energy supplies.

59. Nuclear Energy Fission reactors Uranium-235 Potentially dangerous
Fig p. 366
Uranium-235
Potentially dangerous
Radioactive wastes
Refer to Introductory Essay p. 338

60. The Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Fig
p. 367

61. Dealing with Nuclear Waste
Low-level waste
High-level waste
Underground burial
Disposal in space
Burial in ice sheets
Dumping into subduction zones
Burial in ocean mud
Conversion into harmless materials
Fig
p. 370

62. Nuclear Alternatives Breeder nuclear fission reactors Nuclear fusion
New reactor designs
Storage Containers
Fuel rod
Primary canister
Ground Level
Overpack
container
sealed
Unloaded from train
Personnal
elevator
Air shaft
Nuclear waste
shaft
Underground
Buried and capped
Lowered down shaft
Fig
p. 376

63. Some Energy Units 1 joule (J)
= force exerted by a current of 1 amp through a resistance of 1 ohm
1 watt (W)
= 1 joule per second
1 kilowatt-hour
= 1 thousand (103) watts exerted for 1 hour
1 megawatt (MW)
= 1 million (106) watts
1 British Thermal Unit (BTU)
= energy to heat 1 lb. of water 1 °F
1 standard barrel (bbl) of oil
= 42 gal (160 l) or 5.8 million BTUs
1 metric ton of coal
= 27.8 million BTU or 4.8 bbl oil