Official (Alberta) Oil Discussion Thread

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Locke

The biggest problem for nuclear is determining what to do with the waste and, as you said, they're expensive, and the high-efficiency reactors are stupendously expensive.

Regardless of the fact that they're more efficient and safer.

Oh, that's the easy part. We attach the waste to our transfer payments to Quebec.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Oh, that's the easy part. We attach the waste to our transfer payments to Quebec.

I figure we just tie a bow around it and leave it on Prince Justin's lawn.

But thats just me.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Red Ice Player

If Keystone and the Kinder Morgan expansion get built, I think the next step to properly and responsibly exploit our resource should be to build a state of the art Candu facility to provide carbon free electricity for extraction and upgrading for all future bitumen and heavy oil production. Of course, this nation building project will never happen. The unfounded fear of nukes makes this idea a non starter, even though it's made good economic and environmental sense for decades.

I was involved on the periphery when Bruce Power wanted to build a nuclear plant in Peace River. They needed the government to guarantee them around 10 c/kwh for all production. As that is/was higher than the current rates the plan became a bit of a non-starter. I am not sure if anything has changed since then on the economics but it didn't make economic sense at the time and the plan was dropped.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Locke

The biggest problem for nuclear is determining what to do with the waste and, as you said, they're expensive, and the high-efficiency reactors are stupendously expensive.

Regardless of the fact that they're more efficient and safer.

You can store it in pools for relatively low cost indefinitely.

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by GGG

You can store it in pools for relatively low cost indefinitely.

And its a ridiculously small volume relative to all the energy produced. Like I want to say all the nuclear waste ever generated from power generation fits into a couple swimming pools.

Make a choice:
1) A couple swimming pools of really really bad stuff + trillions of cubic meters of clean atmosphere
2) No really bad stuff + CO2 in trillions of cubic meters of clean atmosphere

[IliketoPuck]

Why not launch the really really bad stuff into the sun?

edit: Looks like my work here is done. Time for a beer.

[belsarius]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

Why not launch the really really bad stuff into the sun?

And give Lex Luther a shot at making Nuclear Man?

I've seen how that ends.. and it's two hours you NEVER get back.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Locke, existing waste is consumable as fuel in next generation reactors.

There is a good chance multiple government efforts including a recent move in the US, in combination with lots of interest from private funding, that we will see the first wave of commercial modular reactors in the early part of next decade.

These have entirely different safety, waste, temperature and most importantly economics compared to existing reactors. They're extremely well suited for industrial purposes including steam or electricity based oilsands extraction, upgrading, desalination, fertilizer, pulp and paper, food processing, cement production, other petrochemical processes.... and could help usher in new steel processing tech (making it cheaper). So... trillions in economic output could be decarbonized with minimal disruption, tonnes of job creation and positive returns generated

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Locke, existing waste is consumable as fuel in next generation reactors.

There is a good chance multiple government efforts including a recent move in the US, in combination with lots of interest from private funding, that we will see the first wave of commercial modular reactors in the early part of next decade.

These have entirely different safety, waste, temperature and most importantly economics compared to existing reactors. They're extremely well suited for industrial purposes including steam or electricity based oilsands extraction, upgrading, desalination, fertilizer, pulp and paper, food processing, cement production, other petrochemical processes.... and could help usher in new steel processing tech (making it cheaper). So... trillions in economic output could be decarbonized with minimal disruption, tonnes of job creation and positive returns generated

Ah, the never-ending nuclear delusion. Almost as bad as the cold fusion one. Don't get me wrong, I think it is the way to go, but for whatever reason it seems like it will never happen.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Locke, existing waste is consumable as fuel in next generation reactors.

There is a good chance multiple government efforts including a recent move in the US, in combination with lots of interest from private funding, that we will see the first wave of commercial modular reactors in the early part of next decade.

These have entirely different safety, waste, temperature and most importantly economics compared to existing reactors. They're extremely well suited for industrial purposes including steam or electricity based oilsands extraction, upgrading, desalination, fertilizer, pulp and paper, food processing, cement production, other petrochemical processes.... and could help usher in new steel processing tech (making it cheaper). So... trillions in economic output could be decarbonized with minimal disruption, tonnes of job creation and positive returns generated

Oh yes, I'm well aware of that, but unfortunately Nuclear power suffers from the same stigma that ridiculous renewable power-sources thrive off of.

Among which, unfortunately we have the issue of nuclear proliferation. If you can build a reactor you can build a bomb and the nuclear waste is going to turn our children into three-eyed hunchbacked freaks. Without question.

As the old saying goes, you cant put that genie back in the bottle.

If we want to maintain our standard of living and save the planet without making too many cuts or compromises I see only one way of doing it, and thats going to be a bitter pill to swallow.

So it all comes down to which would we rather do.

[Azure]

So is Keystone approval enough to kickstart the Alberta & Canadian economy? What follows after?

[TurdFerguson]

Originally Posted by Azure

So is Keystone approval enough to kickstart the Alberta & Canadian economy? What follows after?

Triple meat

[Hockeyboy2]

We need a lot more to happen other than approval of Keystone to kickstart our economy.

[InglewoodFan]

Originally Posted by TurdFerguson

Triple meat

Bacon! And guacamole!

On the topic of nukes, Alberta seems well suited for another reason - really low seismic loads. Puts us miles ahead of Japan for instance.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Ah, the never-ending nuclear delusion. Almost as bad as the cold fusion one. Don't get me wrong, I think it is the way to go, but for whatever reason it seems like it will never happen.

Yeah it kinda has gone that was for a long time but bigger news is happening with more.frequency from more than one company. The sector is really starting to heat up (pardon the pun).

A Swedish firm, LeadCold, who is licensing it's design through the Canadian regulator has a micro unit that will kick out 3 -10 MWe and is intended for remote arctic or island type use. Meant to displace diesel generators. They just announced another 200 Million USD in funding from an early investor who already put in 20MM.

Bill Gates' TERRAPOWER announced a liquid chloride design to be developed in parallel with its travelling wave reactor and they are working tight with the Chinese government.

NuScale finally put its design in front of the NRC for license review. HUGE milestone.

My company's US subsidiary Terrestrial Energy announced its timeline to submit our license application to the NRC (2019), we have already initiated the process in Canada. Several sites approached us about hosting FOAK. None of those sites will you find in Alberta, but you will find one just a few hours to the south in Idaho.

But the big surprising news for me was US Congress passing a bill supporting what they are calling "unconventional nuclear power".

It would've been shocking to see ONE of these headlines even 2 or 3 years ago.

Locke, I hear ya. All very unfounded claims, and trust me I feel as dejected about this happening in Alberta as anyone but I keep pushing none the less.

[bizkitgto]

Originally Posted by Azure

So is Keystone approval enough to kickstart the Alberta & Canadian economy? What follows after?

We need access to international markets to start attracting investment again.

[me_dennis]

TransCanada just submitted the presidential permit application for KXL.
http://www.transcanada.com/announcem...?id=2119567&t=

[Azure]

http://calgaryherald.com/business/en...ift-for-canada

The tax, which White House press secretary Sean Spicer characterized as “theoretical,” would apply to countries “like Mexico,” with which the U.S. has a trade deficit, he said in a briefing Thursday. That would seemingly exempt Canada. The U.S. ran a surplus of $11.9 billion with the northern neighbour in 2015.

This would potentially be a boon for Canadian oil sands producers whose heavy crude competes with Mexican supplies in the U.S. refining market. The proposed tax comes three days after President Trump revived the proposed TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL project to build a new crude pipeline from Western Canada to the U.S.

[nik-]

That tax will never happen.

[Leeman4Gilmour]

So we sell 100% of our oil to US....purchase Mexican oil to support our own requirements...charge them 5% instead of 20%.....win/win